Entire year group is sent home for two weeks
A WIDNES high school has sent an entire year group home to self-isolate after a pupil tested positive for Covid-19.
Wade Deacon, on Birchfield Road, told parents on Monday evening that all Year 9 students would have to remain at home for the next two weeks.
In a letter to parents, headteacher Simon Corner said: “Following a detailed risk assessment, including liaison with the local authority and Halton public health advisor, the recommendation is that students in the Year 9 Bubble should remain at home and self-isolate, in accordance with Public Health England regulations.
“Students in other year groups are expected to attend school as normal as they will not have been in close contact with students in the Year 9 Bubble; we are completely confident that all procedures and risk assessments have been followed since the school re-opened in September.”
The news means around 300 pupils at Widnes’s top school will be unable to return to classrooms until September 24 as long as they have not developed any coronavirus symptoms in the meantime.
Mr Corner added that it was “hugely disappointing” that the pupils would miss out on more time at school, but said Wade Deacon would continue to act on advice from Halton
Council and Public Health England.
Wade Deacon is now the fourth high school in the Liverpool City Region to send an entire year group into self-isolation.
Liverpool College and West Derby High School in Liverpool both sent year groups home last week, as did Woodchurch High School on the Wirral.
Unlike Merseyside, Halton is not currently on the government’s coronavirus watch list, but cases have continued to rise in the borough.
Last week saw more than 60 new cases in Halton, putting the borough’s infection rate at around 50 cases per 100,000 residents.