Dear Parents and Carers,
Happy New Year to you all. We look forward to welcoming pupils back from tomorrow (Wednesday 5th January).
Unfortunately, the situation with COVID-19 does not seem to have improved and the new Omicron variant has led to a large increase in the number of people in County Durham testing positive.
Following recommendations from Durham County Council’s Public Health team, if there is a positive case of COVID in your household, your child can still attend school as long as they undertake daily Lateral Flow Tests (LFD) at home for 7 days.
- This means that a pupil who is a household contact of a positive case can continue to attend school provided they test negative on an LFD test each day before school.
- Testing should start from the day the positive household member had symptoms or, if they didn’t have symptoms, from when they tested positive. A photograph of the negative LFD result MUST be sent to Mrs Walker each morning using the mobile number: 07766510933 (Please add your child’s name to the message.) or private message on our Facebook page.
- If your child tests positive on LFD or develops COVID symptoms they will need to isolate and take a PCR test.
If you are unable to test your child at home, please keep them away from school until the positive household member’s isolation period has ended.
Accessing LFD testing Kits
We would recommend you have a supply of LFD testing kits at home in the event you are requested to use them. You can order home testing kits to be delivered to your home here www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests
If you pick up tests from a pharmacy, you may be asked for a ‘collect code’ this helps the NHS match your details to the tests. To get a ‘collect code’ please visit http://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/collect…
Please register the result of your home test at www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result
Changes to the isolation period
The 10-day self-isolation period for people who record a positive PCR test result for COVID-19 has been reduced to 7 days in most circumstances. Individuals may now take LFD tests on day 6 and day 7 of their self-isolation period. Those who receive two negative test results are no longer required to complete 10 full days of self-isolation. The first test must be taken no earlier than day 6 of the self-isolation period and tests must be taken 24 hours apart. If both these test results are negative, and your child does not have a high temperature, they may end their self-isolation after the second negative test result and return to school from day 8. Anyone who is unable to take LFD tests will need to complete the full 10-day period of isolation.
If you have any questions regarding isolation and testing procedures, please contact Mrs Walker on the number above.
Kind Regards,
Mr Cornforth
