Dear Parents,
The Department of Education along with the Public Health Authority have produced a flowchart to help parents and schools manage pupils who have been in close contact with a person who has tested positive for Covid-19.
Please refer to this flowchart attached if your child has been in close contact with a positive case. This in effect means that if a parent, sibling or friend has tested positive for Covid and was in close contact, your child will need to take a PCR Covid Test without delay. Equally, if a child in the same class has tested positive the same will need to happen.
PCR and Lateral Flow TESTS can be booked online here: https://covid-19.hscni.net/testing/
These can be ordered and delivered to your home.
If your child has a continuous cough, high temperature or has lost their sense of taste and smell they are symptomatic and must isolate at home for 10 days.
If your child is not showing any symptoms, but has been in contact with a positive case then he/she MUST GET TESTED before returning to school. This should be done on DAY 2 and DAY 8 following the contact with the positive case.
If your child gets a negative result on Day 2, he/she can return to school but must have the follow up test on Day 8.
Undoubtedly there will be various scenarios emerge over the coming weeks and months throughout all school communities which will challenge us, but I would encourage everyone to be cautious and think of the ripple effect which can happen if a child is sent to school while a parent or household member is awaiting a PCR test result.
Having read the current guidance from the Department of Education, there is no change on the rules for close contacts in the Primary School Setting (eg). If one child/staff member in the class tests positive - then the whole bubble will be taught remotely until PCR tests have been completed. The Post Primary School setting is not as clear cut as this as 'close contacts' may only be selected pupils who were seated near the positive case. This is so, because pupils in secondary school are constantly moving between subject rooms and teachers.
For now, Principals have been tasked with managing contact tracing - which I might add is a complex task!
In the interests of health and safety and having been tasked with the role of Safeguarding pupils, I will try my best to ensure that there is a concerted effort within our school community to mitigate and manage the risks associated with Covid. We all know too well the devastating effects it can have on health and it is not something we should be lax about.
I hope the flowchart helps you to make decisions about attendance and covid management and I would be very grateful if you would keep the school informed about any potential cases/outbreaks as we the staff sincerely hope that your children will be able to remain in school for lessons for the full year ahead.
Thank you as always for your support
Justin Toner
Principal
For out of hours contact about Covid Related Issues please email: jtoner775@c2kni.net
Menu
