School Covid Update - 10th June 2021

Dear Parents/ Guardians,

Re: COVID -19

As you may have seen in the news, over the last week evidence has emerged that the SARS-CoV-2 variant Delta (formerly “India”) has overtaken "Alpha" (formerly “Kent”) to become the dominant form of COVID-19 both nationally and locally.  This finding supports research evidence that Delta is significantly more infectious than Alpha, but importantly COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to still provide effective protection against it.  In Buckinghamshire there has been a significant increase in COVID outbreaks in educational settings over the past few weeks, mostly caused by the Delta variant.
As a precaution, it is now recommended that close contacts of PCR positive confirmed cases, are offered a PCR test through NHS test and trace to improve case finding and reduce the risk of further transmission.
If a close contact tests negative, they still need to complete their ten-day isolation period. If they test positive this would extend their isolation period for ten days, from date of a positive case and their household would also then need to isolate.
Please remember if your child has any of the main symptoms of COVID (temperature, cough or loss of taste or smell) they must be taken for a PCR test.  Your child will not be allowed into school unless they have a negative test result or have isolated at home for 10 days.  We know that this may cause some families an inconvenience but we need to try everything we can to reduce the spread of COVID and avoid closing year group bubbles. 
Thank you for your continued support.

Best wishes,

Miss Digweed