Covid-19 News

COVID-19 Update - 29th June 2022

 

Living with Covid – Revised Guidance from 1 April 2022

From Friday 1 April, most of the COVID-19 specific guidance for education and childcare settings was withdrawn from GOV.​UK.

Schools are now advised to follow the UKHSA guidance for the general population along with the specific UKHSA health protection in education and childcare settings.

The HR Guidance for Headteachers on Covid-19 has been withdrawn and replaced by the following information. It will apply from 1 April 2022.

 

Schools should be aware that the list of potential symptoms of Covid-19 has been updated as follows:

• continuous cough

• high temperature, fever or chills

• loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell

• shortness of breath

• unexplained tiredness, lack of energy

• muscle aches or pains that are not due to exercise

• not wanting to eat or not feeling hungry

• headache that is unusual or longer lasting than usual

• sore throat, stuffy or runny nose

• diarrhoea, feeling sick or being sick

 

• If an adult has symptoms of a respiratory infection, such as COVID-19, and have a high temperature or do not feel well enough to go to work they should stay at home and avoid contact with other people, until they no longer have a high temperature (if they had one) or until they no longer feel unwell.

 

• If an adult with any of these symptoms is well enough and their role allows, they can work from home. If they cannot work from home but are well enough to work you should discuss with them the risk of spreading illness and the mitigations that you have in place to enable them to attend the workplace.

 

• Any individual with COVID-19 will no longer be infectious to others after 5 days. If they have a positive COVID-19 test result, they should try to stay at home as much as possible and avoid contact with other people for 5 days after the day they took their test. There is different advice for children and young people aged 18 and under (see below). 

 

While they have symptoms, they are a high risk of passing the infection to others and they should be supported to:

• Try to keep their distance for other staff and pupils

• Wash their hands regularly for 20 seconds or more to limit the spread of Covid-19 – hand sanitising stations should continue to be available.

• Keep windows open to allow good natural ventilation and leave them open for at least 10 minutes after they have left the room

• Consider wearing a face covering in crowded or enclosed spaces, especially where they come into contact with people they do not usually meet.

• Limit the amount of time they spend in areas and used by lots of colleagues.

• Clean down shared equipment and desks before and after each use.  Cleaning stations should continue to be made available for staff.

Schools are advised to continue with enhanced cleaning practices, ensure good levels of ventilation and to encourage staff to take a lateral flow test before attending a workplace if they have Covid-19 symptoms (even if mild) as part of their personal responsibility to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

 

Children and young people aged 18 years and under who have a positive test result:

 

It is not recommended that children and young people are tested for COVID-19 unless directed to by a health professional.

 

If a child or young person has a positive COVID-19 test result they should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 3 days after the day they took the test, if they can. After 3 days, if they feel well and do not have a high temperature, the risk of passing the infection on to others is much lower. This is because children and young people tend to be infectious to other people for less time than adults.

Children and young people who usually go to school, college or childcare and who live with someone who has a positive COVID-19 test result should continue to attend as normal.

COVID-19 Update - 9th March 2022

 

Despite national restrictions lifting and there no longer being a legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test result, as a school, we continue to follow the government guidance on self-isolation to protect our school community. Here is a brief summary of how we're managing the current COVID-19 situation in school and what we're asking of our parents/carers should their child/ren test positive.

 

Risk Assessment

We have a working risk assessment in school for COVID-19, which covers our preventative measures (including enhanced cleaning and hygiene practices, distancing where appropriate and ventilation) and outbreak management measures, should there be cases in school (including isolation guidance). This is regularly reviewed and updated when necessary. 

 

'Stepping measures up and down'

In line with the government and local authority guidance, we have an outbreak management plan. We report any confirmed cases in school to our local public health team and have contingency plans in place should we need them. These include our remote learning provision in the event of staff having COVID and needing to teach from home and also our Google Classroom provision, should the school close. We're hopeful that these will not be needed, but the systems are in place should we have to resort to them. We're also working flexibly in school, adapting to the situation as it changes. We are currently avoiding whole-school gatherings indoors, having staggered break-times and are minimising mixing between the classes when we have cases in school. 

 

If you suspect your child/ren may have COVID

If your child/ren display any symptoms of COVID, please keep them at home and test them. Similarly, if children display symptoms in school, we will contact you and ask that you collect them to be tested. Further information from the NHS about COVID symptoms in children can be found here.

The main symptoms to look-out for in children are: 

• 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

Other symptoms reported to have been present in children include:

• Headache
• Fatigue
• Stomach ache
• Sickness

 

We appreciate that there are other illnesses which remain common in children and young people and that not every illness will be COVID, but we will be encouraging our school community to remain vigilant and cautious to ensure that we're protecting everyone to the best of our ability. 

 

When a pupil tests positive for COVID

Supported by the information from the government, found here, we are asking all pupils who receive a positive result on a lateral flow test to isolate at home for at least five days. This flow chart helps explain the day-to-day process of isolation:

 

 

In summary, if your child tests positive, they should isolate at home for at least five days. If tested on day 5 and they are negative, you should test again on day 6. If they are negative for two consecutive days, they can/should return to school. We're asking that children have two, negative lateral flow tests on two consecutive days in order for them to safely return to school. If you have any queries, questions or concerns about this, please contact the school office. Children's absence will be recorded and authorised as with any other illness.

 

"Where a child is self-isolating (awaiting a test result) or in quarantine because of COVID19, they should be recorded as code X (not attending in circumstances related to coronavirus). Where they are unable to attend because they have a confirmed case of COVID-19 they should be recorded as code I (illness)."  

Government Guidance for Schools (Page 10)

 

The health, safety and wellbeing of all of our pupils, families and staff remains our utmost priority and whilst we wholeheartedly appreciate the impact your child's isolation may have on your circumstances, we are incredibly grateful for your continued support. Unfortunately, COVID is still prevalent and we need to work together to keep everyone safe. 

 

"In most cases, parents and carers will agree that a pupil with the key symptoms of COVID-19 should not attend the school, given the potential risk to others. If a parent or carer insists on a pupil attending your school where they have a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19, you can take the decision to refuse the pupil if, in your reasonable judgement, it is necessary to protect other pupils and staff from possible infection with COVID-19." 

Government Guidance for Schools (Page 10)

 

Please see this link from the NHS for further information: 'When to stay at home and what to do.'

This image shares some helpful tips on minimising transmission at home: 'Safe at home guidance'

 

Home Learning

Teachers who have children in their class(es) who are isolating will endeavour to update their home learning pages (found under their class page) on our website as regularly as possible. There are also lots of videos, activities and games on each page, which children can access at any point in their isolation, if they feel well enough. We are working hard on our catch-up curriculum in school and our teachers, support staff and our Academic Mentor, Mrs Yates, are all continuing to work with (and support) pupils who need additional input following absence. 

 

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Should children be worried about COVID, both the NHS and NSPCC have produced some information to help communicate and navigate their concerns with them.

This can be found here: NHS: Every Mind Matters and NSPCC: Supporting children and young people's mental health.

 

Thank you for your patience, kindness and continued support as we navigate the ever-changing COVID landscape. 

 

 

 

 

Welcome Back!

We are delighted to be opening our doors to all pupils, once again, from Monday 8th March.  Please see our Newsletters page (News and Events) for copies of all emails that have been sent out with details about our return.

Thanks 

Important Contact Infomation

 

We politely request that you only contact us by telephone if really urgent and that you use the text and email service as a first point of contact.  We are checking these continually throughout the day and are picking up messages.  We may not be able to respond individually, but rest assured that your messages are getting through.  It is very important that we keep the phone line free to deal with emergencies should they arise.  Thank you.

 

homelearning@rosliston.derbyshire.sch.uk - to contact teachers regarding home-based learning support

office@rosliston.derbyshire.sch.uk - for all other enquiries

 

The DfE have established a helpline for issues around coronavirus:

Phone - 0800 046 8687

Email - DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk

 

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.  If you have any concerns about a child or young person in our community then please contact

Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership 01629 533190

or 

The NSPCC on 0808 800 5000