A Happy New Year to all, and a warm welcome back to school to all students. As you will know, all schools have been asked to offer onsite testing to all students, to ensure that every student has the opportunity to be tested once. The tests that the government have supplied for our testing centre are different to those used previously, with students being asked to take a nasopharyngeal swab:
The testing schedules for this week can be found here.
This means that students will no longer need to swab their throats/tonsils, which many found uncomfortable. We would also like to encourage all students to continue home testing twice per week using the LFD kits provided.
We have also received further guidance from the government:
- Since Wednesday 22 December, the 10 day self-isolation period for people who record a positive PCR test result for COVID-19 has been reduced to 7 days in most circumstances, unless you cannot test for any reason. Individuals may now take LFD tests on day 6 and day 7 of their self-isolation period. Those who receive two negative test results are no longer required to complete 10 full days of self-isolation. The first test must be taken no earlier than day 6 of the self-isolation period and tests must be taken 24 hours apart.
- From 4th January, face coverings should be worn in classrooms and teaching spaces where students in year 7 and above are educated. The advice is short term only and will be reviewed on the 26 January, in line with the review on Plan B measures.
It will be essential for everyone’s safety that we use all control measures we are able to, which will include students sanitising their hands before entering classrooms for every lesson. Please ensure your child comes to school with a face mask unless they are medically exempt from wearing one.
We look forward to welcoming all students back to school on Wednesday 5 January.