UPDATE- COVID Testing W/B 28th March
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Beginning next week (w/b 29th March) the government would like all pupils and staff to test twice a week at home. All will be given the Lateral Flow tests this Friday 26th March. Each will be given four separate boxes containing three COVID tests, so please can you ensure that your youngster comes with a school bag so they can easily be carried home. Please note, if they are absent on Friday, you will need to source your own Lateral Flow tests either online via the NHS website or from an official test centre. This will cover all for the next six weeks and if the government wishes to continue testing at home past this point, we will arrange subsequent distribution of tests. The tests the school issues are only for Woodlands youngsters. Household members are able to test at home but these tests must be ordered separately on the NHS website using this link https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests. We do not have enough tests to provide for household members.
All should be familiar with how to self-administer the test as they have had the opportunity to do this three times on school site. The test however will now also need to be processed at home, the test kits will come with a set of instructions within the boxes, but please ignore these. The government issued the wrong set so please follow the loose instruction leaflet which will have been issued in addition to the test kits. A video demonstrating how to complete the test can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9XR8RZxKNo
All parents and carers, regardless of whether you gave consent to on-site testing will initially receive an email, to the email account we hold on the school system, inviting them to activate your TestRegister account. You will receive this before the end of the week. Please follow the link to complete this activation which is a very quick and simple process. Following this activation, parents and carers will receive two reminders every week to complete the tests. One reminder will be sent on a Sunday night, so tests can be completed before our youngsters arrive to school on a Monday, and the second will be sent on a Wednesday night. Please ensure you report the result of every test taken via TestRegister and on the NHS website. The reminder will provide a link which will need to be followed to record the result. This is very self-explanatory however please click here for a separate information sheet talking you through the process of registering a result. If you do not receive an email reminder, you can also use this link: https://testregister.co.uk/login. Given that we have to enact out Test and Trace process, if your youngster tests positive on a home Lateral Flow test, please ensure that you contact the school immediately on covidresults@woodlandsschool.essex.sch.uk. In the email, please include a photo of the testing cartridge showing the barcode and also submit the result via TestRegister and the NHS.
There is a very small possibility that Lateral Flow tests can register a ‘false positive’. Consequently, and following government guidance, should your youngster record a positive result on a Lateral Flow test at home they will need to get a confirmatory PCR test which can be booked via the NHS website using this link https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test . They will need to self-isolate until the result of the PCR is received. This is a different to process the government recommended for Lateral Flow tests completed on school site. It does however mean that all close contacts will be isolated from the moment we receive notification of a positive Lateral Test result, however close contacts may be invited to return to school within 48 hours should the PCR return negative. Should your young person need to undertake a PCR test, please forward the NHS result notification to covidresults@woodlandsschool.essex.sch.uk.
Please contact Miss White at nwh@woodlandsschool.essex.sch.uk if you have any questions about COVID testing.
