Aberdeenshire Council’s head of education has written to north-east parents reminding them of changes to the Test and Protect rules.
Schools across the region will now be issuing ‘warn and inform letters’ to parents and carers if a positive case of Covid has been identified in the school.
The new measures have been imposed in an attempt to prevent large groups of children and young people having to self-isolate as a precaution.
Head of education Vincent Docherty has now written to parents informing them of changes as the new school term gets underway.
In the letter, he wrote: “You will be aware that arrangements for managing positive cases of COVID-19 have changed this term and I thought it would be helpful to clarify arrangements.
“When a positive case is identified in a school, Public Health ask that we issue a ‘warn and inform’ letter to parents and carers of those in the class or year group.
“Test and Protect colleagues then work with the family of the positive case to determine if any individuals have had particularly close contact with the positive case in keeping with the national return to school guidance.
“Test and Protect colleagues contact those identified by the positive case and provide personalised advice based on the individual circumstances. In many cases the advice is to self-isolate and request a PCR test, but this does depend on circumstances.”
Rising Covid cases
The reminder has been issued just weeks after pupils returned to the classroom.
A number of schools have already had to issue warn and inform letters as Covid cases were identified in the region.
It comes as Covid cases across Scotland continue to rise, with 6,400 people testing positive in the latest 24 hours.
Mr Docherty thanked parents and carers for the continued support amidst the ever changing situation.
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He added: “We continue to thank you for your support in helping to keep our school communities safe and I want to assure you that the safety of our schools remains a key priority.
“I continue to meet with Public Health colleagues regularly to review arrangements as we all recognise that this is a very dynamic situation. Please be assured that we will continue to keep you up to date of any changes shared with us.
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