The challenge going forward, as we head towards winter, will be the inevitable question, ‘Is it COVID-19 or something else?’ if your child feels poorly. You are having to make that judgement at home and we are having to make it at school. We can only go on the symptoms list and on our knowledge of the individual. Hopefully with all the hygiene efforts, mask wearing when amongst the public and general social distancing, the usual bugs will be kept at bay as we hope will COVID.

If you or a family member or your child gets poorly and you suspect COVID symptoms then this quick summary may help you understand what has to happen or alternatively contact https://111.nhs.uk/COVID-19 or call 111.

• If your child has one or more of the symptoms then you MUST keep your child away from school and isolate as a household and get a test booked https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/coronavirus-in-children/
• Let the school know you are doing this so we can track your progress.
• Your child can’t return back to school until you have received your test results. If they come back negative, the child can return to school. Empower Trust policy is that we ask to see evidence of a negative test.

If you or your child are tested positive, you MUST inform the school and provide test results via email and then follow Government guidelines for length of necessary quarantine: e.g.

1.  If your child tests positive for COVID, they have to remain off school for 10 days
2.  If a family member tests positive, all members have to self-isolate for 14 days
3.  If within that time, your child shows symptoms and is tested positive, they have to remain off school for 10 days from the point of their positive test result comes into force.
4. If they don’t show any symptoms by the end of the 14 days quarantine, then they come back to school.

The main symptoms of coronavirus are: 

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature) 
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

Most people with coronavirus have at least 1 of these symptoms.

Normal body temperature is different for everyone and changes during the day.

A high temperature is usually considered to be 38C or above.This is sometimes called a fever.

Many things can cause a high temperature, but it’s usually caused by your body fighting an infection.