Pupils should no longer self-isolate if someone in their school bubble tests positive, children’s commissioner says

School children should not have to self-isolate if someone in their bubble tests positive for Covid-19, the school commissioner has said.

Dame Rachel De Souza is calling for an end to the current arrangements in schools, which sees children being forced to self-isolate at home if there is a positive Covid test in their bubble.

The current rules have led to a dramatic increase in student absences, with the latest government figures showing 239,000 had missed classes and numbers trebling in the past week, as per Sky News.

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Dame Rachel said the ‘experience of lockdown has been a real trauma’ for children and young people and the current rules are ‘a really big issue.’

According to the commissioner, children have ‘given up nineteen weeks of their education’ due to lockdowns and have ‘taken a big burden for us.’

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, she said: “With bubbles, I think everybody would like it if we could get back to normal, as soon as possible. Obviously we have to be safe, and we have to take advice, but it’s very very restrictive.”

Didsbury CE School

A former teacher herself, Dame Rachel said she had ‘real concern’ for nursery-aged children and those starting school who were at an age when they ‘need to be playing and learning and developing language skills’ but were instead ‘stuck inside for too long.’

Other school leaders in Greater Manchester have seconded Dame Rachel’s stance on the matter, with many saying that closures and isolations are having a ‘devastating impact’ on children. 

Reports in The Guardian today claim that ministers are due to scrap the current arrangements in schools, with an official announcement due in the next couple of days.