Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) reception, (b) Year 1 and (c) Year 6 students have tested positive for covid-19 since 1 June 2020.
Keeping close track of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases in schools is a priority for the Government. The Department collects data on daily suspected COVID-19 related absences as well as data on the number of schools that have indicated they have sent children home due to COVID-19 containment measures. However it is not possible to extrapolate from this the number of confirmed positive cases.
Public Health England (PHE) collects data on infection, incidence and COVID-19 cases overall. PHE publishes data on COVID-19 incidents by institution, including educational settings, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-covid-19-surveillance-reports (page 20). The data are not broken down by year group, nor by profession.
All children, young people, members of staff and their households have access to a test if they are displaying symptoms of coronavirus and are encouraged to get tested in this scenario. Where a positive result is identified local health protection teams will work with the setting to carry out a rapid risk assessment and advise them of the actions to be taken.