This article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council's COVID Schools Programme Officer, Heather Cook, for the attention of Primary schools.
Over the school summer holidays all school staff (even if fully vaccinated), secondary school and college students should continue to test (using rapid Lateral Flow tests) and report results online. Testing should continue twice weekly either using home test kits or at an on-site facility. Tests should be taken three-four days apart.
This autumn, asymptomatic testing will resume in secondary schools and colleges - including two tests in person on return – and continue until the end of September with a review at that point.
This means that apart from tests taken in person on the return to school, pupils will be expected to carry on testing themselves twice a week using LFD tests obtained online, through their school/college or via their local pharmacy.
Primary schools should communicate with the parents of all Year 6 children around the need to support their child with rapid Lateral Flow testing and reporting over the summer so that their child understands why they will need to undertake twice weekly rapid Lateral Flow testing at secondary school and are prepared for testing and reporting on entering Year 7. Community testing sites will support with this if parents go along to a local testing site with their child.
Information about how to undertake a rapid Lateral Flow test (with supporting videos) can be found here.
Instructions on how to report a COVID-19 rapid Lateral Flow test result can be found here.
The summer timetable for the collection of rapid Lateral Flow testing kits and on-site testing in Slough can be found attached at the bottom of this article.