Exam boards are working on contingency plans to award children GCSE and A-level grades based on coursework marks if they are unable to attend an exam because of swine flu, the schools minister, Jim Knight, has revealed.
Five schools and a nursery have now closed after children were diagnosed with the H1N1 virus and some have had to urgently reschedule practical tests for art and music GCSEs scheduled for this week. There are now fears for the Sats tests, due to be taken by 600,000 11-year olds next week, and the GCSE and A-level exams, which are scheduled to run through to the end of June.
John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Schools are extremely worried about the exams, GCSEs, AS and A-levels. They need to know what to do if one of the pupils or staff is ill. They want to know what the contingency plans are for external examinations."
One further person, an adult living in the south-east who has returned from Mexico, was confirmed to have swine flu by the Health Protection Agency today, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the UK to 28, with 333 still under investigation.
Knight said exam boards were considering new contingency plans but urged schools not to panic and rush to close unless they had received specific advice from the HPA. It comes after one school, Dolphin school in Battersea, south London and its nursery, closed without taking advice from the HPA.
Knight said: "I would be surprised if schools were to unilaterally decide to close without consulting the Health Protection Agency, who are experts in this matter.
"I don't advocate schools doing anything without reference to the HPA. The HPA has been thorough and professional in advice to schools on swine flu. Heads have a legal responsibility to make sure their children and staff are safe at school. I would encourage schools to take advice from the HPA before they make the decision to close."
He revealed that the exam boards were looking at expanding the system of giving "special consideration" to pupils who are sick at the time of their exams. Under the system, GCSEs, A-levels and other qualifications can be awarded on the basis of coursework grades and marks from modules already sat. Knight said: "There are already procedures in place if candidates can't sit their exams and are given special consideration. That can be put into action if things get worse. In contingency terms all these things are being discussed by exam boards."
Other options include looking at how pupils can sit exams in isolation even if a school is closed. The exams watchdog, Ofqual, said: "We are looking again at contingency plans to take coordinated action for the exam season if needed." The exam boards are due to meet on Thursday to discuss the situation as it unfolds.
Private schools have been issued with guidance advising them to expand their medical facilities to "quarantine" any infected pupils. The HPA said it was not advising the same to all schools.
It does not advise schools to close automatically as soon as a pupil is diagnosed with swine flu, but recommends a risk assessment to see if is is possible to limit the disruption to other children's education. Most schools affrected have called in the local authority's health protection unit to help them decide whether to shut their doors.
"All the schools that have closed did close on the advice of the health protection unit, apart from the Dolphin schools, where the board of governors made the decision to do so," the HPA said.
Though cases of swine flu have so far been mild in the UK, the HPA says it must be treated differently from seasonal flu.
"Although it would be unusual to close a school in response to a single case of flu, in the light of evidence emerging that swine influenza can spread rapidly in the school setting, it is recommended that, if a probable or confirmed case of swine flu occurs in a school setting, consideration should be given to closing the school temporarily (initially for a period of seven days)," the HPA guidance says.
Key to the decision to close is how easily the flu could spread. Staff should consider how long any sick child has been in school, for instance, and whether classes or year groups intermingle and all eat together.
No such precautions are recommended for offices and workplaces. The HPA said schools were a special case because children play together and are frequently in close physical contact. If an office worker gets swine flu, public health officials will trace his or her close contacts, who will include work colleagues. Only those who have been working within one metre of the affected person for an hour or more are considered sufficiently at risk to be given antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu, which can prevent them falling sick.
Tonight one flu expert warned that the UK's much-lauded drug stockpile might not be enough if people in contact with flu are given drugs, as children in UK schools have been. Dr John McConnell, editor of the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, said in an online comment in the Lancet that 16 times as much antiviral medicine is needed to prevent illness as to treat people. "By this measure, the UK has stockpiles of oseltamivir [Tamiflu] sufficient to treat 30 million people (about half the population) but to prevent infection in only 1.9 million," he said.
courtsey:the guardian.com,uk
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