Achieving Excellence Together Rhagori Gyda'n Gilydd

TWO-THIRDS OF YEAR 11 ASKED TO SELF-ISOLATE 

The majority of pupils in Year 11 at Haverfordwest High VC School are being asked to stay at home and self-isolate until 21st December. 

It follows a confirmed case of Covid-19 at the end of last week. 

However, the Year 11 pupils who were absent from school on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (9th-11th December) do not need to self-isolate. This applies to approximately a third of the pupils in the year. 

The school will be contacting by letter all parents and carers of those pupils who do need to self-isolate. 

Parents and carers do not need to contact the school to find out if their child has been affected. 

 

Parents/guardians have been given the following advice by Hywel Dda University Health Board: 

If a child/parent/household member develops symptoms of COVID-19, the entire household should immediately self-isolate, and book a test for the individual with the symptoms. It is unnecessary to test the entire household if they are not symptomatic.

 

The COVID-19 symptoms are:

 

  • a new continuous cough
  • a high temperature
  • loss of or change to sense of smell or taste

 

Booking a COVID-19 test:

 

Hywel Dda University Health Board recommends testing only for those with a new continuous cough, a high temperature, or loss of or change in the sense of taste or smell. 

 

If a child does not have symptoms of COVID-19 but has other cold-like symptoms, such as a runny nose, they do not need to be tested and they and you do not need to self-isolate. Your child can go to school if fit to do so.

 

If a COVID-19 test is required, this should be arranged via the UK Booking Portal, https://gov.wales/apply-coronavirus-test or by ringing 119. Testing is available within Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire or via a home testing kit delivered to and collected from your home. The COVID-19 test is undertaken via a throat swab or combined throat and nose swab.



Self-isolation:

 

It is essential that people who have Covid-19 symptoms, or who share a household with someone who has symptoms, must self-isolate, even if your symptoms are mild. To protect others, you must not attend school, nursery, other childcare settings, work, or go to or to places like a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.

 

The period of time that people have to self-isolate for coronavirus has now been reduced to 10 days in Wales 

 

The new self-isolation and quarantine advice applies to:

 

  • people who have received a positive test result for Covid-19
  • people with symptoms of Covid-19 who are waiting for a test result, or who have not been tested and do not require hospital treatment, who must remain at home for the appropriate self-isolation period
  • people living in households with someone who shows symptoms that may be caused by Covid-19 or who has received a positive test result for Covid-19
  • close contacts of positive cases of Covid-19
  • travellers returning from non-exempt country

 

If you receive a positive test result, you will be contacted by the Test, Trace, Protect Team who will advise you further.

 

 

Self-isolating pupils – how does this affect their households?

If a pupil has been asked by their school to self-isolate because of coming into contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19, his or her household does not need to self-isolate as well – as long as the pupil has no symptoms. Siblings can continue attending school providing they have no symptoms (unless they have also been asked to self-isolate by their school).  

 

However, if the pupil who has been asked to self-isolate does have or develops symptoms of Covid-19, then the entire household must also self-isolate as per the details above (under the sub-heading Self-Isolation). 

 

 

Non-household members/contacts:

 

If a person has been in contact with an individual experiencing symptoms, they should carry on as normal until that individual receives their test result. If this is positive, the Test, Trace, Protect Team will contact those people identified as contacts and advise accordingly.