Dear Parents

As you are probably aware, there are an increasing number of COVID cases locally. Within the school we have both staff and children who have tested positive in recent weeks. A key symptom at this time seems to be sickness and/or an upset stomach, so we would encourage you to test your child if they have these symptoms, alongside the known symptoms. 

The latest Department of Education guidance is below:

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.  For example, if they test negative on the morning of day 5 and the morning of day 6, they can return to their education or childcare setting immediately on day 6.

We are asking that a child has two consecutive negative lateral flow tests before returning to school, the first one cannot be taken sooner than 5 days from the positive LFT test (with the test day being day zero). 

We appreciate that this is an unsettling time, but the government guidance is clear that children should still be attending school unless they are positive and there is no guidance around school or class closures. All classes will continue to operate subject to the correct staffing levels. Should there be any changes to this we will of course let you know. 

Thank you

Knights Templar