Updated COVID-19 Guidance for Schools – 1st April 2022

This is the latest guidance that has been issued from the government in response to ‘Living with Covid’ and steps that pupils who test positive for COVID need to take. Most of the COVID-19 specific guidance for education and childcare settings will now be withdrawn from GOV.UK.

From Friday 1st April 2022:

• Free COVID-19 tests are no longer available for the majority of people. Free COVID-19 tests will continue to be available for specific groups, including eligible patients and NHS staff, once the universal testing offer ends on Friday 1 April.
• Adults with the symptoms of a respiratory infection, and who have a high temperature or feel unwell, should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until they feel well enough to resume normal activities and they no longer have a high temperature.
• Children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with other people. They can go back to school, college, or childcare when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough to attend.
• Regular asymptomatic testing is no longer recommended in any education or childcare setting
• Adults and children with a positive COVID-19 test result should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days, which is when they are most infectious.
• For children and young people aged 18 and under with a positive COVID-19 test result, the advice is to try and stay at home and avoid contact with other people for at least 3 days.

Continuing control measures to be followed in school:

• Ensure good hygiene for everyone.
• Maintain appropriate cleaning regimes.
• Keep occupied spaces well ventilated.

From Term 5 2022, the majority of parents and children will no longer be able to test so you will only keep your children off if poorly, or have a high temperature (please see above).

If your child has had to have a test for a medical reason or for another reason such as travelling and has tested positive, they should return to school after the 3rd day (4th morning) from the positive result. However only if your child feels well enough. There is no need to retest. This is a change to the previous guidance where there was a requirement to have 2 negative tests 24 hours apart before returning to school.

These measures are part of the next stage of adapting to ‘Living with COVID’. The government is clear that the population now has much stronger protection against COVID-19 than at any other point in the pandemic. This means we can begin to manage the virus like any other respiratory infections, thanks to the success of the vaccination programme and access to antivirals, alongside natural immunity and increased scientific and public understanding about how to manage COVID risk.