Symptoms and testing protocol

Monday 14^th September 2020

Dear Parents,

                        You will be aware that the number of positive cases of COVID 19 are increasing, nationally and locally and you may have heard that one of our local schools has had to send one of the classes home for 14 days to self-isolate. This caused many parents of that school to raise lots of questions so I thought it would be helpful to clearly explain the processes regarding symptoms, testing and self-isolating. I have written them as scenarios which I hope you find helpful.

1. At home- your child starts to display symptoms
2. At home-someone else in the household starts to display symptoms
3. In school- your child starts to display symptoms
4. In school- we receive information that a staff member or child has tested positive.

Symptoms

The following symptoms are those recognised by the NHS as the symptoms to look out for.

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
• a new, continuous cough – this means 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)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

Most people with coronavirus have at least 1 of these symptoms.

If anyone has any of these symptoms, they must stay at home and organise a COVID test for them as soon as possible. The following link will take you to the test ordering site.  

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/get-a-test-to-check-if-you-have-coronavirus/

1. AT HOME- You notice your child that attends our school has one or more of the symptoms above

• Your child and the whole household must self-isolate immediately. Visit the site above to organise a test for your child. Only the person with the symptoms should take a test- not the whole household.
• Contact school (headteacher@anthonybek.derbyshire.sch.uk) or telephone 01623 810355 if in school hours to inform us of the symptoms and that you have arranged a test.
• You may wish to alert the people who you do not live with and that your child has had close contact with over the last 48 hours to let them know that your child might have COVID-19 but are waiting for a test result. At this stage, those people should not self-isolate. Alerting those that your child has been in contact with means they can take extra care in practising social distancing and good hand and respiratory hygiene. They can also be more alert to any symptoms they might develop.
• Once the test result is received, send confirmation of the result for your child to the above e-mail address.
• If the school has received confirmation that the test result is negative, your child can return to school straight away- even if this is part way through a day.
• If the result is positive,  your child needs to remain in self-isolation for 10 days from the first day of the symptoms AND the rest of your household has to remain in self-isolation for 14 days from the first day of the child’s symptoms. You will need to take part in track and trace to help eliminate the spread- this will be communicated in your results.
• If anyone else in the household begins to show symptoms during the self-isolation period, organise a test as above.

1. AT HOME- A member of the household (not the child who attends our school) displays one or more of the above symtoms.

• The whole household must self-isolate immediately. Visit the site above to organise a test for the person displaying symptoms. Only the person with the symptoms should take a test- not the whole household.
• Contact school (headteacher@anthonybek.derbyshire.sch.uk) or telephone 01623 810355 if in school hours to inform us that your child needs to self-isolate because they live with someone who has symptoms.  
• You may wish to alert the people who you do not live with and that the member of your household has had close contact with over the last 48 hours to let them know that your child might have COVID-19 but are waiting for a test result. At this stage, those people should not self-isolate. Alerting those that your household member has been in contact with means they can take extra care in practising social distancing and good hand and respiratory hygiene. They can also be more alert to any symptoms they might develop.
• If the test result is negative, please contact the school to confirm. Your child can then return to school straight away.
• If the test result is positive, the rest of the household (including the child who attends our school) has to continue to self-isolate until 14 days from the 1^st day of symptoms of the person who tested positive. The positive person needs to self-isolate for 10 days. You will need to take part in track and trace to help eliminate the spread- this will be communicated in your results.

1.  IN SCHOOL – Your child displays one or more of the symptoms above.

• Your child will be taken to a designated area by a staff member wearing full personal protective equipment and isolated with the door closed and window open until the parent arrives.
• School will contact parents/emergency contacts to arrange for the child (and any siblings who live in the same household) to be collected immediately.
• If the child is seriously ill and therefore it is an emergency, staff will call 999.
• The whole household must self-isolate immediately. Visit the site above to organise a test for the child displaying symptoms. Only the person with the symptoms should take a test- not the whole household.
• Send confirmation of the result for your child to: headteacher@anthonybek.derbyshire.sch.uk.
• You may wish to alert the people who you do not live with and that the member of your household has had close contact with over the last 48 hours to let them know that your child might have COVID-19 but are waiting for a test result. At this stage, those people should not self-isolate. Alerting those that your household member has been in contact with means they can take extra care in practising social distancing and good hand and respiratory hygiene. They can also be more alert to any symptoms they might develop.
• If the school has received confirmation that the test result is negative, your child can return to school straight away- even if this is part way through a day.
• If the result is positive, your child needs to remain in self-isolation for 10 days from the first day of the symptoms AND the rest of your household has to remain in self-isolation for 14 days from the first day of the child’s symptoms.
• If anyone else in the household begins to show symptoms during the self-isolation period, organise a test as above (Only for the person showing symptoms)

1. IN SCHOOL – We receive confirmation that a child or staff member has tested positive

• We will immediately contact the Health Protection Team.
• All staff and children in the same ‘bubble’/class as the child or staff member who has tested positive will be sent home due to being classed as close contacts. In school, we are ensuring wherever possible, pupils stay 2m apart from each other, wash hands regularly and have their own equipment but they are still in the same classroom so they are still classed as close contacts.
•  Parents will be contacted and asked to collect their child as soon as possible and keep the child in self-isolation for 14 days (this is from the first day of the symptoms of the person who has tested positive so it will be less than 14 days away from school by the time we know the result is positive.
• Brothers and sisters in different classes within the school can remain in school as normal as they haven’t had close contact in school with the person who has tested positive.
•  Other household members do not have to self-isolate as they haven’t been in direct/close contact with the person in school who has tested positive.
• Work will be provided for the whole class to complete during this self-isolation to ensure their educational needs are met during this time.
• If your child begins to display symptoms themselves, please refer to scenario 1.

If, at any time, your child needs to self-isolate, work will be provided by school (electronically/paper format as appropriate). Please ensure your child tries to keep to a normal school working pattern if possible so they keep in the routine and don’t fall behind. Clearly, if it is the child that is positive themselves, they may not feel well enough to complete work in the same way.

Whilst I really hope we can avoid having to send whole class groups home to self-isolate, it is a realistic possibility so I hope this letter makes each situation clear to you so in the event of any scenario happening, you know what to do and therefore feel prepared.

PLEASE REMEMBER:

The Government’s latest guidance is no more than 6 people meeting indoor or outdoor and always keeping 2m apart from anyone not in your household. This includes children. Please help them to understand the guidance. This is crucial to stop the spread of this virus.