My children's schools are doing the same. So only the children in immediate close proximity of the child who tests positive will be sent home. If there's a further case in the class then the whole bubble has to isolate.It does seem the advice, or how schools handle it has changed. In September we would get an email of a positive case and was told the whole year group was to stay home for 14 days. As time has gone on the emails have changed, and they now say that there has been a case and that child will be isolating, and anybody in close contact has been notified and will also have to isolate. I'm taking that as children sat directly in front or to the side of them
No more are they sending whole year groups, or even classes home. Sort of defeats the object of bubbles in my opinion, that said I was getting 2 emails a week at one point, and now its maybe one email fortnightly, so I can only assume the rate is slowing in schools - or at least in our area anyway.
All schools are handling the spread differently. The senior school my son attends they're making kids sanitise hands before entering a class, then they have to wipe the table down with spray before they leave.
At my daughters college they don't do that but have a rota system where Year 1s go in one week and Year 2s home learn, then they swap the next week.
Touch wood it seems to have worked... so far!
Similar with secondary. One child positive then just the very close contacts isolate. The bubble doesn't burst until there have been more than two positive cases in the same bubble AND transmission is proven to have happened at school. This changed sometime toward the end of Sept from the original rules. I'd assumed it was national policy but it seems everywhere is different.