Covid 19 Update February 28 - 2022
Dear Parents,
During the half term period the Government has reviewed the legal obligations and guidance in managing the risk and spreading of Covid 19. There have been some significant changes to the government’s approach to managing the countries response to the pandemic over the past week. As a BCP maintained school we are also guided by the local authorities' policies and guidance regarding minimising the potential health risks within the school and community. We will continue to respond to the local and national picture to make sure that we do everything that we can to keep our community safe. We will also endeavour to balance this with the desire to give our children the best possible educational experiences and have opportunities to share their learning with their parents. We would therefore ask that parents read and follow the updated guidance from public health and the DfE.
Updated public health advice for education settings:
Following the Government’s announcement that all remaining legal COVID-19 restrictions would end from Thursday 24 February:
Self-isolation
There is no longer a legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test. However, the public health advice remains the same and anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19 or a positive test result should stay at home and avoid contact with other people to avoid spreading the virus to others.
The updated advice includes specific guidance for education settings:
Children and young people with COVID-19 should not attend their education setting while they are infectious. They should take an LFD test from 5 days after their symptoms started (or the day their test was taken if they did not have symptoms) followed by another one the next day. If both these tests results are negative, they should return to their educational setting if they normally attend one, as long as they feel well enough to do so and do not have a temperature. They should follow the guidance for their educational setting.
If your child has no symptoms, but tests positive on a Lateral Flow test, we recommend they remain off school for five full days as well. Although your child may be symptom free, others might not be so lucky and continued attendance while knowingly positive poses a significant risk to others. Several families have household members or children with medical conditions, as do some of our staff working in school, thus making catching COVID potentially very harmful.
Close contacts
Close contacts of confirmed cases are no longer advised to take daily lateral flow tests, but they should take steps to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.
Testing
The Government no longer recommends twice-weekly asymptomatic testing in mainstream education and childcare settings. This is for children and staff.
At present, anyone with symptoms should continue to get a free PCR test and lateral flow tests can still be used for asymptomatic testing.
The Government has announced that free universal symptomatic and asymptomatic testing will end on 1 April, so we will provide further updates once we know more.
Face-Coverings
Staff will no longer be required to wear them in communal spaces unless they choose to do so. From now, visitors and parents invited into school, will also no longer be required to wear masks indoors unless they choose to do so.
We will continue to keep you informed of any changes in local and national guidance.
I would like to thank you in advance for your continued support in ensuring that we keep cases to a minimum so that both parents and children stay well and don’t miss out on the numerous events and learning experiences that we have planned over the rest of the spring and summer terms, details of which can be found on the school website.
Kindest regards
Mark Partridge
Headteacher