Information regarding changes to Covid testing arrangements
Thu 21 Jan 2021
Yesterday morning the Department for Education (DfE) advised that schools should pause their plans for ‘serial’ COVID testing. This was a type of testing that was due to take place for any students in school identified as being in close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus, either currently or when schools have reopened to all students.
Instead schools have been told to revert back to their original practice of requiring students identified as being close contacts to self-isolate at home for the required period of time.
Instead schools have been told to revert back to their original practice of requiring students identified as being close contacts to self-isolate at home for the required period of time.
We have written to inform parents and carers that with immediate effect we will no longer be offering any ‘serial’ testing to students or staff who have been identified as a close contacts of a positive case of COVID-19. Instead, we will again require those identified to self-isolate for the remaining period up to 10 days from the last date of their close contact.
Should there be details of a new positive case shared with us, we will follow our previous procedure of identification of potential close contacts, with the requirement for them to self-isolate at home and not attend school.
We will however continue to regularly test staff who are in the academy, as well as vulnerable or critical worker children who attend the academy and have given consent.
At present we understand that the ‘mass’ testing of students upon the full re-opening of schools is still planned to go ahead. We hope to be able to communicate further with parents and carers on this once we are informed by the DfE of the arrangements for how and when this re-opening might proceed.