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COVID School Safety Plan

VISITING SCHOOL

Since school began less than four weeks ago, 64 of our students and 11 staff members have had to quarantine for a period of time and have been involved in our school-supported learning at home support due to being either testing positive for COVID or being close contacts. I am extremely grateful for the amazing support of our staff in supporting flexible learning programs in addition to their other responsibilities during what is usually one of the busiest times of the year. I am especially grateful to our school leadership team (Mr Atkins, Mrs Marshall and Mrs Badcock) for continuing their usual responsibilities and teaching in classes to cover numerous staff absences. Our office staff of Mrs Leonard and Mrs Harris have also risen to the increased challenges superbly – there is much to be grateful for as we approach the fifth week of a very buy term. The cooperation and collaboration between school and home has also been a very impressive feature of the last almost four weeks of school, with communication between school and home beginning in mid-January – staff are enormously grateful for the support of families in their own efforts, and our joint efforts, to enhance student outcomes while respecting our staff and parent welfare.

Case management

When a member of a particular class tests positive for COVID-19 that person (a confirmed case) is required to isolate at home. When we become aware of the confirmed case we will contact the parents / carers of the other students in the class to inform them of the situation and to request that they monitor their children for symptoms. If the child is symptom free, he or she can continue to attend school.
Should the number of confirmed cases in a class reach five over a seven-day period we will notify Public Health of the situation. We will also contact the parents / carers of the other students in the class and request that they test their child using rapid antigen tests (that we will supply) on the day of us contacting them, then again two days later, followed by a third test three days after the second test. The classmates of the confirmed case can continue to attend school provided they return negative test results and are symptom free.
Should we have three or more classes over a seven-day period with five or more confirmed cases in them we will notify Public Health. We will also apply the three tests per classmate approach described above in the classes with five or more confirmed cases. In addition to this we will liaise with Public Health regarding any required additional testing. Additional testing requirements will be communicated to parents / carers and the necessary rapid antigen tests will be supplied. Children who participate in additional testing, and who test negative and are symptom free, can continue to attend school.

Advice for confirmed cases

Should your child test positive for COVID-19 using a rapid antigen test:

They must not come to school.
You must register the result with Public Health using their online declaration formor phone the Public Health Hotline 1800 671 738.
Your child must isolate from other persons including family members for a minimum of seven days. If your child still has symptoms on day seven, then they must continue their isolation for a further three days.
Family members living in the same house are deemed to be close contacts.
Close contacts need to quarantine for seven days and to maintain isolation integrity between themselves and the confirmed case.
The seven days of isolation starts the day after your child tested positive. The seven days of quarantine for close contacts starts on the same day as the isolation period provided there has been no close contact between the confirmed case and other family members after receipt of the positive test result. If the confirmed case and other family members can maintain isolation integrity for the seven days of isolation then quarantine will also end when isolation ends.
Having completed isolation, should your child come into contact with someone with COVID-19 in the four weeks following completion of isolation and your child is not immunocompromised or symptomatic, they will not need to quarantine or isolate.