Schools Minister Nick Gibb confirms the Government IS planning to scrap pupil bubbles
Schools Minister Nick Gibb confirms Government IS planning to scrap pupil bubbles and replace self-isolation with testing – but unions warn of disruption from September with schools turned into ‘fully-fledged Covid test centres’
- Mr Gibb today said ministers hoped that mass testing would reduce disruption to children’s education
- But school leaders’ union NAHT suggested the new plan not thought through and would lead to chaos
- Came as new Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, called for end to bubbles
- Are you a parent whose child has had to repeatedly self-isolate? Email rory.tingle@mailonline.co.uk
Schools ministers Nick Gibb said officials hoped that mass testing would reduce disruption to children’s education
Schools minister Nick Gibb today confirmed the Government is planning to scrap pupil bubbles and replace mandatory isolation with daily testing – but unions warned of disruption from September with schools turned into ‘fully-fledged testing centres’.
Mr Gibb said ministers hoped that mass testing would reduce disruption to children’s education, including removing the need to self-isolate for 10 days if another pupil in a bubble tests positive with Covid.
But leading a backlash to the new proposals, unions blasted ministers for giving ‘absolutely no consideration’ to the logistical challenge involved, and suggested there would be ‘chaos’ when schools return in September.
Meanwhile, younger teachers who have not yet been fully vaccinated expressed concern about the proposals, which they fear could leave them more vulnerable to infection.
Mr Gibb, who vowed to make a decision before ‘Freedom Day’ on July 19, told Sky News: ‘We are conducting trials of daily contact testing as a possible alternative to self-isolation.
‘What matters also is that we keep the school safe and if you go around our schools, you will see a raft of measures to reduce the infection rates within schools.
‘There’s extra hygiene, there’s staggered breaks, we keep children in bubbles, and there’s extra ventilation in classrooms to minimise the risk of transmission.’
It came as the new Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, said bubble arrangements and self-isolation for pupils was ‘very very restrictive’ and should end soon, as she spoke of the ‘real trauma’ lockdown measures were causing for young people.
Tory MP Jason McCartney revealed yesterday that some families had been forced to isolate four times in a matter of months.
But unions poured scorn on the testing plans today, with Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, warning of summer of ‘confusion and delay’.
He said: ‘The Department for Education is once again jumping to half-explained ideas with absolutely no consideration of the logistical challenge facing schools and colleges.
‘This shows every indication of our having to endure yet another summer of confusion and disarray, capped off by last-minute guidance with inadequate time for preparations. This is no Plan A, or Plan B. Currently it scarcely qualifies as a plan at all.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT, which represents headteachers, also warned of the disruption ahead.
He said: ‘Once again secondary schools are being put on standby to set up what are effectively fully-fledged COVID testing centres. The government must not underestimate the scale of this task and the likely disruption for pupils as they return in September.
‘It is becoming increasingly clear that there is a strong chance it will not be ”business as usual” for schools next term and the government will need to take into account the additional pressures they will be having to deal with.’
It comes amid increasing concern about the way the education system is coping, with FT editor Janine Gibson describing ‘chaos’ in London’s schools and warning that the virus is ‘running rampant’.
Tory MPs are also split on whether to tackle the issue by vaccinating pupils, with some saying children did not need a jab because they are not at risk from Covid, while others insisted the move would help reduce transmission, Politico reported. The government has not yet made a decision on the issue.
In other Covid updates today –
- Priti Patel says she is ‘horrified’ by footage of two thugs attacking Chris Whitty in a London park amid calls for them to be arrested;
- Reports Matt Hancock’s lover Gina Coladangelo has split from her millionaire husband and is already living with the disgraced former Health Secretary;
- Hopes fade for UK-US travel corridor this summer as fears grow that Brits jabbed with AstaZeneca vaccine will be stopped from entering the States;
- Daily cases more than doubles to 22,868 to highest level since second wave but deaths drop 40% to just three – in sign jabs are prevention serious illness;
- Greece and Spain battle to spare Britons from the EU quarantine crackdown, as Malta and Portugal bring in new curbs unless you’ve had two jabs.
Data showing the number of children being sent home to self-isolate every week, compared with the number of positive cases
But leading a backlash to the new proposals, school leaders’ union NAHT suggested ministers were underestimating the scale of the task. Pictured is a file photo of pupils in school bubbles
The number of acute respiratory infection (ARI) outbreaks, with two or more confirmed cases of Covid, flu or other respiratory illnesses, across England in the four weeks to June 24. There were 568 outbreaks in schools, universities and colleges in the past month, accounting for almost half of the 1280 total
Laura MacInerney, founder of Teacher Tab, a daily survey of teachers’ opinions, said there was concern about the proposals among unvaccinated teachers.
She told the Today programme: ‘The majority of teachers are now double-jabbed but around 40% are not, so there is a concern among them.
‘The level of support depends whether or not you are vaccinated, if you feel vulnerable and what the situation in your school is.’
Meanwhile, Steve Chalk, founder of the Oasis Academy Trust, urged the government to act now to reduce the number of pupils isolating rather than waiting until September to introduce the new initiative.
He said more than 3,000 children across the chain’s 52 schools were currently at home after someone in their bubble tested positive.
‘We have about 10% of our 31,000 children out of school at the moment, so it’s a pretty alarming situation,’ he said. ‘We would say that something needs to be done about this now.
‘It’s been in and out, in and out, up and down. The impact of this on many children is huge in terms of their development and mental health.
‘There is still three weeks of this summer term to run that we can’t just write off.’
Former catch-up tsar Sir Kevan Collins said the ‘key thing’ is to follow the evidence when asked about using testing to end self-isolation for school pupils in bubbles.
He quit his role as education recovery commissioner with a condemnation of the Government’s £1.4 billion catch-up fund, which he said fell ‘far short’ of what was needed.
‘In all of my work, the key thing for me is to follow the evidence of course,’ he told MPs on the Education Committee.
‘I guess with the bubbles, what I would really like to, and I think it’s what the DfE (Department for Education) are doing, is taking new advice and asking the scientists and asking the experts what should we do next.
‘Ideally, of course, what we all want to do is get every child back in school every day because that’s the very best way we’ll recover from the pandemic.’
Currently children have to self-isolate for 10 days if another pupil in their bubble tests positive for coronavirus, even if they themselves have received a negative PCR test.
It has resulted in a sharp rise in pupils off school for Covid-related reasons, with the latest official figures showing 239,000 children in England missing classes – as the numbers trebled in the space of a week.
Mr Gibb said that about 3% of students are currently self-isolating, but added this figure is lower than it was in the autumn.
The minister said it is still ‘very important’ that those who come into contact with people with Covid self-isolate, whether in schools or society.
He told Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Well, it is very important that, when a Covid case is identified and somebody has had Covid, that we identify anybody they have been in contact with and they are asked to self-isolate, whether that’s in schools or any other part of society, as we seek to tackle this appalling pandemic and minimise the spread of the virus.
‘We are actually trialling daily contact testing, where somebody who has come into contact with somebody with Covid, instead of self-isolating, takes a test every day, and if they are negative they can go into school.
‘We have trialled this in a small number of secondary schools and that trial finishes tomorrow. We will look at the data to see if that is an effective alternative to self-isolation.’
Covid has accounted for the vast majority of the incidents (shown in yellow) throughout the pandemic. Grey bars represent cases that could not be confirmed with a test or followed up
The most recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows just 0.3 per cent of secondary school pupils were testing positive for Covid in March, even though thousands were having to self-isolate. Currently, for every one confirmed case, there are more than 20 pupils isolating at home as a precaution
The ONS data shows secondary pupils were most likely to be diagnosed with the virus in December, when the second wave was taking off. But even when there was a large scale outbreak, fewer than 2 per cent were testing positive
The latest figures on school attendance will be released by the Department for Education around noon today.
The Education department today said ministers have written to secondary schools asking them to prepare to potentially replace isolation rules with testing.
A spokesman said: ‘We are provisionally asking secondary schools and colleges to prepare to offer on-site testing when students return for the new academic year, so that schools are ready in case it is needed to keep as many children as possible in face-to-face education.
‘We will provide further details about the approach to protective measures and test and trace in education from September in due course.’
New Health Secretary Sajid Javid yesterday said he has asked for ‘fresh advice’ on the issue, adding that the policy is ‘having a huge knock-on impact’ on children’s education, with 250,000 pupils missing school every day.
‘I will hopefully be able to say more on this as soon as possible,’ he said.
Former health minister Steve Brine told the Commons: ‘Estimates suggest that a quarter of a million children are missing school today due to precautionary isolations.’
Adding that many became trapped in a cycle of self-isolation ‘due to the bubbles they are caught in’, Mr Brine asked the new Health Secretary: ‘Haven’t our young people suffered enough?
‘Is this not an area – given the availability and reliability of testing now – where we might find that change of policy I’m looking for?’
Mr Javid replied: ‘This is a very important issue and it is something I’ve focused on, on day one of the job. That is why I’ve asked for fresh advice on this.’ Stressing the policy was based on information ‘available at the time’, he continued: ‘Clearly data is changing all the time and we must make sure that we keep that under review.’
He revealed he would discuss the subject with Education Secretary Gavin Williamson after MPs expressed concerns about children being kept at home for ten days – even after a negative PCR test – because a member of their classroom bubble has been infected.
Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza said children needed to get back to normal.
‘The experience of lockdown has been a real trauma, and I think we shouldn’t underestimate it,’ she told the Telegraph.
‘Children are really troubled, and it’s right across the board.’
Dame Rachel said young people, who have seen their normal childhood disrupted in order to protect older people, are now struggling with their mental health.
‘They have done a huge amount for us, I mean they really were the least at risk of this and they’ve given up 19 weeks of their education, they’ve had all this anxiety and concern and exams cancelled; they’ve taken a big burden for us,’ she said.
The commissioner said that, although adults largely assume ‘kids are resilient, they’ll bounce back’, the results this year of a sweeping survey on British pupils, dubbed The Big Ask, showed ‘they are telling us that they have got these worries and we need to listen to them’.
Of the impact on pupils, Dame Rachel said: ‘All these children going in and out of self-isolation… that is a really big issue, and it’s incredibly frustrating for children and teachers.’
The survey of more than 550,000 children, run by the office of the Children’s Commissioner, showed mental health was the biggest concern for 20% of respondents, a figure that rose to 40% for those aged 14-17.
A former teacher herself, Dame Rachel said she has ‘real concern’ for nursery-aged children and those starting school, who are at an age when they ‘need to be playing and learning and developing language skills’ but have instead been ‘stuck inside for too long’.
Her warning came as official figures yesterday showed another rise in infections, with almost 23,000 lab-confirmed cases – the highest daily rise since January 30.
Sajid Javid yesterday said he was seeking ‘fresh advice’ on the current policy where children self-isolate, which sees up to 250,000 pupils miss school every day
Sarah Croft, senior statistician for the Office for National Statistics Covid-19 Infection Survey, told Times Radio today that the ‘main sort of increase seems to be in school year 12 to age 24 – so older teenagers and those in their early 20s.’
She added: ‘In terms of other age groups, we’re seeing school years 7 to 11, but that has stayed at about 0.3% for several weeks now, we haven’t seen any recent increases there.’
They came amid continuing concern over the spread of the Delta variant, with Portugal, Spain, Malta and Hong Kong announcing new restrictions on tourists from the UK.
Despite the increase, Mr Javid said there is ‘no reason’ why the final stage of lockdown lifting in England should not go ahead as planned on July 19.
In a Commons statement, he said the country will have to ‘ learn to live with’ the disease as there is no ‘zero risk’ option.
His comments were welcomed by Tory MPs, who believe they signal a more robust approach to ending restrictions than was the case under his predecessor, Matt Hancock.
Mr Hancock resigned at the weekend after admitting he had broken social-distancing rules when footage emerged of him kissing a close aide in the Department of Health and Social Care.
