Almost one in five teachers working in schools in the North West say their school plans to keep Covid “bubbles” in place this term, according to a survey.
And one in seven primary school teachers reported that their school would keep bubbles, in the survey conducted by Teacher Tapp for91.
News: Schools can choose to keep bubbles this term, says DfE
At a glance:Covid absence grows to one in 10 pupils
Warning:Ending school bubbles and isolation ‘will be dangerous’
In the survey of 1,376 teachers, 19 per cent of those working in the North West said their school would keep bubbles in operation during the autumn term, whereas in most other regions around 10 per cent of respondents said bubbles would be kept in place.
In London, 13 per cent of respondents said their schools would keep bubbles.
Heads have suggested that regions whereschools “have experienced particularly severe disruption” could be more inclined to keep bubbles in place.
Under Department for Education guidance released in July, schools were encouraged to scrap Covid safety procedures such as bubbles, the wearing of face masks and contact tracing measures.
Covid: Schools keeping bubbles in the new term
But the survey reveals that some schools will be keeping bubbles in place as pupils return to school following the summer holidays.
Of respondents working in primary schools, one in seven -14 per cent- said they would keep bubbles, compared with 7 per cent of teachers working in secondary schools.
The findings also revealed that schools rated “outstanding” by Ofsted were slightly more likely to keep bubbles, and schools in the most deprived areas were more likely to keep bubbles than schools serving more affluent communities.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “Overall, it seems like the majority of schools will be operating without a bubble system this term, which is to be expected and is what the government has instructed them to do.
“The ones that report that they’ll retain bubbles will probably be doing so in response to very particular local circumstances, which will have been agreed with local health protection teams.
“All schools will have a plan B in mind, which may involve reinstating bubbles, should that become necessary. Reinstating bubbles will be done to minimise any further disruption to education and will allow some teaching to move online whilst keeping as many other pupils in class as possible,” he added.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Some schools may have decided to retain ‘bubbles’ - as in keeping children in consistent groups - because they felt it worked well in their context as a safeguard against coronavirustransmission last year and possibly also because they found other benefits around staggering finish and lunch times, for example.
“The government guidance does not require this approach but obviously schools are free to choose how they organise the logistics of the school day, as they would be at any time, and we absolutely support schools in making decisions which best suit their circumstances.
“It is difficult to know what may lie behind regional differences but, purely speculatively, it may be that schools which have experienced particularly severe disruption because of the pandemic are more inclined to keep this system in place.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said:“As we learn to live with the virus, our priority is to minimise disruption to education and for all pupils to be receiving high quality, face-to-face education.
“ Based on the latest scientific and medical advice, bubbles are no longer required, children no longer need to self-isolate should they come into contact with a positive case, close contacts will instead be identified by NHS test and trace and advised to take a PCR test.
“Regional schools commissioner teams continue to work with academy trusts and local authorities to help implement back to school guidance.”
