Interaction History

Once upon a time, we went into school, sat the children down in clusters, horseshoes or rows, delivered a lesson, collected their work and moved on to the next group.  When Fred was off with the seasonal flu no one bothered; although you probably knew that Daisy, sat next to him, would likely be symptomatic by the end of the week.

Now, in the days of Covid-19, we have (mainly) classrooms with rows and a need to find out who was sat near to Fred or who may have also shared that desk at some point over the last few days.

I live in Nottinghamshire, one of the counties with the highest rate of infection.  One of the primary schools near me has had to close completely, my son’s school has shut 3 year groups, others are struggling with staffing, whilst some have escaped relatively unscathed…so far.

Primary schools seem to have this sussed.  No moving tables for different subjects and it will be the nearest children who are requested to isolate, or possibly the whole class bubble.  Secondary schools are finding this more challenging, especially if they have tried to retain some normality and have students move to specialist classrooms or allow for ability sets and options.

The features within Class Charts can be used to support this informal ‘track and trace’.  It is called Interaction History* and it looks at the seating plans that have been created across all lessons to produce a colour coded grid if you get the call to say Fred is a positive case.  It doesn’t just identify who was sat close, but also who else might have been sat in the same seat (we know most schools are sanitising between moves, but as it is mostly children doing this…let’s just say it might not be the best job!)

Close Proximity Lists

Instead of having to send home the whole of Fred’s class or even year group, the closest, most likely, contacts are identified instead.

Hearing about the government track and trace system, this is a step up!  With the government system installed on your phone you could have been no-where near the person who is identified but just happened to be in the same vicinity.  I have two teachers at my school currently required to isolate for 14 days for this very scenario; they happened to be in a very large building at the same time as the individual who is now positive but never came into contact with them.

We’ve had a few schools who have already had to put Class Charts and the Interaction History through its paces…

 Fingers crossed, your school won’t need to use it, but if you do have a positive case, it’s helpful to know that your Class Charts software can help.

Book a demo to see how interaction history can help you monitor your pupils interactions and create a safer school > Book a demo

*Interaction History is available to all schools using any Class Charts package who have an active integration from SIMS using Wonde or XoD.  At present it is not available for non-SIMS schools.  Attendance module is not required, but use will give more accurate results.