"Crisis point" returns as covid tears through schools

Thursday 03 February 2022

Covid is continuing to tear through local schools, with one secondary school reporting that it has hit "crisis point" with staffing.

Around half of covid cases are currently being detected in education settings. On Tuesday 1 February, one in four secondary school students were absent, with a total of 190 cases of covid recorded across schools.

Of those, 16 were staff members.

Both Grainville and Haute Vallée schools have confirmed that year groups will be working from home this week.

Telling parents that two year groups would be off school this week in a letter sent yesterday, Grainville Headteacher Sue Morris commented: "We have done everything we can to have the whole school back for the last four working days, but we are at crisis point again with regards to staffing.

"I can only apologise again for the impact that this will have had on you and your family."

She added that currently that they have have nine teachers and seven non-teaching staff off work. As a result, Year 7 are off today and Year 9 are being told to "continue their studies using online resources at home" tomorrow.

Haute Vallée's Head Teacher, Stuart Hughes, sent a letter out yesterday too, saying that students from Year 10 would have to work from home today too.

He said the decision had been made "as a direct result of the number of our teaching and support staff that are absent from schools or a variety of reasons in relation to covid-19. I can confirm that we were closed to Year 9 students yesterday [Tuesday], all other year groups have been in school so far this week."

Announcing a 'De-escalation Plan' last week, which is a phased approach to removing all covid restrictions by April, Ministers confirmed that they would be adding additional safety measures in schools.

They said that air filtration systems were ordered last week, and that installing further CO2 monitoring devices was a "priority" in order to limit transmission.

Public Health alongside Children, Young, People, Education and Skills Department (CYPES) is expected to clarify specific policies for education settings, including the use of masks and the review of school bubbles, in the coming weeks.

Express has asked the Government whether there will be any more school closures this week and is awaiting a response.