Principal's Update - 2nd February 2022 (2)

COVID Update

In addition to our current COVID safety measures and to ensure the best level of safety possible for families, we will be reporting COVID numbers for the school moving forward. This information will be accessible via the daily messages section of PAM. The report will include an update that looks like the table below, with the intention of providing families with enough information to make informed decisions around their child’s attendance. At no point throughout this experience will we be naming cases or individuals directly. Please note there are two new absence reasons within SIMON for your use;
 
- COVID isolation (positive) - for when a student is isolating after testing positive to COVID-19. 
- COVID isolation (close contact) - for when a student is deemed a close/home contact and is required to isolate.

Previous COVID cases prior to the return to the school do not need to be reported, only cases from the start of school.

A clarification we have had confirmed today, the ruling around not needing to quarantine or isolate within 30 days of having contracted COVID-19 also applies to school age students. 

The Department of Health advises that if you are re-exposed to COVID-19 within 30 days of your positive test result you do not need to quarantine or test again.    

The person can attend work, education, and sensitive settings within this 30-day period.  Beyond 30-days, usual protocols for quarantine and testing resume.

This means that students who have had COVID-19 in the previous 30 days, are not required to isolate if they are exposed again within that timeframe and may attend school as normal.

We thank you for your continued support, and look forward to a potentially bumpy but positive year.

Bambi Afford & Shaun Mohr
Co-Principals