Management Information Sheet

Arrangements for COVID-19 testing during the holidays and on return in January

While settings are open over the holiday period staff and secondary school students should continue to test at home twice per week.

When settings are closed for the holiday period, all staff and students should test over the holidays in line with national guidance.

When re-opening after the holiday periods all staff should LFD self-test at home either the evening or morning before they return to their school followed by one LFD self-test at home 3-4 days after. Staff should then re-commence testing at home twice per week.

Secondary school pupils should undertake one test on-site at the start of term in their school Asymptomatic Test Site (ATS). Secondary schools will have the option to stagger the return to school for the first week to accommodate on-site testing. On-site testing on return in January will boost testing participation and will help reduce transmission following social mixing over the school holidays. This initial test will be followed by one LFD self-test at home 3-4 days after their on-site test.

Pupils should then continue to test twice weekly in line with government guidelines, the DfE have produced a Toolkit to help schools encourage pupils to test regularly.

All pupils, students and staff should ensure that they have 1 box of 7 tests at home before they leave for the holidays. Distribute 1 box of 7 tests kits to any pupils, students and staff who do not have sufficient test kits available at home. This will enable pupils, students and staff to test over the Christmas holiday period, if required, and during the first week of January.

Updated DfE asymptomatic testing guidance is available on the Further Education & Secondary Schools Education Document Sharing Platform and Early Years and Primary Schools Document Sharing Platform. Please see the "Read First" document located on the landing page of these platforms for details of the latest updates and revisions to the asymptomatic testing guidance documents.

Asymptomatic Test Site (ATS) updated guidance for January

Updated DfE Asymptomatic Test Site (ATS) guidance is available on the Further Education & Secondary Schools Education Document Sharing Platform.

Secondary schools will already have contingency plans in place in case ATS testing was recommended for your setting, we would recommend you review these alongside the updated guidance at the earliest possible opportunity so that you are prepared for January. Remember to check the expiry date on your ATS kits to make sure they are in date for use.

The DfE's green guide 'How to Guide' Rapid Testing on-site (ATS) in Secondary Schools and Colleges is a key document to support ATS testing and updates include;

• Slide 30 has been updated to with advice to gain consent for your pupils, students and staff who have not already provided consent this academic year. Testing is voluntary and individuals should be allowed to attend school or college even if they decide not to take part in testing.
• Updated guidance on registering and recording results on NHS Tests and Trace (UKHSA) systems, Slides 31 and 32 have been updated to streamline the guidance on these processes.
• Updated guidance on uploading results using the bulk upload, Slide 33 has been updated to include links to the latest bulk upload spreadsheet and simplified instructions for bulk upload processes
• Removal of a slide advising on managing the transition to new LFD Tests (Orient Gene), however please remember the advice set out in the one-page information leaflet that advised you should only use 1 brand of device at any one time for on-site testing,

The DfE FAQ's for Asymptomatic testing in schools and colleges is also a key resource.

Further advice about setting up an ATS is also available in the testing section of the NCC Coronavirus (COVID-19) Health, safety and wellbeing webpage.

Updated guidance to reflect new measures

The Prime Minister announced on 27 November the temporary introduction of new measures as a result of the Omicron variant. As a result, these measures have been reflected in the Schools COVID-19 operational guidance and our NCC Coronavirus (COVID-19) Health, safety and wellbeing webpage.

To summarise the key changes;

• Any individuals identified as a close contact of a suspected or confirmed case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, will be contacted directly by the local health protection team or NHS Test and Trace and informed to self-isolate immediately and asked to book a PCR test. For everyone else, isolation rules are unchanged.
• Face coverings are now recommended when moving around the school premises, outside of classrooms, such as in corridors and communal areas for adults and for pupils from year 7 onwards. Face coverings are also recommend for the same groups on School Transport and Public Transport (unless exempt).
• Young people aged 12 to 15 years should receive a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, no sooner than twelve weeks after the first dose. Further information on how 12 to 15 year olds will be able to access a second dose of the vaccine will be provided shortly.
• All pupils travelling to England must adhere to travel legislation, details of which are set out in government travel advice. We recommend that you consider whether to go ahead with planned international educational visits at this time, recognising the risk of disruption to education resulting from the need to isolate and test on arrival back into the UK.