Gov overruled school on covid case

Friday 16 October 2020

St Michael’s School initially refused to allow a covid-isolating child to return to school, but was overruled by the Government, a letter to parents has revealed.

That child then tested positive for corona virus – forcing the school to send a 'class bubble' home for two weeks.

The covid case at St Michael's was reported by Express earlier this week.

It's emerged that the Headmaster, Mike Rees, initially refused to allow the child to return to school, as per St Michael's covid policy; however, both the Contact Tracing Team and the senior civil servant in charge of Education then wrote to the school to say that the school did not have to wait until a negative test result before letting the child return.

Pictured: St Michael's School (Google)

In the letter, which has seen by Express, the private prep school’s Chairman of Governors Nicholas Taylor, explains the chronology:

“The Headteacher initially refused to allow the child back in accordance with the school (not GoJ) approach. Subsequently (after the child had been in isolation for 16 days) the government, through their Contact Tracing Department, issued written permission to the parents, stating that the pupil was safe to return to school.

“Furthermore, Mr Mark Rogers of Children, Young People, Education and Skills Department provided the following statement to the school: ‘Contact Tracing (CT) supported a return to school because the 14 day isolation period had elapsed (and the child was asymptomatic). This is the official GoJ policy position, hence CT not insisting parents wait for the test result.’

Pictured: the letter sent to parents. 

Mr Taylor continued: “I remain steadfast in the view that the school and parents of the pupil acted in good faith and in relation to the states correspondence. Moreover, following the news of a positive result on Monday morning, the school acted swiftly and in accordance with the required procedures.”

He added that the governors fully supported Mr Rees, who would be providing more information as soon as it became available in the days ahead.

This morning, the school declined to comment further on the letter.