Settings, including childminders are no longer required to notify Ofsted of any COVID-19 cases in the setting.

We no longer need you to notify the Early Years Service or your key contact, if you have COVID cases or staff absences in your setting, unless you would like support or you need to close a room or restrict numbers in any way.

It remains a legal requirement under the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework to report cases of serious illness. You should notify Ofsted as soon as practical, and in any case within 14 days of a notifiable event happening. For information about what is classed as a notifiable event or serious incident and what to tell Ofsted, please refer to the guidance on reporting a serious childcare incident.

Staff and students/children in all mainstream education settings (including PVI and maintained nurseries) are no longer advised to undertake twice weekly asymptomatic testing. You will no longer need to distribute test kits to your staff for regular testing Testing in Education Settings document sharing platform.

If you have any further questions please email your named Key Contact or email; earlyyears@buckinghamshire.gov.uk 

Self Isolating

The Government have removed the legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test.

Children and young people aged 18 years and under who have a positive test result

It is not recommended that children and young people are tested for COVID-19 unless directed to by a health professional.

If a child or young person has a positive COVID-19 test result they should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 3 days after the day they took the test, if they can. After 3 days, if they feel well and do not have a high temperature, the risk of passing the infection on to others is much lower. This is because children and young people tend to be infectious to other people for less time than adults. Children and young people who usually go to school, college or childcare and who live with someone who has a positive COVID-19 test result should continue to attend as normal.

 

Testing