State school head teachers found running a “bubble system” for pupils in order to prevent Covid spread will face intervention, schools minister Nick Gibb has warned, The Daily Telegraph reports.
He said that England’s eight regional school commissioners would be looking at any cases of children being put back into bubbles and calling the schools to ask for a reason.
It is not clear how many state and independent schools are currently running bubble systems, against guidance to scrap this measure of limiting Covid spread.
Mr Gibb told MPs that there was “no real reason for schools to maintain the bubble arrangements” that have been running since children return to school after the first lockdown.
“Our recommendations are very clear that bubbles are not required in schools,” he told MPs.
“The regional school commissioners will be phoning up to make sure the schools are not, for example, closing unnecessarily or sending too many children home.”
Mr Gibbs statements come as reports emerged of schools of imposing curbs at the start of term, including face masks, bubbles and self-isolation of healthy children.
There has also been a counter backlash from the unions and scientific community, who have warned that scrapping many anti-Covid measures in schools while cases are still very high is “reckless”.