By Gavin Mackintosh-
The Department Of Education has called for all secondary schools to prepare to test their pupils following their return on-site in January.
The D&E said that testing all pupils in school boosts testing participation and will help reduce transmission after a period of social mixing over the school holidays.
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The department said it has already strengthened measures to tackle high covid rates, and have now done so again while waiting for more information about the Omicron variant.
”The safety measures in place strike a balance between managing transmission risk with regular testing and enhanced ventilation and hygiene, and reducing disruption to face-to-face learning”, the D&E said.
”We are expanding the vaccination programme even further and we have accepted the advice from the independent experts at the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to extend the additional offer of a booster jab to people aged 18 and over and offer a second dose of a vaccine to all young people aged 12 to 17 as part of the primary vaccination schedule”.
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The D&E said it has updated our contingency framework to reflect that that local directors of public health (DsPH) have discretion to advise additional measures locally.
Additional measures recommended by Directors of Public Health should only last for a temporary period, be regularly reviewed, and be taken with the prioritisation of face-to-face education in mind, the department said.
It said secondary students and education staff should test themselves for COVID-19 twice a week, and more frequently if they are specifically asked to do so.
The advice also urges pupils to attend school unless they have symptoms or a positive test result.
”To reduce the amount of avoidable covid absence, we are rolling out the vaccine to 12–15-year-olds as quickly as possible and encourage older students and staff to keep going with regular twice weekly testing, the D&E said.
According to the advice by the D&E, all adults who are fully vaccinated and children aged 5-18 years and 6 months, identified as a contact of someone with COVID-19 – whether Omicron or not – should take an LFD test every day for 7 days instead of self-isolating.
Daily testing by close contacts will help to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Ventilation
Feedback from schools suggests that the over 300,000 carbon dioxide monitors that have been delivered are acting as a helpful tool to manage ventilation, sitting alongside the other protective measures in place.
Ventilation
In response to a call from teaching unions for improved ventilation in schools, the D&E said that ‘very few cases of schools that have areas of poor ventilation that can’t be otherwise resolved, adding that they are shortly going to be opening a marketplace to purchase air cleaning units at an appropriate specification and competitive price and we are funding 1,000 air cleaning units for SEND and Alternative Provision settings’.
Contingency measures
Responding to calls for a plan B by teaching unions, stressing that its longstanding contingency framework sets out that measures affecting education and childcare settings across an area should not be considered in isolation but as part of a broader package of measures.
Attendance
It called for attendance restrictions to only ever be considered as a last resort – neither contacts or siblings of positive cases should be asked to isolate.
”Attendance restrictions should only be considered for individual settings, on public health advice in extreme cases where other recommended measures have not broken chains of in-setting transmission.
”Our regional schools commissioners continue to work with any trusts and local authorities where there are schools that for whatever reason may need further support in following the guidance on protective and contingency measures as set out by the Dept.
The Department Of Education says it is running its Covid workforce fund to cover the costs of the small minority of schools and colleges with staffing pressures and low financial reserves as a result of the pandemic, to make sure they are able to remain open.
The department added that it expects all secondary schools to prepare to test their pupils once on-site on return in January.and reduce transmission after a period of social mixing over the school holidays.
Tests, PPE and funding to support the workforce will be provided as before.
After this test on return, pupils should continue to test in line with government guidelines, the D&E said.The D&E said it has already strengthened measures to tackle high covid rates, and have now done so again while we find out more about the Omicron variant.
Balance
The safety measures in place strike a balance between managing transmission risk with regular testing and enhanced ventilation and hygiene, and reducing disruption to face-to-face learning.
It added that it has extended the vaccination programme further and w accepted the advice from the independent experts at the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to extend the additional offer of a booster jab to people aged 18 and over and offer a second dose of a vaccine to all young people aged 12 to 17 as part of the primary vaccination schedule.
The D&E has also updated its contingency framework to reflect that that local directors of public health (DsPH) have discretion to advise additional measures locally.
It said that additional measures recommended by Directors of Public Health should only last for a temporary period, should be regularly reviewed, and be taken with the prioritisation of face-to-face education in mind.
In order to reduce the amount of avoidable covid absence, the Department Of Education said it was rolling out the vaccine to 12–15-year-olds as quickly as possible and encourage older students and staff to keep going with regular twice weekly testing.
A Department for Education spokesperson told The Eye Of Media.Com:”
“We are incredibly grateful to teachers and all education staff for their efforts to protect face-to-face education. The classroom is the very best place for children and young people’s development, and making sure children are learning face-to-face continues to be a priority.
“We have taken action that will help manage the Omicron variant, including asking older students and staff to wear face coverings in communal areas and asking secondary schools to offer on-site testing at the start of the spring term.
“We strongly encourage everyone to keep testing regularly and get their booster jabs as soon as possible.”
”We are running our Covid workforce fund to cover the costs of the small minority of schools and colleges with staffing pressures and low financial reserves as a result of the pandemic, to make sure they are able to remain open”.
Image: literacttrust.org.uk
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