Public Health England | Schools Week

Unions demand ‘immediate’ release of Covid-19 variant school outbreaks data

Unions representing heads, teachers and support staff have demanded the “immediate” release of data on the number of Covid-19 variant cases linked to schools and colleges. A joint letter from the NAHT, ASCL, NEU, NASUWT, Unison, Unite and the GMB also calls on education secretary Gavin Williamson to come clean over when ministers were first […]

Council encourages schools to contact test and trace teams first rather than DfE hotline

A council is urging schools to ignore new protocols for contacting the government’s national coronavirus helpline to report positive cases after it issued incorrect advice. The Department for Education seized control of handling calls about school Covid-19 cases last week after some were left in “limbo” waiting three days to get health advice from local […]

It’s official: DfE doesn’t know how many schools have covid cases

The Department for Education does not hold information on the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in schools, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. The return to school has been disrupted with reports hundreds of schools have sent children home after suspected covid-19 cases, or a struggle to get those with symptoms tested. An […]

PHE school Covid outbreaks analysis: 8 things we learned

There were 30 outbreaks of Covid-19 in schools and other educational settings in June 2020, a new study by Public Health England has found. The research, published yesterday, is based on “enhanced national surveillance” amid the wider reopening of schools from June 1. However, PHE has warned there are “important limitations” to its findings, given […]

Coronavirus: What do schools need to know?

Public Health England has published guidance for schools and other educational settings about how they should respond to COVID-19, or “coronavirus”. According to the agency, the guidance is not new, and is likely to be made up of things schools already know, but it brings together all of their advice in one place for the […]