COVID-19 Guidance
December 30th 2020
Information for parents
When to book your child a test for COVID-19
You should book a test for your child if they have the symptoms of coronavirus, which are:
- a high temperature
- a new, continuous cough
- a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste
You can book a test online at GOV.UK. If you have problems using the online service you can call 119.
As soon as you have symptoms of coronavirus you must self-isolate at home. The guidance on what you need to do is on the NHS website.
Attending school
The Government guidance is that all pupils should be attending school as usual for their educational progress, for their wellbeing, and for their wider development.
All schools have carried out risk assessments and have measures in place to keep pupils safe.
Children should not attend school if they are showing any of the symptoms of coronavirus. If your child shows symptoms they should stay and home and you should arrange a test. Other members of the household should also self-isolate.
Dropping off and collecting children
If you drop and collect your child from school please strictly maintain social distancing at all times.
There have been issues outside some schools with parents congregating around the entrances and not social distancing.
This puts not only the welfare of families at risk but also the whole school community.
Please also remember that meeting in groups of more than six is now not allowed.
If there is a confirmed case in your child’s school
If there is a confirmed case in a school, Public Health England and the City Council’s public health team will work with school’s leadership team to ensure staff and pupils take any necessary measures to stop the virus spreading.
They will establish who the confirmed case has been in contact with and which other pupils will need to self-isolate for 14 days. In some instances this will be a class or year group ‘bubble’. The size of these bubbles will depend on the risk assessment carried out by the school.
These measures are considered carefully as it is understood that they can cause considerable inconvenience to families. However, they are very important to keeping your child and your family safe and stopping the spread of the virus in the community.
All other pupils in the school should continue to attend school unless told otherwise.
If your child is asked to self-isolate
If your child is asked to self-isolate but is not showing symptoms, they need to stay at home for 14 days.
The school will aim to ensure learning can continue during this period.
Siblings of a child asked to self-isolate for this reason should attend school as usual, unless told otherwise.
Please ensure that if your child is asked to self-isolate they do not leave home or socialise with friends. If they start to show symptoms, please arrange a test for them.
COVID-19 absence - a quick guide for parents
| WHAT TO DO IF... | ACTION NEEDED | BACK TO SCHOOL... |
|---|---|---|
| …my child has COVID 19 (coronavirus) symptoms* |
|
...when child’s test comes back negative |
| …my child tests positive for COVID-19 (coronavirus) |
|
…when child feels better, and has been without a fever for at least 48 hours They can return to school after 10 days even if they have a cough or loss of smell / taste. These symptoms can last for several weeks once the infection is gone. |
| …somebody in my household has COVID-19 (coronavirus) symptoms* |
|
…when household member test is negative, and child does not have COVID-19 symptoms* |
| …somebody in my household has tested positive for COVID-19 (coronavirus) |
|
…when child has completed 14 days of self-isolation, even if they test negative during the 14 days |
| …NHS Test and Trace has identified my child as a ‘close contact’ of somebody with symptoms* or confirmed COVID-19 (coronavirus) |
|
…when the child has completed 14 days of self-isolation, even if they test negative during those 14 days |
| …we / my child has travelled and has to self-isolate as part of a period of quarantine |
|
…when the quarantine period of 14 days has been completed for the child, even if they test negative during those 14 days |
| …we have received advice from a medical / official source that my child must resume shielding |
|
…when school / other agencies inform you that restrictions have been lifted and your child can return to school again |
| ….I am not sure who should get a test for COVID -19 (coronavirus) |
|
…when conditions above, as matching your situation, are met |
Covid-19 Updates
We will be using this page to communicate any updates to parents/carers and the local community of Elburton Primary. Our aim is to give you the clearest and most up to date information as we receive it.
In the Event of Illness
- In line with government guidelines, we ask that if someone in the household has Covid-19, that the child does not come to school.
- Anyone who displays symptoms whilst in school, will be isolated immediately and parents contacted. Anyone who displays symptoms can and should get a test. Tests can be booked online through the NHS testing and tracing for coronavirus website or ordered by telephone via the NHS 119.
- We ask parents to inform the school immediately of the test results.
- If someone tests negative, they can stop self-isolating.
- If someone tests positive, they should follow the ‘stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus infection’ and must continue to self-isolate for at least 7 days from the onset of their symptoms.
Please see the Covid Flow Chart.
Bubble Isolation
The school have devised a clear contingency plan should there be a need for a year group bubble to isolate. In the attached document you can see details of how this will be managed at Elburton.
Parents/Carers
·We would ask parents/carers to limit their approach/communication to staff on the playground and at the school gates. Senior members of staff will be available to speak to at the Foundation/KS1 entrance and at the KS2 entrance gate each day.
·All contact will be via email, telephone or Tapestry (where applicable) Any messages for specific staff must be telephoned through to the school office to be passed on.
Message to parents from Plymouth City Council September 15th 2020:
Important message for Parents/Carers
It has been great to see so many children and young people returning to school and the work that has been conducted locally to ensure a safe return. It is inevitable that for some children and young people they will feel unwell and for many this could include Covid related symptoms.
This message contains important information about how you can get a test. You cannot get a test by arriving at the Testing Centre without an appointment and you should not go to the hospital (Emergency Department) or your GP for a test.
Evidence to date has shown that children usually have much milder symptoms and they have tended to pick up the infection from home rather than from school. However it remains extremely important that any child with symptoms of Covid stays away for school, to avoid the risk of spreading infection to others, including the more vulnerable. These symptoms are:
• high temperature – feeling hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• new, continuous cough – coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different from normal
Over the last week we have seen a number of children being referred for a Covid 19 test in accordance with national guidance. If your child has been in close contact with a confirmed case, they will be asked to self-isolate at home. Please DO NOT try to get your child tested unless they have developed the symptoms of COVID19. A negative test result does not mean that they can go back to school; it simply means that they had not fully developed the illness at the time of the test, and they could develop the illness at any point in the 14 days.
We are very aware that in Plymouth, as elsewhere, there have been delays in accessing tests. This is a national issue as laboratory capacity for analysing tests is being directed to areas in the country with the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases. We are doing all we can to work with national agencies to increase the capacity available.
We understand how frustrating this can be, particularly with children returning to school and being asked to stay off school until they can get a COVID-19 test. However, it is crucial that we keep our schools open, and continue to keep our children and communities safe.
We therefore ask that you continue to follow government guidance and keep your child at home, and book a test as soon as you are able. You only need to get a test if your child has the symptoms listed above. If your child has these symptoms, it is really important that you do not send them to school. The test is best done in the first 5 days of having symptoms.
The current routes for getting a test are :
• Parents book a test online at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/coronavirus-in-children/ or by calling 119
• If parents or carers are unable to book a local slot then they can email d-ccg.cornwalldevon.urgenttesting@nhs.net explaining that the test is for a child attending a Plymouth school and they will be supported to access local testing.
If you cannot book a test immediately, we ask that you try again as the system is currently very busy and your patience is appreciated.
If you are not able to secure a test, it is important that your child remains away from school for the 10 day isolation period. As part of creating a Covid safe school, children must not return before the isolation period is over. Please work with your school to keep all children and young people safe.
You can also use the NHS 111 online coronavirus service if:
• you're worried about your symptoms
• you're not sure what to do
Call 111 if you cannot get help online.
More advice on what to do can be found here. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/
We would like to reassure you that we are working hard to put additional local arrangements in place to boost our local testing availability until national testing capacity can be increased and we will update you as soon as the situation changes.
Judith Harwood
Service Director for Education, Participation and Skills
Education, Participation and Skills
Plymouth City Council
Windsor House,
Tavistock Road
Plymouth
PL6 5UF
T +441752305960
E judith.harwood@plymouth.gcsx.gov.uk
Elburton Primary School Covid-19 Risk Assessments
Hygiene & Cleaning
It is very important that we keep the school environment as clean as possible. We will be introducing a range of measures to help keep our school clean:
- Clean hands thoroughly more often than usual. We will continue to ensure that staff and pupils clean their hands regularly, including when they arrive at school, when they return from breaks, when they change rooms and before and after eating.
- Ensure good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach. We will ensure younger children and those with complex needs are helped to get this right, and all pupils understand that this is now part of how school operates.
- Ensure that bins for tissues are emptied throughout the day.
- Propping doors open, where safe to do so (bearing in mind fire safety and safeguarding), to limit use of door handles and aid ventilation.
- Sanitisers will continue to be made readily available around the building, particularly next to touchpoints such as photocopiers.
- Cleaning materials will be available in each classroom so that staff can maintain standards of hygiene throughout the day.
We will be increasing our cleaning routines to ensure that the school is cleaned during the day, this will include cleaning the toilets, corridors and high contact points such as hand railings and door handles.