Covid-19 Information

Covid-19 Information for Parents

From the end of the last school year, the school is no longer responsible for tracking and tracing suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19. Instead, NHS Test and Trace will work with positive cases and their parents to identify close contacts. A close contact is considered to be someone who has had contact any time from 2 days before the person who tested positive developed their symptoms (or, if they did not have any symptoms, from 2 days before the date their positive test was taken), and up to 10 days after, as this is when they can pass the infection on to others.

A contact can be:

• anyone who lives in the same household as another person who has COVID-19 symptoms or has tested positive for COVID-19
• anyone who has had any of the following types of contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19:
• face-to-face contact including being coughed on or having a face-to-face conversation within one metre
• been within one metre for one minute or longer without face-to-face contact
• been within 2 metres of someone for more than 15 minutes (either as a one-off contact, or added up together over one day)

 

Changes to isolation guidance were made on 16th August. This means that children and people who have had both vaccines do not have to isolate even if they are identified as a close contact of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.

Asymptomatic testing, although not compulsory for primary aged pupils, is a useful way of identifying cases in the community. These are in the form of rapid lateral flow tests (LFTs). These can be done at home and you know the results within 30 minutes.

LFTs are available to order to your home or can be collected from a number of local venues. Please see the list below for these venues.

Newton Place Surgery, Faversham

Tesco, Faversham

Boots, Faversham

Boots, Canterbury

Morrisons, Canterbury

If you are using these type of tests regularly as a family and your child tests gets a positive result, they should isolate and get a PCR test to confirm the results. They should not attend school while awaiting the results.

 

The main symptoms of Covid-19 are:

A new, persistent cough

A high temperature

A loss of taste or smell

 

If you (or your child) develop any of the symptoms of Covid-19, you should arrange for a PCR test.

PCR tests are available at local walk-in and drive through centres. They can also be ordered to be delivered to your home. Please see the link below to get a PCR test.

https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test

 

What to do if my child has symptoms

If your child has symptoms of Covid-19, they should not attend school and should take a PCR test. It is really important that they do this. They should isolate while waiting for the results of the test.

If the results of the PCR test are negative, they may return to school.

If the results are positive, they must isolate for 10 days from the onset of symptoms. You will need to talk to NHS Test and Trace to identify the close contacts of your child. In some cases, NHS Test and Trace will contact the school to assist with this or we can assist parents with identifying close contacts.

What to do if someone in my household tests positive

If someone in your household tests positive, your child should take a PCR test. They are able to attend school while awaiting the results. If the results are negative, the child can continue attending school. If the child tests positive, they must isolate for 10 days from the date of the test.

What to do if my child is identified as a close contact

If your child is identified as a close contact of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19, they will be advised to take a PCR test. They can attend school while awaiting the results. If the results are negative, the child can continue attending school. If the child tests positive, they must isolate for 10 days from the date of the test.

What happens if children need to be educated at home?

When children are asked to be educated at home because they have tested positive and providing they are well enough, they will be provided with learning to do at home and we have high expectations of all pupils to complete the work set. Activities and tasks will be shared on Google Classroom. The children have all been sent home with log in details for this. This will be updated daily. However, we do recognise that health and wellbeing are paramount and we appreciate that the level of work that might be undertaken by a child will reflect the situation and circumstances at home.

We will:

• Set work that is both online and offline
• Provide printed resources for those families who require it
• Provide work for a number of different subjects each day equivalent to the lessons they would have in school
• Provide work that is in line with curriculum expectations and allows skills to be built incrementally
• Ensure that any new content is taught through careful teacher explanation e.g. video clips
• Check and mark work that children produce on a regular basis
• Set work that is appropriately challenging
• Aim to have regular contact between classroom staff and pupils

Please read through our more detailed document about remote learning below.

As we will be using Google Classroom Meet to facilitate contact between the staff and pupils learning at home, it is important that all members of the school community understand the expectations for this. Please read through our Remote Learning Acceptable Use Policy below for more details.

A guide to using Google Classroom can be accessed below.

Additional and supplementary resources recommended by the Department for Education are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-online-education-resources for parents to use at home.

How to talk to your children about the Coronavirus

Elizabeth Jenner, Kate Wilson & Nia Roberts have written a book about Coronavirus aimed at children. It has been illustrated by Axel Scheffler. It explains in simple terms about the virus and what we can do to keep ourselves safe. It is available to download below.

Please download the book here

Nurse Dotty books have produced a downloadable book for children that aims to explain coronavirus without fear.

Please download the book here

 

From September 2021, all schools are required to have an ‘Outbreak Management Plan’ which goes alongside our Covid-19 risk assessment. This new document outlines actions our school may take if we experience a number of cases among our pupils. This is now in place and is available to download below.