We would like to assure parents that the school is following the government’s advice closely with regard to this major public health issue. The local education authority has now set up a task force to support schools in their decision making and is in regular communication as the situation continues to develop on a day to day basis. The well-being of both the school community and of the community at large will always be our top priority.  The primary source of information for anyone with health concerns is www.nhs.uk .

From 11th October 2021 there are NEW household contact guidance for schools.  This guidance, set out by Public Health Cumbria will be reviewed every 2 week.

Guidance for household contacts of positive cases

Children aged 4 and under

Parents of children aged 4 and under who are household contacts of a positive case should be asked to keep them at home for 5 days, starting from the onset of symptoms in the household contact who has tested positive (or test date if the positive case had no symptoms). They should only have a PCR test if they develop symptoms of COVID-19.

Children and young people between the ages of 5 and 18+6 months

Children and young people between the ages of 5 and 18+6 months (unless exempt – see below), who are household contacts of a positive case, should be advised to stay at home. Five days following the onset of symptoms in the household contact who has tested positive (or test date if the positive case had no symptoms), the close contact child should get a PCR test. If this is negative, they can return to the setting, but should isolate again immediately and get another test if they develop symptoms of COVID-19 at a later date.

Exemptions

The groups exempt from this advice and able to continue to attend the setting when identified as a household contact of a positive case are:

• Any child or young person who has had at least one dose of the vaccine more than 14 days ago
• Any child or young person who has tested positive for COVID-19 themselves via a PCR test within the past 90 days.
• Where there are significant concerns about the impact of exclusion on the child or young person, and a risk assessment indicates that the risks of exclusion to the individual child outweigh the wider benefits.

Full school risk assessments are available from the school office, upon request.  If you have any specific schooling concerns which you would like to discuss, please contact myself directly. 

Mrs Michelle Clark

Headteacher

As is normal, with schools returning, the county has seen a surge in the prevalence of common colds.  For clarity, the current guidance is, irrespective of whether it is preceded by common cold symptoms, if a child develops a high temperature or a cough it must be treated as a possible COVID-19 symptom, the child must isolate and get tested.

It is vital to keep everyone in our school safe that we are vigilant to the symptoms of COVID-19 and act quickly if anyone is displaying symptoms.  The NHS provides a more detailed definition, which may be helpful:

• a high temperature – measured as 37.8°C or above. If you don’t have a thermometer, feeling hot to the touch on your chest or back is a good indicator of a high temperature
• 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 your child has any of these symptoms please do not send them into school, self-isolate the whole household and arrange testing as quickly as possible. As you might expect, there has been a recent increase in demand for testing. You can arrange testing via one of the following routes: 

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

• Telephone – by dialling 119 if the family do not have access to the internet 

You can apply for testing at any time of day but we have been advised that if you are struggling to get a suitable appointment to try first thing in the morning, or after 6pm at night (as this is generally when batches of testing availability are released). If you are still struggling to access testing for your child(ren), we may be able to book a test on your behalf through school. Please contact either admin@asby.cumbria.sch.uk or head@asby.cumbria.sch.uk and we may be able to make a referral on your behalf. 

What about children who may cough because they have asthma?

Any cough different/worse to what is recognised as ‘expected’ or ‘normal’ in a child’s asthma treatment plan (or based on the family’s knowledge of their condition) fitting the COVID-19 cough definition (a new, continuous cough, coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours) should be treated as suspected COVID-19, especially if accompanied by a high temperature.

So for asthmatic children:

• Child develops cough as expected following exposure to triggers (such as damp weather) as detailed in their asthma treatment plan (or based on family’s experience of the condition in their child) and NO other COVID-19 symptoms (such as a temperature) are being experienced: Parents and schools should discuss and agree continued attendance at school
• Child develops a continuous cough without known trigger, or cough is accompanied by other symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, or cough/symptoms are ‘different/worse to what is expected’: suspect COVID-19 and ask the child to isolate and get tested.

If your child has been for a test, please send us a copy of the test results whether these are negative or positive ASAP as we may have to take very swift action in school.