Dear Parents and Guardians,

Please see the Chief Medical Officer's letter attached below, regarding the new arrangements for test and trace within schools. 

Within this new process, if your child tests positive for Covid-19, you will now deal directly with the Public Health Agency (PHA) and they will identify any close contacts with you directly. Those close contacts will then be notified by PHA.

In limited circumstances, school may be contacted to aid the PHA in this process.

This is very new for us all, and will take time for us all as parents and as a school to see how this works, and to assess the transmission rates as a result. 

We want to thank our parents for your vigilance and action in cases where your child has been identified as a close contact thus far, and appeal to you to continue to be vigilant, as we within school strive to keep the school community safe, and transmission as low as is possible during this time.

Our thoughts are with every family experiencing a positive test for Covid-19 and wish pupils, families and staff well, and for a speedy recovery back to health and back to school. 

If a member of your household tests positive, we appeal to you to exercise extreme caution, isolating as a family for the 10 days previously required. In this case, school work will be made available for your child or children. 

If your child is identified and contacted by PHA as a close contact, or if your child has symptoms of covid-19, the same procedures will apply. You will be asked by PHA to book a PCR Test, and must isolate until a negative result is given. 

If your child tests positive for Covid-19, OR is identified as a close contact, you MUST contact school immediately to let us know. 

Please email me and your child's class teacher to keep us immediately informed. Thank you.

On receipt of a negative test result and your child's return to school, we ask that all negative results also be emailed to both myself and your child's class teacher, before your child returns to school. 

We thank you sincerely for your support during this difficult time.

By working together, keeping communication open and our actions pro-active, we will be able to keep our school as safe as possible for all children, their families and our staff into the days and weeks ahead. 

Kind Regards,

J Armstrong

jarmstrong775@c2kni.net