An earlier version of this story mistaken gave the impression that West Park school had a Covid case. We are happy to make it clear that is not the case and apologise for the error.
At least 18 schools across Derby and Derbyshire have been affected by cases of Covid-19 among staff, pupils and parents within days of reopening after lockdown.
This has resulted in hundreds of pupils being sent home from school.
Many parents across the city and county have tried and failed for hours and days – due to a lack of national lab capacity – to have their children tested for Covid-19 in a bid to get them back into school.
Derby City Council, as of noon today, said that seven schools across the city had reported cases of Covid-19. It was asked to name these schools.
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It could not say how many cases had been identified or how many pupils had been sent home from school as a result of the infections.
Several Derby schools have sent out public letters, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, informing parents of a Covid-19 case among their students and staff.
These are: Landau Forte College, Chellaston Academy, Lees Brook Community School, in Chaddesden, Brackensdale Primary School, in Mackworth, and Lord Street Nursery, in Allenton.
Decisions made by these schools after confirmed cases were discovered have resulted in hundreds of pupils being sent home to self-isolate for two weeks.
Meanwhile, Derbyshire County Council said it did not have the number of schools which have either closed as a result of Covid infections or sent classes and “bubbles” home to self-isolate.
Many schools across the wider county have also sent out letters to parents, of which the LDRS has seen 11.
These are: Pennine Way Junior Academy and Belmont Primary School in Swadlincote; Repton School; Howitt Primary Community School, Heanor Gate Science College and Mundy Junior School, all in Heanor; Buxton Community School; Clowne Junior School; Croft Infant School, Alfreton; Aldercar High School; and Newbold CofE Primary School.
This too has resulted in hundreds of pupils being sent home to self-isolate.
Derbyshire County Council said: “Under the national guidelines, schools are not required to notify us if they have positive cases and are only required to notify Public Health England (PHE) in the first instance. It is the responsibility of PHE to provide initial advice to the school, not the local authority.
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“We don’t have the numbers of schools currently either closed or that have sent classes home. With more than 450 schools across Derbyshire, many of which are academies or independent schools, the situation is constantly changing.
“Our director of public health has asked schools to notify the local public health team at the same time they inform PHE so that we can provide additional support if required but not all schools will choose to do so.
“Schools are very good at communicating with their parents so we are very confident that parents and carers will know if there is an issue at their school.”
Derby City Council said: “Our team are keeping a note of the schools affected but we are not keeping totals of individual cases. At present, for most schools these are isolated cases with limited or no contact with others.”
-- to www.derbytelegraph.co.uk
