Home Testing

Home Testing for COVID-19: If your result is positive, please can you email the school on covidresult@stgcc.co.uk

18th March 2021

Dear Parent/Guardian,

Home Testing kits

I hope you and your family are all well.  We are delighted to see all our students again, to have the family back together, to have a sense of community again and to teach. We hope you have been reassured by the testing for COVID-19 that has been taking place. We certainly sense students and staff feel more confident. So far this week all students who have been tested have tested negative.  Next week is our last week of testing before students will be asked to test at home twice a week using the lateral flow home testing kits week commencing Monday 29th March 2021. Please see below information of how your son/daughter’s home testing kit will be distributed and attached guidance for you on how to complete the test.

Home Testing Kits: Lateral Flow Device:

Every student will be provided with a home testing kit whether you had consented to be tested or not. Next week is the third and final test in school. Once your son/daughter has completed their third and final onsite lateral flow test, they will be given a home testing kit to take home to begin testing week beginning Monday 29th March 2021. Therefore, each year group will receive their kits on the following days:

  • Year 7: Monday 22nd March 2021
  • Year 8: Tuesday 23rd March 2021
  • Year 9: Wednesday 24th March 2021
  • Year 10: Thursday 25th March 2021
  • Year 11: Friday 26th March 2021

 

Please can I ask that we make sure together we all keep each other safe so please establish a routine and ensure your son/daughter takes the test twice a week. If your result is positive, please can you email the school on covidresult@stgcc.co.uk to let us know and then book a confirmatory PCR test. The student, and the household should then self-isolate. If the PCR test is negative, it overrides the self-test LFD test (at home only) and your son/daughter can return to school.

To clear up possible confusion regarding a false positive using the lateral flow test, the guidance says:

“If a pupil or student received a supervised school-based LFD test, as part of the rapid asymptomatic testing programme, and it was positive then they and other members of their household must self-isolate. PCR testing is not advised if you have received a positive result from an LFD test at a school or college test site. If a parent was to do this and it returned a negative result, the policy remains that the pupil or student, their close contacts, and other members of their household must still self-isolate.”

All positive results from rapid tests undertaken at home do need to be confirmed with a standard PCR test. This is because these tests are not conducted in a controlled environment and will not have trained staff on hand. Following positive LFD test at home, a confirmatory PCR test should be booked online or by calling 119. Whilst awaiting the PCR result, the pupil or student and their close contacts should self-isolate. If the PCR test is negative, it overrides the self-test LFD test (at home only) and a child can return to school”.

As and when we receive more home testing kits, we will distribute them accordingly as the academic year progresses.  If you have any issues with home testing please email medical@stgcc.co.uk

I have attached a guide to lateral flow testing and a poster setting out how to complete the test with a booklet from the NHS with FAQ’s. As your son/daughter will have completed three tests on site, they should be confident how to do it. You can safely dispose of the test items in your normal household waste bin. Please be aware the solution is non-hazardous but I would advise you if it is accidently consumed you contact 111.

Please continue to test during the Easter Holidays:

It is important all students continue to test through the Easter holidays to manage the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), and to maintain a regular habit of testing at home every 3-4 days (twice a week). We will be supplying enough test kits for your son/daughter to do this. Again if your son/daughter or a member of your household tests positive over the Easter holidays please can you email covidresult@stgcc.co.uk confirming your name and year group, book a confirmatory PCR test and follow the guidance as above.

If you have any questions please get in touch. Stay safe and take care.

 Yours sincerely,

James Habberley

Headteacher