TEACHERS are being urged not to let their guard down in schools as efforts continue to combat the spread of coronavirus, councillors have been told.

Since September, many schools across the borough have had to take action following positive coronavirus cases among staff and pupils.

However, full school closures have, so far, remained lower than in other parts of the region.

Senior councillors have praised the “absolutely outstanding effort” all staff are making to meet the daily challenges brought about by the pandemic.

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St Helens Borough Council’s children and young people services (CYPS) scrutiny committee were updated today on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the borough’s schools.

Jo Davies, the council’s assistant director for education and early help, said where a school has had more than two positive cases, a team from across public health, education, and health and safety, meet with the leader of the school to talk through the situation.

She said in most cases this approach has prevented widespread school closures, with five closing to date.

This includes Carr Mill Primary School, which took the decision on Wednesday to close for the remainder of this week after multiple members of staff tested positive for Covid-19.

Ms Davies said where there have been closures, it has been where in excess of 11 members of staff have tested positive.

When schools have been forced to close, the council’s infection control team has gone into schools to offer advice.

What the council has found is that the virus appears to have spread among staff outside of the classroom.

As a result, reminders are being sent to staff this week by the council.

Ms Davies said: “Where it’s tending to spread is amongst staff, not during teaching and learning activities, but more when they’re coming together in the staff room.

“When they’re making their lunch, when they’re having, albeit a five-minute break and they’re making a cup of tea, and sharing resources.

“And we feel it’s when staff are letting their guard down a little bit.

“And because they’re in school all day they’re forgetting that actually they owe it to one another to keep a space between one another, and to clean resources before they share them.

“So there’s a letter going out to our staff this week to advise them of that learning.”

Ms Davies revealed that three members of staff from St Helens schools were hospitalised over the weekend.

One of the things the council is also finding is that the virus is keeping some staff out of action for up to a month.

Ms Davies said: “We’re learning, when staff are testing positive, particularly women, it’s really impacting on them.

“Two weeks actually, they’re not coming back to school. It’s three or four weeks before they’re well enough to come back.

“We’ve three members of staff that were in hospital over the weekend, so we are beginning to learn that the virus does affect people differently and can impact on staffing considerably.”

St Helens Star: Teaching staff have been admitted to hospital after contracting Covid-19Teaching staff have been admitted to hospital after contracting Covid-19

Cllr Trisha Long, chair of the CYPS scrutiny panel, wished staff who were currently unwell a “speedy recovery”.

The Labour councillor also praised the “absolutely outstanding effort” all staff are making to meet the daily challenges brought about by the pandemic.

Bold councillor John Wiseman asked whether, given the worrying levels of infection in the borough, a “circuit breaker” lockdown would be needed.

Ms Davies said the council has trusted school leaders to make the right decisions within their schools, which has so far worked well.

She said head teachers have been clear they want children to remain in school, and will not consider any closures unless staffing levels make it unviable.

Cllr Kate Groucutt, cabinet member for education, skills and business, said the council is a lot clearer now than it was in March that blanket closures are not in the best interest of young people.

She said a targeted approach, working with schools based on risk-assessments, is the best one.

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Cllr Groucutt said: “What we need to do is get the rate of infection down across our community.

“So I think the message we want to get out as a council is that everyone has a part to play in reducing the disruption to our young people.

“By following the rules we can all help to minimise the disruption to young people.”