Welcome back & COVID update for parents

Dear Parents & Carers,

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. It was good to welcome back all the children last week and we look forward to another successful term at Regents Park.

Although it is a new year and a new term, we are still currently affected by the impact of Coronavirus and are continuing to take as many precautions as possible to keep all children, staff and families safe. There is an updated FAQs on this below along with some general information so please read through carefully.

Updated COVID-19 FAQs:

My child has one of the 3 main COVID-19 symptoms, what should I do?

The 3 main COVID-19 symptoms continue to be:

A high temperature
A persistent, dry cough
A loss of taste or smell

If your child has one or more of these symptoms, please make sure they self-isolate and book a PCR test. They should continue to self-isolate, at least until they receive their PCR test result.

Please contact school to let us know as soon as possible.

My child has taken a PCR test and has tested positive for COVID-19, what should I do?

Your child should self-isolate for 10 days from the day after they began to have symptoms. If they no longer have a temperature, they can do an LFD test on day 6 and another on day 7 of self-isolation, and, providing both tests are negative, they can then return to school on day 8. LFD test results should be reported to the government website and results forwarded to the office before the child returns to school.

During self-isolation, other close contacts such as family members do not need to self-isolate if they have no symptoms and are double vaccinated. Other children can go to school if they have no symptoms. Hopwever, it is advised that close contacts use an LFD test to test every day.

My child has taken a PCR test and has tested negative for COVID-19, what should I do?

If your child receives a negative test result on a PCR and is no longer ill, they can return to school as normal.

My child is not well and has tested positive using an LFD test, what should I do?

You should take your child for a PCR test and they should self-isolate until you get their result. If it is positive they must continue to self-isolate; if it is negative and they have no symptoms, they can return to school.

My child is not well and has tested negative using an LFD test, what should I do?

Once they are well enough, they can return to school. However, if they have a high temperature, a dry, persistent cough or have lost their sense of taste and smell, they should go for a PCR test.

My child is coming up to day 6 of self-isolation but I do not have any LFD tests, what should I do?

Over the Christmas holiday, there was shortage of LFD tests; however, we are told that there are more available now and pharmacies are stocked up every day. You should try to get an LFD test kit from your nearest pharmacy or from Boots or Morrisons at St Andrews Retail Park on the Coventry Road. You can find your nearest pharmacy using this website: https://maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/

Unless you have shown you have tested your child on two separate days from day 6 of self-isolation and that the results were negative, we won't be able to allow your child to return until after the 10 day period has ended.

Other COVID-19 information for parents:

We are continuing to keep in place the guidance we had in place before the Christmas holiday, such as using face coverings for adults around school, maintaining social distance where possible, encouraging good health and hygiene procedures, etc
Unfortunately, we are still limiting visits into school by parents. Parents that do come in to school must wear a face covering
One of the key things we can do in school is make sure there is good natural ventilation by keeping windows and doors open in classrooms. We now have CO2 monitors in every classroom and we can see this is an effective way to reduce transmission in school
However, with windows and doors open during these cold months it does affect the temperature in and around school. Therefore, I'd encourage you to make sure your child wears more layers until the temperatures improve. Lots of thin layers are better than one thick jumper and should be worn under their school uniform
We will update you of any further changes to the COVID information above.

Other general information:

Just a reminder that school starts at 8.40am. Although the doors and gates don't close until 8.55am, children who arrive later miss out on Start of the Day activities which can support their reading, writing and maths. Please try to make sure children arrive as early as possible.
We have seen a draft of the Ofsted report from the inspection at the beginning of December. It is a very positive report and I will let you know as soon as it is published on the Ofsted website.

Thanks everyone,

Mr Beale