Staff Testing - COVID-19
You may or may not be aware that starting from next week, all staff will be invited to regularly complete a COVID-19 test. We will test twice a week on a Sunday and Wednesday evening. If a member of staff’s result is negative, this will not change the operation of school. However, should a member of staff test positive then I am afraid this could impact a group (bubble) of children in school who will need to isolate and switch to remote learning straight away. I know receiving a message at such short-notice may prove problematic and many of our critical workers will be dreading an email on a Sunday or a Wednesday evening but the purpose of these tests is to detect asymptomatic Covid cases so that we can take them out of the transmission chain.
Staff will be using Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) and current guidance states that a positive LFT result requires a confirmatory Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. There is a possibility that a member of staff could test positive using a LFT and the class closes but then tests negative using the PCR test. Guidance states that classes would then reopen in this scenario - we will keep all parents fully informed.
Thank you for your continued support.
Kind regards,
Mr Gaughan
Deputy Headteacher