Please see below the latest information received from the Government regarding their response to COVID-19:
The Prime Minister has set out the next phase of the Government’s COVID-19 response ‘Living with COVID-19’. COVID-19 continues to be a virus that we learn to live with and the imperative to reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education remains.
Changes to testing in education and childcare settings:
From Monday 21 February, the Government has removed the guidance for staff and students in most education and childcare settings to undertake twice-weekly asymptomatic testing.
Changes to self-isolation and daily testing of close contacts:
From tomorrow (Thursday 24 February) the Government will remove the legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test. Adults and children who test positive will continue to be advised to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for at least five full days, and then continue to follow the guidance until they have received two negative test results on consecutive days.
In addition, the Government will:
More detail can be found in the Living with COVID-19 plan published today. Further detail will be published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) tomorrow.
Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice on COVID-19 vaccination for healthy 5 to 11 year olds:
The NHS is currently offering vaccines to at-risk children and those who live with immunosuppressed people in this age group. Parents and guardians of at risk 5 to 11 year olds should wait for the NHS to contact them, with local NHS teams already contacting those who are eligible.
On Wednesday 16 February, the government accepted the advice from the independent JCVI to make a non-urgent offer of COVID-19 vaccines to all children aged 5 to 11 in England.
The JCVI advice follows a thorough review by the UK’s independent medicines regulator, the MHRA, which approved Pfizer’s paediatric vaccine, as safe and effective for children aged 5 to 11.
Children without underlying health conditions are at low risk of serious illness from COVID-19 and the priority remains for the NHS to offer vaccines and boosters to older age groups and vulnerable children, as well as to catch up with other childhood immunisation programmes.
The NHS will prepare to extend this non-urgent offer to all children during April so parents can, if they want, take up the offer to increase protection against potential future waves of COVID-19.
The updated JCVI advice for vaccinating 5 to 11 year olds, which was published on Friday 18 February by the NHS, confirms that community pharmacy-led local vaccination services and vaccination centres should be the primary delivery models for this cohort.
School attendance is mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age. It continues to be a priority to ensure that as many children as possible are regularly attending school.
We hope you find this information helpful.
Whether you're working from home with your kids for the first time or supporting children during these unprecedented times, the NSPCC has tips and advice for you.
Please click on the following link:
The very important thing individuals can do to protect themselves is to wash their hands more often, for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water. Public Health England recommends that in addition to handwashing before eating, and after coughing and sneezing, everyone should also wash hands after using toilets and travelling on public transport.
Watch this short NHS film for guidance:
