Tens of thousands of students absent as Covid school disruption soars

As if education hadn’t been disrupted enough during the pandemic – there’s been another sharp increase in the number of pupils in England being sent home from school because of Covid.  Ministers have suggested that the current rules, which mean whole bubbles of pupils have to self-isolate if there are cases, might be changed by the autumn. In the meantime, families are having to cope with yet more disruption. North of England correspondent Clare Fallon reports.