Dear Parents and Carers
Throughout this half term I have been impressed and grateful to you, your children and our staff as we work together to ensure the control measures recommended by Welsh Government are adhered to on our school site.
However, we have had a significant number of positive COVID cases reported to us over the weekend and today. These positive cases are spread across Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. Please remain vigilant to any symptoms and book a PCR test if your child is unwell.
I would like to remind us all of our control measures in order to keep everyone as safe as possible.
Please do not send your child to school if they are unwell / have Covid symptoms, however mild. We have had a small number of children attend school each day who have been unwell, who we have had to send home, and who have subsequently tested positive.
Symptoms of Covid 19
The symptoms of Covid-19 now include a cough, high temperature, loss or change to smell or taste, fatigue, muscle and body aches, headache, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhoea. It is important to book a free PCR test for your child if they have these symptoms. Relying on a lateral flow test in these circumstances could lead to a false result.
‘Hands, face, space, ventilate’ in school
We strongly encourage all pupils and staff to wear a face covering in communal areas. Please provide your child with a clean face covering each day. If cases continue to rise, we will consider whether face coverings should be encouraged to be worn in classrooms again after half term.
Please continue to encourage your child to wash their hands frequently or use hand sanitizer throughout the school day. We continue to ventilate all classrooms.
Please continue to lateral flow test twice each week on a Sunday evening / Monday morning and on a Wednesday evening / Thursday morning. If your child has not registered to receive LFT kits from school and wishes to do so, please either ask them to email their Head of Year or send an email to stcca@caerphilly.gov.uk.
Contingency plans for staff absence
Our staff continue to work incredibly hard to ensure the learning and support your child receives at school. However, like all members of society, they are being affected by the virus as well.
Like nearly all schools in Wales, we face a daily challenge acquiring supply staff to cover lessons. We continue to risk assess this, and I would like to update you of what would happen if the school was unable to safely cover lessons. This could lead to the partial or full closure of on-site learning for students and we are planning for a range of scenarios. Please be assured that we will continue to do all we can to maintain on-site learning, and seek your support in all other control measures.
What if someone in your household tests positive?
If someone in your household tests positive, then secondary school pupils should have a PCR test on Day 2 and again on Day 8. Day 2 and 8 refer to the amount of days after a household member has tested positive. For example if a household member tested positive on a Monday, Day 2 would be Tuesday and Day 8 would be Monday the following week.
It is also recommended that secondary school pupils use a LFD test every morning for 7 days following a household member testing positive. This is in addition to the PCR tests on day 2 and 8. This will likely mean your child will have a LFD test in the morning and a PCR test later in the day on Day 2. No test is perfect so Welsh Government recommend testing in this way to help identify anyone that is potentially infectious before you leave the house in the morning and the PCR is used because it is a very sensitive test, performed in a lab, so it may detect any positive cases that have been missed by the LFD test. Pupils should take the 7 lateral flow tests even if they themselves are a vaccinated household contact. This is because vaccinated people can still catch COVID and can transmit the virus in the same way as an unvaccinated person.
Thank you for your continued support and patience as we face these challenges together.
Yours sincerely
Miss Collins
Headteacher