The Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has confirmed that School bubbles and isolation is to end on the 10th July and that from the 16th August only children who test positive for Covid-19 will need to self isolate.
He told MP’s that the current system is “causing disruption” to children’s education adding that “Children are better off in their classroom, with their friends and teachers,” he added, noting that “they have given up so much to keep the older generation safe”.
Williamson also confirmed that there will no longerbe restrictions on in-person teaching in universities after the 19th July and neither will it be necessary for schools and colleges to stagger start and finish times
Some protective measures, relating to hygiene and ventilation, will remain in place in schools in the autumn term,but face coverings and social distancing will no longer be required.
Schools will still be asked to give their pupils two on-site tests at the start of term in September and home testing will continue until the end of September, when it will be reviewed.
Greater Manchester MP and shadow Education minister Kate Green said that it was not just bubbles that have driven pupils from the classroom but he government’s “negligence” at “letting the Delta variant take hold” at the same time as failing to provide schools with the “necessary precautions”.
She asked for the results of the pilot schemes using daily testing in some schools instead of self-isolation, and how many schools pulled out of the pilot.
The latest figures show 641,000 children are currently out of the classroom, with 471,000 of those isolating because a contact at school has tested positive. Only 28,000 have a confirmed Covid case and 34,000 are suspected to have the virus.
Commenting on Gavin Williamson’s statement to the Commons about changes to Covid restrictions in education settings, Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“Gavin Williamson has announced an end to bubbles and self-isolation, to follow the removal of masks in mid-May, without even a replacement by daily contact testing.
“Instead, NHS test track and trace will contact children who have a positive result to ask them who their close contacts are and will then ask those contacts to have a PCR test. However, those close contacts will not have to isolate whilst waiting for that PCR test.
“Head teachers will welcome not being responsible for testing of pupils but will share the concerns of the NEU about how effective a public test track and trace system will be and how much it will control cases in schools. Schools have so far been the most effective part of the test track and trace system.
“It seems clear that the Government policies are based on a new form of herd immunity strategy – they are hoping that the increase in vaccination rates and the increase in infection rates across the summer will eventually get cases to fall simply because there is no one left to infect.
“They hope that hospitalisations and deaths will not increase, that further variants which escape the vaccination do not arise, and that debilitating illness from Covid and Long Covid does not become common in children.
“The Government should be seeking to improve ventilation in schools by providing CO2 monitors and HEPA air filters, planning mass asymptomatic testing in schools organised by PHE, and encouraging JCVI to come forward with its thinking on the vaccination of secondary-aged children.
“We can all hope for the best, but we must now plan for something that is less than the best.”
