COVID-19 Guidance and Information

Remaining safe in Primary school.

Dear parent,

Your child/ren will be starting back at school this week and we are looking forward to welcoming them back. While coming back to school is a really important step that we need to take for their education, including their mental and physical wellbeing. I appreciate the new school year will raise some concerns among you as to what will happen should there be a positive case at their school

Please remember and reassure your child that, for most people, coronavirus should be a mild illness. But we all need to remain vigilant by watching out for symptoms of coronavirus.

I hope the below information will help you to understand the process and to see how closely we are all working together to keep the risk related to reopening our schools to all year groups, to a minimum.

We have a four step process to tackling Coronavirus. These are:

1. Avoiding those with symptoms and keeping risk of transmission to a minimum.

2. Getting tested

3. Identifying and isolating contacts of positive cases.

4. Keeping risk of transmission to a minimum;

Firstly, avoiding those with symptoms. We need to prevent Coronavirus coming to school. We need to keep to the national guidance to prevent our children passing on the virus and catching the virus. Like every autumn/Winter there are many illnesses which are going to be circulating this term, but it is more important this year that if your child is unwell to keep them home until they have been tested. Likewise, if anyone in the household is unwell, if you as a parent you start to feel unwell, do not send your child into school until you have been tested.We need to keep the risk of transmission to a minimum, children will remain in tight bubbles and groups to prevent mixing with peers and transmission to other bubbles or groups.

Secondly, testing. If your child or anyone in the household is showing coronavirus symptoms get them tested immediately. If you’re not sure it could be coronavirus. Get a test. If in doubt, test. Anyone with coronavirus symptoms should test negative before your child returns to school. If your child is positive inform the school immediately.

Finally, If your child has symptoms we need the test result, positive or negative to enable us assure our community that we are doing all we can to prevent the opportunity for spread of Coronavirus in the school. As soon as we are informed someone has tested positive we will be swiftly isolating close contacts. If your child needs to self-isolate as a close contact they should isolate for 14days – the household do not need to isolate unless your child themselves develops symptoms.

So, what happens if there's a case or an outbreak at your child’s school?

• As soon as we are informed of a person positive for Coronavirus in school we act immediately. We identify all close contacts of that person and inform them not to come to school/ send them home to self isolate for 14days. This prevents the virus from spreading in school.
• When we get two individuals who are positive in a school community (within 14 days) we class the situation as an outbreak. In all cases so far in the County, this second case has occurred in a close contact of the initial person who was already self-isolating when they developed symptoms.
• The school works with PHE and the Public Health team at Warwickshire County Council for the best advice on next steps.

     Schools are being advised on number of measures, These are:

• Ensuring that social distancing is used at every opportunity
• Reminding pupils around good hand hygiene and good respiratory hygiene “catch it, bin it, kill it”.
• Keeping children in bubbles or groupings; such as form groups, we minimise the close contacts children can have.

We have some children who have underlying illnesses who are very worried about coming to school. If families follow the above actions together and we follow our processes in the school, we can make the setting as safe as possible.

I hope that that addresses some of your questions. Please talk to us at school if you have any further concerns and I hope that your child enjoys returning or starting with us.

Keeping you safe: If you or your household contacts have symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19)

We all need to remain vigilant by watching out for symptoms of coronavirus. For most people coronavirus will be a mild illness. The symptoms are:

• a new, continuous cough or worsening of a cough,
• and/or high temperature
• and a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell

There is a large picture of symptoms associated with COVID-19 including fatigue (reported to affect 38.1% of people infected), a sore throat, headache and others (figure 1). Therefore if in doubt – remain at home and book a test.  

Only send close contacts to self-isolate following positive test results?

As we run up to the winter period there are many children developing symptoms similar to that of COVID-19, this happens every year and even more so when the new school year starts. Therefore, those with symptoms may not be COVID-19 cases, they may be the usual cold we have seen in previous years in children as their immune system develops. 

If a child is reported to have symptoms of COVID-19 we do not send any children who could be close contacts home until the child with symptoms has been tested and confirmed as a positive COVID-19 case.

However, if you have more than two children in the same class group or within a cluster (which have contact with each other),  who are reporting symptoms similar to COVID-19 and they are all off within a day or so of each other, notify  DPHadmin@warwickshire.gov.uk and PHE Health Protection.

What do my test results mean?

Please also inform the school that you are going for a test and any test result as soon as you receive them.

If results are: Negative (as long as you are not a close contact of a positive case)-          

• You can return to school/work/usual activities when you are well and have not had a temperature for at least 48 hours)

• All household contacts can return to school/work/usual activities immediately  

If results are: Positive

• All positive cases must stay off work/away from school for at least 10 days (until well and they have not had a temperature for at least 48 hours);
• Let the school know as soon as you find out your test result, the school will want to start to gather information regarding close contacts of the staff member or child.
• Household members of those positive should isolate for 14 days, this starts from the first day symptoms started, or the day of the test (if the test was taken in the absence of symptoms). This means household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home. This will greatly reduce the possibility of spreading the virus
• Where possible, arrange for anyone who is clinically vulnerable or clinically extremely vulnerable to move out of your home, to stay with friends or family for the duration of your home isolation period
• The action now is that close contacts of those positive should be identified and sent home to self-isolate for 14 days

What do you mean by close contact?

• Direct close contacts: exposure within 1 metre for 1 minute or longer, such as:
  • Face to face contact with a case for any length of time, within 1m.
  • Being coughed on,
  • a face to face conversation,
  • unprotected physical contact (skin to skin). This includes
• Proximity contacts: Extended close contact; within 2m for more than 15 minutes
• Travelled in a small vehicle with a case

See National Guidance on Close Contacts definition. (Updated 12/08/2020) This is now available in multiple languages.

What happens if someone self-isolating as a close contact then develops symptoms?

• If anyone isolating develops symptoms of COVID-19, they should book a test immediately. 
• They should inform the school they have symptoms, are being tested and any test result as soon as they receive them.
• All other household members must now isolate and not leave home until the result of the test.

If the test is positive:

• Treat as a case above, moving from the 14 day isolation to the 10 day isolation, starting from the first day of symptoms.
• Your household (and any close contacts) will need to isolate for 14 days. The 14 day period starts from the day when the first person in the household became ill.
• Contact the school and inform them if further contract tracing needs to occur.

If the test is negative:

• If the test result is negative, due to being a close contact of someone who tested positive they still need to isolate for 14 days. As long as they are well they can return to school after that time.
• Everyone in your household can stop isolating following the negative test.