Nearly half of schools report lower pupil attendance than expected this term

School leaders are concerned that self-isolation rules are ‘actively contributing’ to the spread of Covid-19 in schools, the NAHT union said.
Students at St Columba’s High School, Gourock, wear protective face masks as they head to lessons as the requirement for secondary school pupils to wear face coverings when moving around school comes into effect from today across Scotland.
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Eleanor Busby4 October 2021

School leaders in England are experiencing “a high level of disruption” with nearly half reporting that pupil attendance this term is lower than expected in a usual year, a survey suggests.

Heads are concerned that self-isolation rules are “actively contributing” to the spread of Covid-19 in schools, and risk more children missing out on school in the long run, according to school leaders’ union NAHT.

More than one in four say they have already exceeded Covid-19 case thresholds set by the Government and on average respondents say they have had three members of staff absent due to Covid-19 this term.

A poll by NAHT of more than 1,100 school leaders in September suggests 78% lack confidence in the Government’s Covid-19 guidance for schools.

Current guidance says that if a certain threshold of Covid-19 cases is reached, schools should consider “taking extra action” and seek public health advice if they are concerned.

We are hearing from members on a daily basis who are still experiencing a high level of disruption

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT

The first threshold is if five pupils or staff who are likely to have mixed closely test positive for Covid-19 within a 10-day period, or if 10% of pupils or staff who have mixed closely test positive within 10 days.

The survey found that 26% of school leaders have already met one of these thresholds this term.

Nearly three in 10 (28%) think the NAHT union should be calling for additional mitigations in schools this autumn term, while more than half (54%) want to see more mitigations if there is a further rise in Covid-19 cases.

Among those calling for further mitigations, 80% want changes to rules on self-isolation for close family contacts, 59% want funding to improve ventilation in classrooms, and 40% want air filters in classrooms.

Children in England currently do not have to isolate if they live in the same household as someone with Covid-19. Instead they are advised to take a PCR test and only isolate if they test positive.

The findings have been published ahead of the union’s policy conference in London on Friday and Saturday.

Overall, 48% of school leaders said they had lower or significantly lower attendance at the start of term than they would expect in a non-Covid year, with the top reasons being pupils self-isolating due to symptoms of Covid-19 or possible exposure to Covid-19, as well as other illnesses.

Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, said: “Clearly Covid-19 and Covid-related absence is still interrupting education for staff and students.

“We are hearing from members on a daily basis who are still experiencing a high level of disruption.

“Our members are particularly concerned about the current guidance relating to siblings and household contacts.

“At the moment, if a child tests positive for Covid-19, their siblings can continue to attend school, even if they share a bedroom, for example.

“Our members say this is actively contributing to the spread of Covid-19 in schools.”

The latest Government figures show that more than 122,000 children in England were out of school for Covid-19 related reasons on September 16.

Mr Whiteman added:  “School leaders want the Government to revisit its guidance, particularly when it comes to contact tracing and self-isolation.

“No one wants to see a child miss any time off school, but there is a real risk that the current policy is inadvertently leading to more children missing school in the long run.

“The results of this survey, coupled with the latest data on case numbers among school-aged children, should be ringing alarm bells for Government.

“Put simply, we cannot allow Covid-19 to rage unchecked in schools as it will only lead to more disruption to children’s education.”

A Government spokeswoman said: “The phenomenal success of the vaccination programme, protecting tens of millions of people from the threat of the virus, means that those aged under 18 are not required to self-isolate if they are identified as close contacts.

“This is helping to keep young people in classrooms and crucially reducing disruption to their face-to-face education.

“We strongly encourage all close contacts to take a PCR test as soon as possible, and to test regularly using lateral flow tests, while schools are encouraged to maintain good hygiene and ventilation aided by our rollout of over 300,000 carbon dioxide monitors to classrooms.”

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