Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 2:57 pm on 25 November 2020.
Thank you, Minister. I fully appreciate the measures that have been taken to suppress the spread of COVID in schools and how difficult it is for headteachers and staff to keep bubbles even as small as whole year groups. However, in the last few weeks, we are starting to see this problem across larger secondary schools in particular, and in my constituency there have been a number of schools where one positive case is leading to hundreds of children having to self-isolate for two weeks. In one case, a year group returned for two days only for another case to be identified and isolation having to start again. I've had an increasing amount of parents getting in touch who are understandably concerned about the impact that rolling isolation periods are having on their children's welfare and education. I completely understand the risk posed by transmission across year group bubbles, and the hopes for lateral flow testing, which would help. However, the current situation is very worrying when the cases are at current levels and disruption is increasing. What plans does the Welsh Government have to address this as quickly as possible?