A letter has been sent today to all families, further to the Prime Minister’s statement to parliament earlier this week on 'living with COVID' and the removal of all remaining domestic restrictions in law from 24 February 2022, to clarify the situation for parents and students as it applies to the College. The letter provides more detail, and links to official guidance, but in summary, key items for parents and students to note from next week are:
- If a student tests positive for COVID-19, public health advice is still that they should still stay at home. They should take LFD tests each day from 5 days after their symptoms started (or the day their test was taken if they did not have symptoms). If test results are negative on 2 consecutive days, they can return to school.
- If a student has COVID-19 symptoms, public health advice remains that a PCR test should be arranged and that they should stay at home while awaiting the result.
- If a student is a close contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, they are no longer required to test daily for 7 days, and should attend school as usual.
- Students are no longer required to take two weekly LFD tests, although they may continue to do so if they wish.
- Given current case numbers locally, we strongly advise that students, staff, and visitors continue to wear face coverings, temporarily, in corridors and communal areas, and we retain the option for students and staff to continue to wear face coverings in classrooms should they wish to do so.
- We will continue to retain some of the measures we have had in place at the academy to help limit transmission of the virus within our school and the wider community, including ensuring that classrooms and communal areas have sufficient ventilation, and that there continues to be regular enhanced hygiene and cleaning processes in place.
