Symptoms

If anyone in your household becomes unwell with a new and persistent cough or a high temperature, or has a loss of, or change in, their normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia), you must not come to the school and stay at home and follow ‘stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection’, which sets out that they should self-isolate for at least 10 days and should arrange to have a test to see if they have coronavirus (COVID-19).

Please notify the school office via telephone as soon as possible if your child, or somebody in your household, is showing symptoms of coronavirus and your child cannot come into school.

Testing

All pupils, and members of their households, will be able to access a test if they are displaying symptoms of coronavirus. If your child is displaying symptoms, we would strongly advise that you access a test.

There is information about how you can access a test on the NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/

You can also call NHS 119

Where possible, we will provide a home testing kit for you to ensure that your child and other members of your household can easily access a test.

If your child is sent home from school with symptoms and subsequently takes a test, you must inform the school of the results as soon as possible. If the test is negative, your child can return to school when they feel better. If the test is positive, your household will need to continue the self-isolation period.

We ask that you to inform the school immediately of test results.

You may also need to engage with the NHS Test and Trace programme, meaning that you need to be ready and willing to:

• Book a test if your child or another member of your household displays symptoms.
• Provide details of anyone your child has been in close contact with if they were to test positive for coronavirus or are asked by NHS Test and Trace.
• Allow your child to self-isolate if they have been in close contact with someone who develops coronavirus symptoms or someone who tests positive.    

     Procedure for Pupil Displaying Symptoms of Covid 19

It is extremely important that all parents and pupils remain vigilant regarding preventing, identifying and minimising the spread of coronavirus.

We ask, therefore, that you do not send your child to school if they have any of the following symptoms.

• A high temperature – this means they feel hot to touch on their chest or back
• A new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if they usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• A loss of, or change in, their normal sense of smell or taste – this means they cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

It is also important that you do not send your child to school if somebody in your household has tested positive for, or has symptoms of, coronavirus.

If your child becomes unwell at school and shows symptoms of coronavirus, the school will take the following immediate actions:

• Your child will be asked to self-isolate in school using a designated area.
• Your child will be supervised while waiting for collection
• You should come to collect your child must as soon as possible.
• We would ask that you have your child tested for coronavirus.  
• You will be encouraged to engage with the NHS Test and Trace programme.

If an individual in your child’s class tests positive for coronavirus, the school will send the individual’s close contacts home to self-isolate for 14 days.

    Close contacts include:

• Direct close contacts – anyone in face-to-face contact with the individual for any length of time, within 1 metre – this includes face-to-face conversation, unprotected (skin-to-skin) physical contact or being coughed/sneezed on.
• Proximity contacts – anyone in extended close contact with the individual, within 1 to 2 metres for over 15 minutes.
• Travelling in a small vehicle, e.g. a car, with the individual.

We will notify you if this is the case and ask that you pick your child up from school as soon as possible. While pupils are awaiting collection, they will remain in their classroom and be able to access one toilet.

All parents will also be informed that a positive case has been identified although it will be clear that your child has not been a close contact of the identified case.