Dear Parents / Carers,

                                              

From Thursday 24 February the government is removing remaining domestic restrictions in England. This includes changes for schools such as no longer recommending regular testing for pupils and staff without symptoms and removing the legal requirement for people to isolate following a positive test - this includes school pupils and all staff in mainstream education.

 

Although there is no longer the legal requirement to self-isolate, a child with any of the main COVID-19 symptoms should order a PCR test and will not be allowed to attend school while awaiting the result or if the subsequent result is positive. Children with symptoms who do not obtain a PCR test must remain away from school. Parents/carers will be asked to collect their child if they develop symptoms whilst at school

 

In these cases, children must stay away from school for 5 full days and may return after if they obtain 2 negative lateral flow test results on consecutive days, or after a total of 10 full days after the symptoms started if they feel well.

 

The three main symptoms remain:

• a high temperature
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot, for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours
• a loss or change to sense of smell or taste – this means they cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

 

Children should continue to attend school if they have not tested positive for COVID-19 and are well enough to do so. Children who are at home should access remote learning.

 

Furthermore, it is no longer advised that pupil close contacts need to test daily for 7 days and pupils in mainstream secondary schools will not be expected to continue taking part in regular asymptomatic testing. However, the school may be advised by our local public health team to recommend lateral flow device (LFD) tests to manage an outbreak.

 

Please be reassured that for most children, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness. However, the school will continue to observe good hand hygiene, cleaning regimes, ventilation requirements and other measures to manage the risk of transmission.