Changes to school rules on Covid welcomed in Shropshire

The system in England's schools, where groups of pupils have to self-isolate if one tests positive, could be scrapped in the autumn.

Ministers are looking at asking schools to introduce daily testing instead.

During the Covid outbreak many schools across Shropshire have asked pupils to self-isolate if they have potentially been in contact with a positive case.

Just last week, Minsterley Primary School closed after an outbreak of Covid cases and a letter was sent to parents of pupils at Haberdashers' Abraham Darby in Telford asking year eight pupils to self-isolate following a positive case.

The Department for Education said that in order to keep as many children in face-to-face classes as possible, it has written to secondary schools asking them provisionally to prepare for a change after the summer break.

Dr Gill Eatough, chief executive of the Learning Community Trust, which runs a number of schools in the county, said she would welcome the change.

She said: "We need to be able to bring in a system that stops us having to send groups of children home to self-isolate.

"We would welcome that. The issue for us is we go through periods of time where our schools have no cases.

"Then what's happening is there's been rises in cases.

"You see one of the schools have a positive case, you then have to close that bubble, even though some children may not have been a close contact.

"This is happening around the country and remote learning isn't the same."

Dr Eatough said Ercall Wood Academy had been taking part in a pilot scheme where daily on-site testing is being trialled.

She said: "If we have a case we give parents a choice. Children can come in and we do a lateral flow test every day for eight days, or they can self-isolate.

"That has worked well. That means we keep children in school.

"What we now need is real guidance for September.

"We would be keen to implement this process in secondary schools but they need to think about primary schools as well."

Wrekin College headmaster Tim Firth said it was a sensible plan.

"I see it as a logical and sensible next step," he said.

"If we are serious about unlocking on July 19 then it's inevitable we will have to do something, even if it comes with a minor risk. We know very few children get very ill with Covid and a lot of adults are now vaccinated."

Daily on-site testing is currently being trialled in a small number of secondary schools and colleges.

Ministers are not expected to make a final decision on self isolation until the results have been examined.

Pupil absence in schools due to Covid has hit a new record high since classes went back in March, figures show.

Data from the Department for Education, covering England, shows that around one in 20 (5.1 per cent) state school pupils did not attend class for Covid-19-related reasons on June 24, up from 3.3 per cent on June 17 and 1.2 per cent on June 10.

Around 279,000 children were self-isolating due to a possible contact with a Covid-19 case, a further 24,000 pupils had a suspected case of coronavirus and 15,000 had a confirmed case.

It comes as Sarah Croft, senior statistician for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Covid-19 Infection Survey, said there has not been any recent leaps in cases among children in school years 7 to 11.

But the main increase in infections appears to be among those in school year 12 up to those in their mid-20s.

Meanwhile scientists studying the symptoms of Covid-19 are due to publish their latest update today.