Changes to measures and guidance for managing COVID-19 in education
and childcare settings from Friday 1 April 2022
On Tuesday 29 March, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, set out the next steps for living with COVID-19 in England from Friday 1 April.
Regular asymptomatic testing (LFD test) is no longer recommended in any education or childcare setting. This means that we are not able to order test kits (this has actually been the reality since mid-February).
Consequently, we are no longer able to hand out lateral flow test kits to staff or students, unless advised by our local health protection team, local authority or director of public health.
Free COVID-19 tests will continue to be available for specific groups, including eligible patients and NHS staff, once the universal testing offer ends on Friday 1 April, although these will not be available through school.
In terms of isolation, the following government advice should now be followed:
- children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with other people. They can go back to school, college or childcare when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough to attend
- adults with the symptoms of a respiratory infection, and who have a high temperature or feel unwell, should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until they feel well enough to resume normal activities and they no longer have a high temperature.
- children and young people aged 18 and under with a positive COVID-19 test result should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for three days, which is when they are most infectious. For adults and those over 18 years, the advice is five days.
Informing the school
Please continue to inform the school via Attendance (01482 881531 option 1) if your child tests positive for Covid-19 or for any other absence related to illness.
Registers and attendance
Please be aware that DfE instruction, in respect of recording covid related absences, has changed for the whole of this academic year. As a result, students who have had to self-isolate as a result of a positive test are recorded as absent due to illness. Previously, this would not have counted as an absence from school. This inevitably means that a large number of students now have attendance records of below 100%. Please be assured, that when we monitor attendance patterns we will take into account absence that has been enforced through covid isolation.
As always, if you require help in interpreting the latest guidance, please contact the school and we will do our best to assist.