Coronavirus: 5% of NI pupils absent due to self-isolation

About one in every 20 pupils in NI was absent from school due to self-isolation or shielding in the week before half-term.

It was revealed in the response from the education minister to a written question from the MLA Chris Lyttle.

Peter Weir said that in the week beginning 12 October, 5.6% of pupils were absent due to self-isolation or shielding.

Schools closed on 19 October and are due to reopen on Monday 2 November.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) previously said there had been 2,030 Covid-19 cases in total in about half of Northern Ireland's schools since the start of term.

However, a number of other pupils or staff can be told to self-isolate for 14 days if they are a close contact of a positive case.

Alliance's Mr Lyttle had asked the minister how many pupils had been absent from school under attendance code eight since the start of term.

According to Department of Education (DE) attendance guidance to schools, pupils are to be marked absent using code eight if they are "advised not to attend school following advice from PHA Contact Tracing Service".

Code eight can also be used if "a pupil chooses not to attend school or parent chooses not to send their child to school on the advice of a medical professional as the child is self-isolating due to a significant underlying medical condition".

Using code eight is "important to identify the number of pupils choosing to self-isolate due to Covid-19," the DE guidance to schools said.

Pupils self-isolating at home are still expected to complete work provided by their school or be taught remotely.

Mr Weir was unable to provide Mr Lyttle with the number of pupils marked absent under code 8 since the start of term, but was able to give the figure for the week prior to half term.

For the week commencing 12 October, 5.6% of all attendances were recorded as code eight by schools.

A further 2.4% of pupils were marked as code P - which is used if their school transport does not arrive or they "are not required to attend physically at school due to social distancing rules".

While Mr Weir was not able to tell Mr Lyttle exactly how many pupil absences those percentages represented, there are around 320,000 pupils in Northern Ireland's primary and post-primary schools according to DE statistics.

It is not clear how many school staff have had to self-isolate following contact with a positive case.