COVID-19 Updates

Staff and students cannot attend school if they are showing any symptoms of COVID-19. These include fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, loss of smell/taste, muscle/joint pains, diarrhoea, nausea/vomiting, extreme tiredness, unexplained chest pain or conjunctivitis (eye infection). If symptoms occur at any time, your child should undertake a rapid antigen test. If you cannot access a rapid antigen test, you can attend a PCR testing clinic.

Students showing symptoms at school
​Any student who reports to our First Aid Room as ill and showing any symptoms related to the virus will be isolated. Parents are required to make arrangements for them to be collected immediately. The collection of these students by a parent or caregiver is non-negotiable. Students with Asthma or Hayfever type symptoms need to obtain a medical certificate stating this and that their symptoms are not contagious. When collecting an ill student, parents will be required to report to Front Reception to sign in and show proof of vaccination before collecting their child from the First Aid room.

If your child tests positive for COVID-19, they must self-isolate at home for 7 days from the date they were tested and follow the guidelines for someone who has tested positive to COVID-19. Self-isolation means staying in the home and remaining separated from others.

If you have any household member who receives a positive test result for COVID-19, the following guidelines apply:

• The COVID-positive household member must self-isolate for 7 days from the date of the positive test result, remaining separated from others, following the self-isolation guidelines.

If you have no symptoms on Day 7: You must self-isolate for 7 days from the day you were tested. You can only leave self-isolation after 7 days if you do not have a sore throat, runny nose, cough or shortness of breath. For example, if you were tested at 10am on Tuesday, you can leave isolation at 10am on the following Tuesday if you do not have any of these symptoms. You do not need to test before leaving self-isolation in NSW.

If you have symptoms on Day 7: If you have a sore throat, runny nose, cough or shortness of breath in the last 24 hours of your isolation, please remain in isolation until 24 hours after your symptoms have resolved. If you are not getting better or you are concerned, call your GP. It’s important to stay in self-isolation and call your GP because you may still be infectious. Your GP will be able to provide further support related to your individual circumstances, help you manage your symptoms and assess whether you need further clinical care.

Wear a mask when near or talking to other people and avoid visiting high risk settings (health care, aged care, disability care or correctional facilities) for a further 3 days after you leave isolation. If you work in one of these settings speak to your employer before returning. If you have a severely weakened immune system (such as you are a transplant recipient or are receiving chemotherapy) you should take these additional precautions for a further 4 days (a total of 7 days following release from isolation).

If you have other symptoms after 7 days (e.g. fever, headaches) which are not getting better you can leave isolation but you should contact your GP.

The school settings on the wearing of masks will be lifted for students and staff on Monday 28th February 2022. Secondary students and staff can elect to wear a mask indoors if they wish. Primary staff are being asked to continue to wear masks when teaching. This restriction will be lifted from the 7th March. Masks do remain compulsory on public transport including school buses, sport buses and excursion buses for Secondary students. Students are responsible for having their own mask when attending sporting events and excursions.

Visitors to the school will no longer be required to QR code in on entry, but visitors to the campus will still need to sign in as normal to the school at the Front Reception desk. St Columba remain covered by the Public Health Order for School campuses and therefore visitors and staff must meet mandatory double vaccination requirements.

Supervision for Primary students commences at 8.20am. Secondary students arriving before 8.20am will be accommodated in the Library from 7.50am to allow for supervision. Parents requiring care for their Primary student before 8.20am will need to register for the Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) service. OSHC operates Before School Care from 6.30am each weekday morning. To enrol in OSHC, please contact Columba Cottage on 6581 4433 or email admin@ccelc.nsw.edu.au.

Parents are not permitted onto the School campus past the Front Reception and must farewell their child at the front of the School. Children who require special provisions should contact Mrs Cummins about the level of support needed to settle into new routines and enter the school independently.

Parents can collect their child from Kiss and Drop or the Front Oval. Parents do not need to get an exemption for front oval pick up. Primary teachers will bring students down to these areas each afternoon. We ask that parents who are waiting on the Front Oval for children physically distance themselves from other parents and wear a mask. Please do not wait at the bottom of the stairs at the portico. For Primary parents, please indicate 'Kiss and Drop' or 'Oval' in your child's School Diary. This helps children and staff know what is happening.

Kindergarten to Year 2 parents ONLY are allowed to queue in Kiss and Drop zone from 2.45pm. Years 3 and above cannot proceed from the marked line until 3.15pm. A sign indicates the start of this line. Please ensure your car name sign is on the left side of your dash or visor.

Procedures and timing for pick up of students:

• Kindergarten students may be collected at 3.00pm by car from the Kiss and Drop area or oval at the front of the School.

• Year 1 and Year 2 students may be collected at 3.10pm by car from the Kiss and Drop area or oval at the front of the School.

• Primary students can be collected by car from 3.20pm at the Kiss and Drop area or front oval.

• Students catching buses and waiting for siblings will be supervised by staff until 3.45pm.

• Primary children not collected by 3.45pm will be taken to Front Reception and parents contacted.

• Secondary Students can be collected from the front of the school or Kiss and Drop at 3.20pm. Please note that Secondary students cannot possibly get to Kiss and Drop before 3.25pm, and parents are encouraged not to arrive early to wait for secondary students.

• Secondary children can study in the School Library until 4.30pm Monday to Thursday and until 4.00pm on Fridays.

Absences
Please let us know if you need to keep your children at home for any health reasons, e.g. isolation requirements, COVID-19 vulnerability or any other general reasons. You can notify of an absence by emailing absence@scas.nsw.edu.au.

Early Departures
From Term 1 2022, we have returned to our normal sign out procedures and parents are permitted to access the Front Reception to sign out students who are departing early. Visit our Arrivals and Early Departures page for more information.

If we are advised that a student has tested positive for COVID-19, we will email all parents/caregivers of the affected year level, cohort or the whole school community informing them of the risk of exposure.

Testing and isolation is no longer mandatory for exposures in school settings, NSW Health has advice on testing and isolation recommendations for the community following exposure to COVID-19 which you may find useful.