Classroom Bubbles to be removed in Step Four changes

Earlier this month, I wrote to the Education Secretary and the new Health Secretary to request that they review the Government's policy on classroom bubbles as soon as possible. I have been contacted by many constituents who have expressed significant concern about the current measures and the disruption they cause for parents and pupils.

I have now heard back from the Minister of State for School Standards and am pleased to be able to confirm that classroom bubbles will be removed at Step Four. You can see the relevant extract from his response below:

“At step 4, the Department will no longer recommend that it is necessary to keep children in consistent groups or bubbles. This means that bubbles will not need to be used for any summer schooling, or in schools from the autumn term. Also at step 4, close contacts will be identified via NHS Test and Trace, not by schools themselves via year or class bubbles.

From 16 August, children under the age of 18 will no longer be required to self-isolate if they are defined as a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case. Instead, children will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace, informed they have been in close contact with a positive case and advised to take a PCR test. NHS Test and Trace will work with the positive case to identify close contacts. Contacts from a school will only be traced by NHS Test and Trace where the positive case specifically identifies the individual as being a close contact. This is likely to be a small number of individuals who would be most at risk of contracting COVID-19 due to the nature of the close contact.

Pupils who are 18 years old will be treated in the same way as children until four months after their eighteenth birthday, to allow them the opportunity to get fully vaccinated. At that point, they will be subject to the same rules as adults and so if they choose not to get vaccinated, they will need to self-isolate if identified as a close contact.

Schools may be required, in response to the latest epidemiological data, to step measures up or down in future depending on local circumstances. We are keeping all these arrangements under constant review and will make changes when it is necessary.”