Career Ready

Are you in S5? 

You can apply for Career Ready 

What is Career Ready? 

A 2 year programme which gives you an insight into the world of work. 

What is involved? 

Career Ready will provide you with: 

✓ Your own mentor 

✓ A 4-week paid internship 

✓ Masterclasses to help you prepare for the world of work 

✓ Events 

What will I gain? 

✓ Advice on choosing and building a career 

✓ Experience of the workplace 

✓ Opportunities to boost your skills and confidence 

How do I take part? 

You must be in S5 to take part in Career Ready. Speak to Mr Kilday in the Music Department or apply by clicking on the application link below. 

Deadline for applications: Friday 1st October 2021 

 Career Ready application 

Warn & Inform Letter to Parents/Carers of Pupils in S4-6

 

Lothian NHS Board
Waverley Gate
2-4 Waterloo Place
Edinburgh
EH1 3EG 

www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

Ref: Health Protection Team

Dear Parent/Carer

In recent days we have been made aware of member(s) of the Gracemount High School community in S4-6 who have tested positive for COVID-19. This letter is to inform you that your child has been identified as having been in ‘low risk’ contact with this person. This means they may have shared a classroom or had some other low risk contact in school.

There is no need for your child to isolate unless contacted separately by Test and Protect and asked to do so. School remains open and your child should continue to attend if they are well.

The public health judgement that these types of contact are low risk is based on a range of factors, including vaccination rates, evidence about transmission from children and young people, and the low risk of direct health harms to children.

If you or your child do develop any symptoms of COVID-19, they must not come to school – they should have a test as soon as possible, and your whole household should stay at home until the test result comes back. Further information on testing, and the rules around self-isolation, can be found on www.nhsinform.scot or by phoning 119 if you cannot book online.

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of: new continuous cough; high temperature; or a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia).

Please be reassured that for most people coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness. Children are at particularly low risk of illness from coronavirus infection. For those people who are eligible, vaccination is highly effective at preventing severe disease.

To help reduce the risk to your family and your school community, please also:

·         Ensure your child takes a lateral flow test before returning to school. This can help reduce the likelihood of spread in schools, by catching infections early.

o   If your child is in primary school, you can support them to take a test before returning if you and they wish to do so. This is not required, but can provide you, your child and their school community with reassurance. There is no need for your child to continue to test regularly as part of attending primary school.

o   If your child is in secondary school, they should take a test before returning wherever possible, and continue to test regularly (twice-weekly) thereafter.

o   Free at-home LFD test kits are available for you and your primary-school aged children by collection from COVID test centres or pharmacies, or delivery by ordering online. More information can be found at: www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested/pages/no-covid-symptoms.

o   Free test kits are available to all secondary school children from the school. Please contact the school directly if they have any problems accessing tests.

o   Please ensure that all test results, whether positive, negative or void, are recorded on the online portal at: www.covidtest.scot OR by phoning 119.

o   Your child should not take a lateral flow test if they have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 90 days.

Arrange vaccination as soon as possible, if you or anyone eligible in your family have not yet been vaccinated. www.nhsinform.scot/covid-19-vaccine. Vaccination is our best defence against COVID-19 causing anyone to become seriously unwell.

Wear a face covering in line with guidance, keep your distance, keep rooms ventilated, and wash your hands with soap and water regularly.

You can find more trusted advice on www.nhsinform.scot.

Yours faithfully,
Health Protection Team
NHS Lothian

Warn & Inform Letter to Parents/Carers of S2 Pupils

Lothian NHS Board
Waverley Gate
2-4 Waterloo Place
Edinburgh
EH1 3EG 

www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

Ref: Health Protection Team

Dear Parent/Carer

In recent days we have been made aware of member(s) of the Gracemount High School community in S2 who have tested positive for COVID-19. This letter is to inform you that your child has been identified as having been in ‘low risk’ contact with this person. This means they may have shared a classroom or had some other low risk contact in school.

There is no need for your child to isolate unless contacted separately by Test and Protect and asked to do so. School remains open and your child should continue to attend if they are well.

The public health judgement that these types of contact are low risk is based on a range of factors, including vaccination rates, evidence about transmission from children and young people, and the low risk of direct health harms to children.

If you or your child do develop any symptoms of COVID-19, they must not come to school – they should have a test as soon as possible, and your whole household should stay at home until the test result comes back. Further information on testing, and the rules around self-isolation, can be found on www.nhsinform.scot or by phoning 119 if you cannot book online.

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of: new continuous cough; high temperature; or a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia).

Please be reassured that for most people coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness. Children are at particularly low risk of illness from coronavirus infection. For those people who are eligible, vaccination is highly effective at preventing severe disease.

To help reduce the risk to your family and your school community, please also:

·         Ensure your child takes a lateral flow test before returning to school. This can help reduce the likelihood of spread in schools, by catching infections early.

o   If your child is in primary school, you can support them to take a test before returning if you and they wish to do so. This is not required, but can provide you, your child and their school community with reassurance. There is no need for your child to continue to test regularly as part of attending primary school.

o   If your child is in secondary school, they should take a test before returning wherever possible, and continue to test regularly (twice-weekly) thereafter.

o   Free at-home LFD test kits are available for you and your primary-school aged children by collection from COVID test centres or pharmacies, or delivery by ordering online. More information can be found at: www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested/pages/no-covid-symptoms.

o   Free test kits are available to all secondary school children from the school. Please contact the school directly if they have any problems accessing tests.

o   Please ensure that all test results, whether positive, negative or void, are recorded on the online portal at: www.covidtest.scot OR by phoning 119.

o   Your child should not take a lateral flow test if they have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 90 days.

Arrange vaccination as soon as possible, if you or anyone eligible in your family have not yet been vaccinated. www.nhsinform.scot/covid-19-vaccine. Vaccination is our best defence against COVID-19 causing anyone to become seriously unwell.

Wear a face covering in line with guidance, keep your distance, keep rooms ventilated, and wash your hands with soap and water regularly.

You can find more trusted advice on www.nhsinform.scot.

Yours faithfully,
Health Protection Team
NHS Lothian

Letter to parents/carers of school children in NHS Lothian Area from Lothian NHS Board

Lothian NHS Board

FAO parents/carers of school children in NHS Lothian Area

 

Enquiries to Lorna Douglas – 0131 465 5560. 

Lorna.Douglas@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

10 September 2021.

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

We appreciate there have been a number of changes in how cases of COVID-19 in schools are being managed since the start of term and that this has caused some confusion and anxiety. We hope this letter helps explain these changes.

Rationale behind the changes

Children and young people have a very low risk of health harm from COVID-19, and children and young people with asymptomatic infection (that is without symptoms) are at a relatively low risk of transmitting COVID-19 to adults. Vaccine uptake is very high, particularly among individuals who are at greater risk of harm from COVID-19, and the vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe disease. This has led to the recent changes in policy for self-isolation and contact tracing for close contacts aged under 18and means that the blanket isolation of whole school classes will no longer be routine. Far fewer children and young people are likely to be asked to self-isolate, and when they do it will be for a shorter period of time while they await their PCR result.

Cases of COVID-19

The advice for people with symptoms of Covid is unchanged.  If your child has symptoms of COVID-19ortests positive, they must self-isolate in line with advice given on NHS Inform.

Contacts under 18 years

For young people aged under 18years, the focus of contact tracing now is to identify those who are at the highest risk of being exposed to infection. The Test and Protect process will identify those have had close or prolonged contact with the person who is positive such as living in the same household, sleepover or physical relationship type contact with the case. These high risk close contacts will be asked to isolate and take a PCR test. If the PCR result is negative and they remain without symptoms, then they can end self-isolation. If the PCR test is positive, they must self-isolate as a case as above. If a high risk contact is aged under 5 years, then they will not need to self-isolate so long as they have no symptoms -PCR testing is not required, but still encouraged.

Other children and young people who meet the definition of a contact are considered low risk - e.g. those who had contact in classrooms, dining rooms, common entry and exit points, general playground contacts, friendship groups and sharing transport to school. These contacts will not be directly contact traced by Test and Protect. When cases arise, parents and carers will be alerted via the 'warn and inform' letter so that they can be vigilant and look out for symptoms and signs of COVID-19in their children.

Test and Protect processes

Much of the Test and Protect process is now automated. Parents should not always expect to receive a phone call from Test and Protect staff, because much of the contact tracing is carried out electronically. It is therefore important to follow instructions on electronic communications (text and email) carefully and complete all contact information as requested by Test and Protect to help with that process. More information on Test and Protect can be found here, including how to tell that a communication you receive is genuinely from Test and Protect and not a scam.

NHS Lothian continues to work closely with Education colleagues to monitor cases of COVID-19and support public health measures to reduce the spread of infection in schools. It is important that parents and pupils continue to practice good hand hygiene, comply with mask wearing and other COVID-19policies. It is also important for secondary pupils to take part in regular LFT testing and to take up the offer of COVID-19 vaccination if they are eligible.

I hope that this provides some background and clarification for the recent changes in approach to COVID-19 contact tracing in young people. If you would like any further information,  please see Scottish Government information sheet for more detail.

Yours faithfully, Dona Milne

Director of Public Health and Health Policy