AT THE height of the Omicron wave in mid January, 288 cases of Covid-19 were recorded in schools in Blaenau Gwent.

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Education and Learning Scrutiny committee on Tuesday, March 15, councillors discussed a report which covered the latest phase of the pandemic.

Figures show that at the height of the Omicron wave – recorded as Sunday, January 16 – positive cases in Blaenau Gwent schools jumped by 169 per cent to 288.

But a few weeks later, by Sunday, February 6, cases had fallen back to 59.

Director of education, Lynn Phillips said:  “At the time we drafted the report the overall number of cases across Blaenau Gwent was just over 300  per 100,000 population.

“The most recent data that we’ve had unfortunately highlights that’s increased to 350 per 100,000 population.

“The report  reflects the activity during the spring term.

“We’ve tried to work within the Welsh Government’s national school infection control framework.”

He explained that this meant  that the “emphasis” can be devolved down to local decision making at a school level.

Mr Phillips said that if there were incidents of Covid-19 are reported at a school, work would then be done to “mitigate those risks.”

Mr Phillips said: “The data for a 12-week period from November 21 to February 6, illustrates the increased case count we experienced around Christmas and  there was a significant increase particularly around the end of January.

“From a workforce perspective we continue to monitor the situation.”

“When the report was drafted 35 staff across our schools were affected.

“That figure has improved and dropped to 30.”

He added: “So far this term we’ve had 10 classes that have moved to blended learning across the county borough and that’s across six school settings, four primary schools a special school and a secondary school.

“We’ve also had some recent issues at Abertillery Learning Community that’s had to introduce some blended learning.

“The vast majority of blended learning cases have been one to four days, the longest period being eight.

“Hopefully, we will be coming to a more settled period and the focus is on recovery and renewal.”

Cllr Bob Summers asked how the decision to close a class and move to online “blended” home learning was taken considering the changes to testing and isolation rules.

Mr Phillips said a blended learning approach is only brought in once cases are confirmed through PCR tests.

Cllr Summers said: “What about coming back to school?”

Mr Phillips said: “The self-isolation period is now reduced to five days, and they need a (negative) test before returning to school.”

Cllr David Wilkshire wanted to thank all school staff throughout Blaenau Gwent for all the hard work they have done over the last couple of years.

Councillors voted to accept the report.