COVID Update

COVID Update

Reducing the risk of illnesses in Term 3                                                                                          

NSW Health reports that there has been an increase in COVID-19 transmission in the community over the holidays and that the incidence of influenza cases remains high too. With this in mind, we encourage all families to follow NSW Health’s advice to reduce the risk of all illnesses that may affect the SCEGGS community this term.

Household contacts

Students and staff who are identified as household contacts can attend school if:

  • They have absolutely NO symptoms and feel well
  • Parents/carers notify the school beforehand that a student is intending to return under this provision, by emailing absences@sceggs.nsw.edu.au
  • They conduct a daily RAHT and return a negative result each morning before attending school for a week (5 school days).
  • Staff and students who are household contacts must wear a mask indoors, except when eating or exercising. It is recommended that primary students follow these same guidelines wherever possible.

Household contacts will not be permitted to participate in overnight excursions and camps.

Staff and students who have had COVID-19 in the last 4 weeks do not have to comply with these guidelines for household contacts and are not required to self-isolate unless they develop new COVID-19 symptoms.

 

Masks

Masks continue to be mandatory in several cases:

  • On buses, trains and other public transport: this applies to all staff and to students aged 12 years and older. It applies when travelling to and from school, and during school excursions, by public transport or by chartered transport services.
  • Mask wearing is mandatory indoors for staff and high school students returning to school as household contacts for a week (5 school days) and is recommended for primary school students in the same situation.

In addition, staff and students are strongly encouraged to wear masks indoors during the first four weeks of Term 3, if they wish to do so. While it is not mandatory, it is important that our community is a safe and supportive environment for everyone, and that we respect the personal choices made by students and staff and the diversity of individual health circumstances associated with the decisions about wearing masks.

 

If your daughter is unwell

Staff and students cannot attend school if they are showing any symptoms of flu or COVID-19.

If symptoms occur at any time, your daughter should not attend school and should undertake a rapid antigen test. Even if she tests negative on a RAHT, please keep her home for 24 hours and then test again.

Even if multiple COVID tests (RAHT and/or PCR) come back negative for COVID-19, students should not return to school until all symptoms of the illness have gone.

 

In general

We can all protect our loved ones and the community in general by:

  • staying home if unwell, sick or have any flu-like or COVID-like symptoms.
  • practising good hand hygiene by sanitising and/or washing hands regularly with soap and water.
  • practising good cough and sneeze etiquette by coughing and sneezing into your elbow or into a tissue which is immediately disposed of.
  • keeping up to date with vaccinations, including the flu vaccine.
  • testing immediately for COVID-19 if you have any symptoms and isolating until you receive a negative result.

Please help us keep everyone in our community as safe and well as possible this term!

Holly Gyton
Deputy Head of School