Hundreds of pupils already facing COVID disruption
One School in St Helens has already seen 65 staff and students having to isolate
Last updated 22nd Sep 2021
Hundreds of pupils across the North West are already seeing their lessons cut short due to COVID.
After being back for little over three weeks, dozens of schools have reported outbreaks.
Now parents and students are being urged to get tested regularly to avoid spreading the virus.
Outbreaks have affected a number of schools in St Helens with one school, St Augustine of Canterbury High School, closing for two days last week to enable a deep clean.
65 students and staff isolating at a single school
This follows 50 new positive Covid-19 cases being confirmed in the school (up to September 13th), with 23 of them in the same year group. The school currently has 65 sickness absences affecting both pupils and staff.
Other schools in the borough affected by outbreaks of the Coved-19 virus include Queen’s Park Primary School, with 21 confirmed cases, Rivington Primary School with 14 cases and St Cuthbert’s High School, with 12 cases and Sutton Oak Primary School with 17 cases.
St Helens Council has now stepped up testing efforts to try and maintain outbreaks but unions say that further disruption to the academic year is "almost certain."
"Young people will continue to spread the virus"
Peter Middleman is from the North West National Education Union, he said:
"We know that infection rates in the community are higher at this point in 2021 than they were in 2020.
"We know that the beginning of October last year saw a very steep rise in infections that continued all the way into the new year when the lockdown in January was eventually announced.
"Even now, young people will still continue to spread the virus and if they contract the virus they will need to self isolate.
"That 10 days of isolations could mean they will miss eight additional school days and that's a concern for us and it's one that we think was eminently avoidable.
"It's disappointing that the school haven't followed the example of Scotland, North America, Belgium, Germany and many other European countries in investing in proper air filtration and ventilation systems."
In a statement, the Department for Education said the government is striking a balance between "ensuring schools are a safe environment and minimising disruption to learning. "