Castle Hill Covid guidance
Covid symptoms
Symptoms of Covid can include:
- a high temperature or shivering (chills) – a high temperature 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
- a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste
- shortness of breath
- feeling tired or exhausted
- an aching body
- a headache
- a sore throat
- a blocked or runny nose
- loss of appetite
- diarrhoea
- feeling sick or being sick
The symptoms are very similar to symptoms of other illnesses, such as colds and flu.
What to do if you think you may have Covid
- Adults with the symptoms of a respiratory infection, and who have a high temperature or feel unwell, should stay at home and avoid contact with other people until they feel well enough to resume normal activities and they no longer have a high temperature.
- The Government advise can return to work when you feel better, or do not have a high temperature.
- If you are in any doubt about whether you should return to school, phone Anna Hudson or Natalie Brady to discuss.
Covid testing
- Free testing for Covid from the NHS has ended for most people.
- If you have symptoms of Covid, you are no longer required to do a rapid lateral flow or PCR test.
- We do, however, still have a limited supply of Covid lateral flow kits in school. Ask Claire Woodall if you would like a test kit to keep at home.
- If you take a Covid lateral flow test and the result is positive, then you should stay at home for 5 days from the onset of symptoms. Count the first day of symptoms as Day 1.
People who are at high risk
People who are at higher risk from COVID-19 and other respiratory infections include:
- older people
- those who are pregnant
- those who are unvaccinated
- people of any age whose immune system means they are at higher risk of serious illness
- people of any age with certain long-term conditions
If you fall into any of these categories and are worried about the risk of catching Covid when there is an outbreak in school, please speak to Anna Hudson or Glyn Thomas.
How is the guidance different for children?
- Children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with other people. They can go back to school, college, or childcare when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough to attend
- For children and young people aged 18 and under with a positive COVID-19 test result, the advice is to try and stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 3 days.
- A number of our students fall into the high risk category, as outlined above. Should there be a case of Covid in their class, their parent/carer should be informed as soon as possible. School would support parents/carers if they chose to keep their child off school for a number of days in such instances.
Our Covid contingency Plan
This plan, which outlines how we would respond to any Covid outbreak, can be viewed here:
