Home Testing Information
It is imperative that anyone displaying the three main symptoms isolate immediately and seeks a PCR test at a test centre by calling 119 or visiting the following website, https://www.nhs.uk/ask-for-a-coronavirus-test. Any students displaying these symptoms in school will be sent home and required to isolate until the outcome of the test is known. The symptoms are:
- high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
- 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)
- 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
Students are required to test twice per week (Monday and Thursday morning) using a lateral flow device at home, at least until the end of September. If they test positive, they are required to isolate immediately and seek a confirmatory PCR test. Please inform school of any positive tests from lateral flow devices at your earliest convenience. Please call our attendance team in school or out of hours email covid@charlton.uk.com.
Should we have any positive cases in school, it is now up to NHS Track and Trace to identify and inform close contacts and advise them of the actions to take. It is likely that close contacts who are under 18 or adults who are double vaccinated will be advised to take a precautionary PCR test but will not have to isolate under the current government guidance. The school will support NHS Track and Trace with this process as required.
Return to school reminders
Uniform
Students are expected to return to school in full school uniform, students can attend site for the purpose of testing in their own clothes. A letter has been issued earlier this week to parents around the arrangements for purchasing uniform from Bakers and Sons.
Attendance
On their return to school the usual rules and duties around school attendance are in place, attendance is mandatory and regular attendance is expected for all, unless a student themselves has been provided with a clinically extremely vulnerable shielding letter. In line with Government guidance, recording and reporting of attendance will be completed daily.
The School’s previous COVID-secure rules will remain in place. These include Year group bubbles, one-way systems, staggered break and lunchtimes and staggered starts and ends to the school day. Extra-curricular clubs will not resume immediately, we will review this for the start of the summer term.
It is unfortunate but perhaps somewhat inevitable with the high number of positive cases locally still, and despite the testing programme and other measures in place, there will be a need for students to isolate and for us to respond to positive cases in the same way we have done previously, with advice from the Health Protection Hub.
The only way we can try and avoid this is to not bring Coronavirus into school and would urge parents and carers to seek tests for their students if they are unwell, even if not displaying the well-known Coronavirus symptoms. Testing is readily available in Telford and Wrekin for people with or without symptoms. https://www.telford.gov.uk/info/20741/i_have_covid_19_symptoms/5177/getting_a_covid-19_test_in_telford_and_wrekin
