An entire year group has been asked to self isolate following a confirmed case of Covid-19 at a Cardiff school.
Year six pupils and staff at Ysgol Treganna received a letter from Cardiff and Vale Test Trace Protect informing them of close contact with someone with coronavirus, following two confirmed cases at the school. All 89 affected pupils will be learning online until they can return to school next week. Term ends for most pupils in Cardiff on Tuesday, July 20.
Ysgol Treganna headteacher Rhys Harries clarified in a letter to parents that affected pupils must isolate until July 11, returning to school the following day, a handful of days left before the end of term. You can see the places in Wales where coronavirus cases are growing fastest here.
All pupils who have been sent home are being asked to book a PCR test to limit the further spread of infection.
The Welsh Government has said that any decision on ending ‘contact bubbles’ in schools will be made by education minister Jeremy Miles, hopefully by the end of term.
Contact bubbles have been criticised for leading to mass isolation of pupils, even after a single case. Critics say whole year groups are being sent home when not all were necessarily a close contact of a confirmed case.
The Welsh Government plans to end contact bubbles and staggered start and end times in schools from September, information seen by WalesOnline suggests.
A message from the National Association of Headteachers Cymru (NAHT) to its members, seen by WalesOnline, outlines the Welsh Government’s plans after Mr Miles announced changes last Monday but gave no real detail - you can read more on that here.
More than 12,000 children were absent from school in a day due to Covid the last time data was recorded in Wales, last week. Covid-related absences soared by almost half in one week, the data showed.
