Number of Blackpool schools sending children home hits 11 - but are protective measures working?

Eleven local schools have been forced to send pupils home following confirmed Covid-19 cases, but 10 have remained open for the majority of pupils since they returned to the classroom earlier this month.
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Only Westcliff Primary Academy in Crawford Avenue, Bispham, needed to shut completely, with Blackpool's director of public health saying that, in most cases, the measures put in place to protect youngsters, including dividing them into 'bubbles', have worked.

Dr Arif Rajpura said: "We have a strong understanding of both the measures required to create a safe environment and also the correct procedures to follow should any positive cases occur, which is evidenced through the fact Blackpool has experienced only one full school closure this month."

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Westcliff reopened on Monday after closing for two weeks, with pupils in reception and years one, two, and six, as well as some in year five, back in class after being told to isolate following an outbreak.

Westcliff Primary Academy in Bispham, which shut for two weeks after a coronavirus outbreakWestcliff Primary Academy in Bispham, which shut for two weeks after a coronavirus outbreak
Westcliff Primary Academy in Bispham, which shut for two weeks after a coronavirus outbreak

Not all of the schools that have sent bubbles home have been identified, but they include Layton, Boundary in Grange Park, Montgomery in Bispham, Devonshire in North Shore, Armfield in South Shore, Bispham Endowed, and St John Vianney's in Marton.

Others in the county council area, which includes Fylde and Wyre, include Hodgson, Baines, and Breck, all in Poulton.

Dr Rajpura said: "Over the course of the summer, we worked closely alongside school leaders and the Government to ensure the right measures were in place to offer the maximum protection for pupils and employees.

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"Children and staff have been operating in bubbles and following the appropriate guidance, and we are continuing to monitor things closely to ensure schools operate safely and with as little disruption as possible to lessons."

Research last month claimed "children play a minor role in transmission of the virus and schools play a minor role in transmission of the virus", while a separate report said coronavirus cases in schools are mainly caused by community transmission.

There has been a surge in Covid-19 cases in Blackpool recently, with the infection rate doubling from 30.8 per 100,000 to 64.5 in the last week, according to the Victoria Hospital's medical director Dr Jim Gardner.

The resort has been under stricter anti-Covid restrictions since Saturday, with mixing between households in private homes and gardens now banned for everyone except those in support bubbles.

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Sean Bullen, interim education boss at the Fylde Coast Academy Trust, which runs Westcliff, said risk assessments there were "being followed" but have since been "updated", with the "importance of social distancing, hand sanitisation, and daily cleaning ... further stressed".

He said: "This is an invisible virus so it is very difficult to track its transmission.

"Senior leaders at both trust-wide level and in the school have reviewed procedures, but with the virus being so unusual - with many carriers being asymptomatic - we have to hope that all we have done has been sufficient."

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The last thing that schools want to do is send home groups of children, but a key action in the event of a positive Covid case is to identify close contacts and ask them to self-isolate.

"This is designed to reduce the risk of transmission.

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"Schools are guided over who to send home by public health advice.

"It is a difficult situation for everybody concerned but it is a reflection of the extremely challenging circumstances in which schools are operating.

"They have effectively found themselves on the frontline of managing a public health emergency as well as delivering education.”

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