School Action Plan in the event of a positive case

The following outlines how we will approach the situation where a pupil in the school community tests positive for COVID19. By sharing this information, I hope that you will feel better informed and understand that there are steps that the College must follow, in conjunction with government agencies, to protect the spread of the disease.

Please note that there will be a time-lag whilst we undertake steps 2, 3 and 4, so it is likely that we may have to ask a larger number of pupils to self-isolate initially. When we have a clearer picture, pupils who have not had significant close contact may be able to return to College.

1. The school is informed that a pupil has tested positive for COVID19.
2. The school will call the DfE local team who then advise on next steps; these are expected to establish pupil contact groups within lessons, sport, tutor group, etc.
3. Staff will collate names of all pupils who are deemed to be a close contact.
4. We will also contact the family of the COVID-positive pupil to discuss who their close contacts have been whilst at school. This will involve talking through the day and discussing friendship groups.

For reference, the Government currently regards a close contact as:

• A person who has spent significant time in the same household (eg a boarding house);
• A person who has had face-to-face contact (within 1 metre) including:

1. being coughed on
2. face to face conversation
3. skin to skin contact
4. contact within one metre for 1 minute or longer without face to face contact;

• A person who has been within 2 metres of someone who has tested positive for COVID19 for more than 15 minutes;
• A person who has travelled in a small vehicle with someone who has tested positive.

5. We will contact all families who have children who have been affected, asking them to self-isolate. Due to GDPR we will not be able to share details about who has tested positive, including their year group.
6. All day pupils who are self-isolating will need to remain at home while all boarders will be based in house. Please be aware that this will happen very quickly so we advise that pupils take home books each day. 
7. We will contact all members of the school community explaining what actions we have taken.
8. Remote learning for all affected pupils will start immediately.
9. All potentially-infected areas will be subject to enhanced cleaning.

As you can see from the above list, there is a great deal to do and we are also required to follow the advice of government agencies. We would ask that you await our communication should you hear something informally – we will communicate with families at the earliest opportunity.

We appreciate that should this happen, it will be extremely frustrating for families, and I thank you in advance for your support.