New contact tracing rules for schools

Wednesday 06 January 2021

Schools will follow a new set of contact tracing rules when they return, which is likely to mean fewer students being sent home, the Education Minister has said.

Towards the end of last term, hundreds of pupils were sent home as direct contacts of positive cases.

The process attracted widespread criticism, with many parents, students and teachers highlighting inconsistencies between schools and asking why unaffected pupils had been sent home.

In November, a student at Victoria College blasted the contact tracing process after the sixth form was forced to isolate despite many having had no contact with a pupil who had tested positive for covid-19 the week before.

In order to avoid the pre-Christmas confusion, Education have said that they are “refining” their contact tracing approach and “strengthening” control measures in schools.

Education Minister Tracey Vallois: “Last term, some pupils who were classed as direct contacts may not have necessarily been so.”

Education Minister Tracey Vallois said: “The reason that we closed the schools up to 11 January was to put in a number of measures to revise our risk assessments in all schools and update our public health guidance with public health colleagues. 

“With regards to contact tracing, my officials and Director General are working closely with the contact tracing team to properly define what we refer to as a direct contact, so that should a case be identified, we’ll hopefully be in a position where not as many people have to isolate for a period of time and be tested – that work is being carried out this week.

“Last term, some pupils who were classed as direct contacts may not have necessarily been so. We want to redefine the policy so it is absolutely clear, meaning that fewer students and teachers should be affected.”

Reflecting on the lessons learned from last term, Senator Vallois said: “What’s important to recognise is that our policies are literally being reviewed on a daily basis.

“We work off of the public health guidance we receive from STAC – but also, from an educational side of things, we have to look at our operation and resources. My Director General is very good at keeping in contact with all of the headteachers with regards to what’s happening in their schools.

“There are more than 40 schools to support, who require the right mitigations to be put in place at the right time – we’re trying to do that as quickly and as feasibly as possible, but what this allows us to do now is recognise what’s happened, particularly in the last month, and improve on that situation.”

Unions have welcomed the fresh approach.

Tim Balston, local secretary of the National Education Union, said: “The system used before Christmas was overrun, with some teachers feeling they were overlooked for testing and not included in subsequent contact tracing processes. 

“Attempts to contact those departments were a frustrating business with conflicting advice provided. This is not to take anything away from those working in test and trace; there was just not enough of them once large numbers of children were caught up in positive cases.

He added: “The testing of staff and older students this week and delaying the return to school is welcomed by the NEU. It will provide a snapshot of what is happening in the community, but of course, you are only negative at the time of the test. It is quite possible to become infected minutes later and then carry the virus back into schools next week. 

Pictured: States schools are closed until at least Monday.

“The delay in reopening the schools for face-to-face lessons is also welcomed as it provides a useful continuation of the 'circuit breaker' and time to reassess the situation. 

However, the union does not want complacency to lead to an increase in positive numbers once the Christmas break unwinds. 

“While the positive cases have shown a pleasing reduction, we would want to be cautious and teach remotely until the trends are more established with schools genuinely a safe place for both students and staff.”

Yesterday, a workshop was held for members of the Government’s contact tracing team, headteachers and officials to test the new “refined“ contact tracing system. The Government said that a flow chart would be published on the gov.je that would set out the improvements to the test, trace and isolate process for schools.