COVID-19 Information

LATEST UPDATE NOVEMBER 2022

Living with COVD-19 – a toolkit for Cheshire East schools and settings

From April 2022 specific guidance for schools and education settings, as well as free universal access to tests ended.

Schools and settings and their associated families are advised to follow national guidelines for anyone with symptoms. Maintaining good practice re infection prevention and control, (applies to staff, pupils and visitors). We continue to implement the following measures and controls.

Build up immunity

Provide accessible information on vaccines and how these can be obtained
Support NHS vaccination programmes.

Avoid infection entering school

People with symptoms of a respiratory infection, including COVID-19, and a high temperature or who 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 for 3 days.
They can go back to school, college or childcare when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough to attend.
Adults 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.

Reduce airborne transmission

Have tissues available and promote good respiratory hygiene – ‘catch, kill, bin’
Promote awareness of personal space, avoid activities where pupils are in close face to face contact Ventilate spaces, purge air between classes if space has limited access to fresh air.
Use CO2 monitors to check levels.
Reduce crowding in corridors or halls – consider 1 way system or staggered/set timings for canteen, break etc

Avoid sharing by cleaning and sanitisation

Wash hands thoroughly and regularly – on entry and exit from school/class, before eating and after going to the toilet
Allocate each child with their own equipment, crayons, reading book etc Where sharing is unavoidable. e.g., iPad, Design Technology equipment etc, provide wipes and encourage cleaning between users
Continue to have hand sanitiser available across the setting
Regular wiping of shared items in staff rooms, e.g. kettle/boiler, fridge doors etc

Monitoring and recording of infection rates and patterns

Maintain usual register system, ensuring that absences are followed up and appropriately coded
Risk assess any activity or event which may cause increased transmission when there are episodes of concern within the setting.

Episodes of Concern

Schools/settings are asked to inform the local authority when there is an episode of concern in school/setting. These are defined as.

1. When there is a sudden increase in the level of absence and/or confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a class or group or when the absence in a class or group reaches 20%.

2. When an adult or child is admitted to hospital and this is actually or potentially linked to an infection

3. When cluster of cases are affecting vulnerable individuals linked to the setting

4. When staff absence is high and there is a possibility that face-to-face learning cannot be maintained for all pupils.