๐ฆ School Selected for Regular COVID-19 Testing
Mr J Sharp
Dear Parents/Carers
Last week I received a phone call from the Local Authority saying that we had been chosen by the DfE for an infection survey. My first thought was one of anxiety and why we had been selected again so soon after Ofsted visited. However, it became clear very quickly that this was โinfectionโ and not โinspectionโ and was a really positive opportunity for the school and it is not compulsory.
150 schools in England have been selected to be part of the School Infection Survey in which the children and staff can be tested for COVID-19 and antibodies once every half term for the rest of the year. I decided that this would be something that could potentially be very beneficial for us and accepted the invitation.
I think the information provided covers everything in detail but I would like to point out the main points from my perspective:
It is completely voluntary and any person can be withdrawn at any time (we must have consent from families before the children are tested. Any child who we donโt have consent for will not be included).
Staff will also be tested.
The tests for children are not as uncomfortable as the ones that are usually used at testing centres.
You will receive the results of all the tests.
The results are not shared with other families etc.
It will provide a better picture for us in school of the number of people who have been infected already and also help the national authorities combat COVID-19.
In my view this is a real privilege for us to be given advanced and routine testing and I encourage as many people who are interested to sign up. Just to repeat myself, if you do not wish for your child to be included then that is fine by us and there is absolutely no pressure. We all have different opinions and feelings and none us can say with 100% certainty who is right or wrong.
I will text the the link for staff and families to sign up next week when it has been passed to me. If there are any questions, please get in touch and I will share the general answers with all families.
Thank you again for your patience, flexibility and cooperation. I know I have thrown a lot of things at everyone this term and the good humour and support has been fantastic.
Mr. Sharp
Head Teacher