Update for schools: 1 February 2021

This update includes information about testing, public Q&A sessions about vaccinations, an upcoming DfE webinar on remote education and information about Children's Mental Health Week.

Message from Public Health Birmingham regarding testing

After seeking advice from Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace, the government has decided to suspend the requirement for routine confirmatory PCR for positive LFD results while prevalence is very high nationally. Under the new system, an LFD result will trigger the legal duty to self-isolate, eligibility for support payments and contact tracing for those who do not report their own LFD results i.e. for those who do not take the test at home. This situation will be under review and we will inform you if the requirement for confirmatory PCR is introduced again. As part of the change to protocol, LFD positives will be linked to the national Test and Trace system so that isolation payments can be claimed and contact tracing can be activated. 

In the case of primary school staff, any of those undertaking home testing will be required to submit a swab for PCR testing for confirming a positive LFD test.

Public Q&A sessions regarding COVID-19 vaccination

Please share the information below about Q&A sessions with parents:

The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine is our best defence against the virus. The vaccine is highly effective and it is currently being rolled out across Birmingham to priority groups. Throughout February 2021 there will be five online Q&A sessions which will allow the public to ask any questions they may have about the vaccination.  On the panel will be the Birmingham & Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group, local representatives and Councillor Paulette Hamilton, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care.

It is strongly recommended that people attend the session that is relevant to where they live, as some of the information in the webinar will be localised:

DfE live Q&A on remote education provision – Wednesday 3 February

Together with a panel of experts and sector leaders, the DfE will be hosting a live Q&A session on Wednesday 3 February at 4pm to answer questions about remote education. Find out more about the event and book your place. A recording of the session that took place on Wednesday 27 January is now available to watch online.

Children’s Mental Health Week

Children’s Mental Health Week, an annual week-long campaign run by children’s mental health charity Place2Be, begins today and will run until Sunday 7 February.

This year’s theme is “Express Yourself” with the focus on children finding ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas through creativity. Mentally Healthy Schools have created a toolkit of resources for children, staff and parents to use during Children’s Mental Health Week.

Throughout the week, the DfE will be using its social media platforms to share a variety of mental health resources including ‘wellbeing for education return’ and the children and young people’s psychological first aid training which is run by Public Health England.

This entry was posted by Laura Hendry on 01/02/2021.