AROUND half of Herefordshire's schools still have children off due to coronavirus, latest figures show.

Herefordshire Council warned last week that the number of children aged between five and 16 testing positive for coronavirus each week was rising.

But in latest figures, confirmed cases at schools remained the same – not rising or falling.

Of the 80 schools which reported Covid statuses to the Department for Education on Wednesday (December 8), 49 had confirmed Covid cases

At those 49 schools and colleges there were 204 confirmed cases – the same as the week before.

On top of that, there were a further 222 suspected cases, 38 fewer than the week before.

That meant 426 pupils in Herefordshire were off school on Wednesday due to coronavirus, according to the council's public health team.

It added that 78.8 per cent of pupils on roll were at school or college on Wednesday, but the figures were skewed due to an inset day.

"One of the largest colleges had an inset day on Wednesday meaning that the establishment recorded 2,000 on roll but none attending on site," a spokesperson said.

"If we remove this college from the data attendance would have been 87.4 per cent.

"This was marginally lower than the England average of 88.2 per cent on the same day."

More than two months ago on September 30, 1,142 school children either had, or were thought to have, coronavirus.

On that day, 88 of Herefordshire's schools reported figures to the Department for Education, and Almeley Primary School and Kingstone High School were both closed due to the number of Covid cases found.

No schools were closed on Wednesday due to coronavirus, the council said, adding there are just over 24,500 pupils across the schools.

It comes as schools start to make plans to test pupils for Covid on their return to school in January.

In an email to schools in November, the Department for Education (DfE) said testing secondary school pupils once they return “will help reduce transmission after a period of social mixing” over the holidays.

A school leaders’ union has accused the Government of forgetting that headteachers are educators “rather than an ad hoc branch of the NHS”.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) has said it is not reasonable for the Government to impose such a considerable public health task on schools “with minimal support”.

The DfE has told secondary schools to order sufficient testing kits by Tuesday to ensure each pupil can take a rapid lateral flow test on-site when they return.

An email from the DfE to school leaders said: “We would like all secondary schools to prepare to test their pupils once on-site on return in January.

“We understand that this is a significant additional ask but testing continues to play a vital role in keeping Covid-19 out of schools.”

Secondary schools have also been asked to order home testing kits so pupils can continue to test.

The email said: “Testing all pupils in school boosts testing participation and will help reduce transmission after a period of social mixing over the school holidays.

“Tests, PPE and funding to support your workforce will be provided as before. After this test on return, pupils should continue to test in line with Government guidelines.”

At the start of the autumn term, all secondary school and college pupils in England were invited to take two lateral flow tests at school on their return.

Pupils were then asked to continue to test twice weekly at home.

A DfE spokesperson said: “As part of our commitment to protecting face-to-face education, we are asking all secondary school pupils to complete one on-site test as they return to school after the Christmas break, reflecting that mixing between households is likely to increase over Christmas.

“Protective measures in place continue to strike a balance between managing transmission risk with testing, hygiene, ventilation and vaccines, and we encourage any eligible young people who haven’t yet had the vaccine to consider using the Christmas break to do so.”