Covid: Suffolk schools' three-level protocol introduced

Suffolk County Council said home-schooling would only be re-introduced as a last resort

Home-schooling, bubbles and staggered school days could be reintroduced in Suffolk schools to tackle the spread of Covid-19.

A new school protocol, developed by Suffolk County Council, has begun this week.

It contains three levels of restrictions, but the authority warned it was "advice and cannot be mandated".

The protocol said any measures should "affect the minimum number of children for the shortest time".

Level one is the current level at all establishments, regardless of whether they have any cases, and means only essential visitors and use of face coverings by pupils and staff in between classes.

Level two recommends schools consider reintroducing bubble arrangements, staggered start and end times for classes or the school day, internal contact tracing or daily lateral flow testing in secondary schools for a minimum of five days, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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The highest level, level three, was a "last resort" the protocol said.

It stated: "Affected class or group to move to home-learning for as short a period of time as possible, but with on-site provision remaining for vulnerable children and key worker children".

The trigger for level two is when between five and 14 people, who are likely to have mixed closely, test positive within a 10-day period, or if 10-29% of a defined group of pupils and staff, also likely to have mixed closely, test positive within the same timeframe.

The level three threshold is 15 or more pupils and staff, or 30% or more of a defined group, likely to have mixed closely test positive within a 10-day timeframe.

The new protocol is due to be reviewed every two weeks.

In October, the council said siblings who lived with pupils who had Covid should also stay at home and take PCR tests, but they could return to school if they returned negative results and had no symptoms.

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