Covid-hit school set to reopen doors as others report cases
PUPILS at a Valley school which was completely shut down by a severe coronavirus outbreak were due to start returning on Thursday this week.
It comes following another week of severe disruption across the borough’s schools.
Holy Trinity Stacksteads CE Primary was fully closed last week as headteacher John Aspin wrote a scathing letter criticising staff who had attended a social event at the home of a former colleague on September 5 - as we revealed last week.
The school said that Years 2, 4 and 6 were due to return to classrooms following isolation on Thursday this week, with the rest of the school to return next week.
Our readers had mixed views on the handling of the incident.
Writing on our Facebook page Tracey Harris questioned why teachers were being publicly blamed, adding: “Many teachers have worked through all this, whilst the majority of the population have been safe in their homes.”
And Allan Johnson felt that staff had been “thrown under the bus”.
However, Ali Mullaney said: “Sadly this has a wider knock-on effect. True that the new rulings weren’t in place, but as we all know, this virus spreads so very easily so a bit of common sense might well have avoided this situation.”
Alder Grange School in Rawtenstall confirmed a sixth former had tested positive for Covid-19.
As a result, all sixth form students were asked to remain home on Monday while staff identified those who have been in contact with them. All other year groups at the school were asked to attend as usual.
Further updates were set to be emailed with students asked to check Google Classroom and school emails for work.
All Saints’ Roman Catholic High School
in Rawtenstall said they were informed that a Year 11 pupil has tested positive for Covid-19.
All Year 11 pupils were asked to remained home on Monday as a precaution while staff sought confirmation on the situation. The school informed parents and carers with a message posted on social media on Sunday.
Following guidance from Public Health England and the Department for Education, most secondary schools have put year groups into bubbles, so once there’s a positive case of the virus, every student in that year is affected by the restrictions.
Haslingden High School
is operating slightly differently to some others in the event of a positive test. Headteacher Mark Jackson explained: “If there’s a positive case, we work with students, parents and staff to identify students from our school who they’ve been in close contact with, both in and out of school. Those students have to self-isolate and stay off school, in line with the national guidance.
“This approach has helped us to reduce the number of people who need to be away, while still protecting our staff and students. There’s been a lot of disruption to school life both this year and last year due to Covid-19, so it’s important for our students to be able to stay in school if they can.”
All year 11 students at Woodhey High School in Ramsbottom were told to self-isolate after a positive case was confirmed.
An email sent to parents and carers read: “It is with regret that I write to inform you that Woodhey High School has had the first positive test for the coronavirus for one of our pupil population whilst the school has been in session.
Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, public health director for Lancashire County Council, has said that schools are ‘not a source’ of outbreaks among the wider community in Lancashire and one of the reasons restrictions are being brought in is so that children can continue their education.”