Latest Health Settings

COVID Safe Campus Operations

Below is is an update on how we will be managing the pandemic at School for the commencement of Term One. As in 2020 and 2021, we face new challenges from the pandemic. Please be reassured that we will continue to place the health of our students, staff and community as our highest priority.

From the beginning of Term 1 2022, the School will operate with a number of COVID-smart measures that have been developed by NSW Health to minimise transmission and keep schools open. These key measures include:

• use of rapid antigen tests by students and staff
• ensuring all staff on school sites are fully vaccinated against COVID-19
• wearing surgical masks indoors
• using cohort arrangements
• maximising ventilation
• encouraging regular hand washing and continuing enhanced cleaning of schools
• strictly limiting visitors on school sites
• assessing high risk activities and applying appropriate safeguards
• learning from home where face-to-face learning is not possible.

Surveillance Testing

The State Government is providing all schools with Rapid Antigen tests to conduct surveillance testing of every student twice-weekly for the first four weeks of term. 

The School requests that families test their children every Monday before school and every Wednesday before school.

Both students and staff should also return a negative Rapid Antigen prior to returning to school on Tuesday 1 February. This test should be taken in the morning before school.

How do I collect my child's Rapid Antigen tests?

Drive-through test collection will take place at school at the following times:

• Friday 28 January between 1pm and 4pm
• Saturday 29 January between 9am and 11am
• Monday 31 January between 9am and 11am

Collection will be split alphabetically by surname as follows:

• A to K - DPA Pick Up Zone
• L to Z - Junior School Drop & Go Zone

Please do not leave your car during collection. Our staff will deliver your tests directly to your car.  Please note: You may NOT collect tests for another family, you may only collect tests for your own children.

Do people test at home? How do they notify the school?

The RAHT kits that will be provided are a quick and easy screening tool to help detect COVID-19 in people who do not have symptoms. They involve a simple nose swab that is placed in a chemical solution.

Schools are not required to administer Rapid Antigen tests to students. Parents/carers of children participating in testing will be required to administer the tests at home.

You are legally required to report a positive case of COVID via the Service NSW app.  The Public Health Order (PHO) also requires staff (including contractors) and students to immediately notify the school of their positive result to a COVID test whether that be a PCR or RAHT test. This should be via email to:

Senior Students - reception@kws.nsw.edu.au

Junior Students - junioroffice@kws.nsw.edu.au

Responsibility for these notifications lies with the individual, rather than the School having to follow up. These notifications are particularly critical if we are to avoid having cases impact school operations, so we ask our families to be vigilant about this matter.

Will students need their own Service NSW account?

No, students will not be required to have a Service NSW account. Parents/carers will be able to notify Service NSW of their child’s positive result.

There may be enhancements to the Service NSW portal in the future to enable notifications of positive results to also indicate a student’s/teacher’s school.

What is the process for managing positive cases?

Any staff or student who tests positive to COVID is required to follow NSW Health requirements under the Public Health Order for isolation and testing. Currently, the requirement is:

• isolate for 7 days following the positive test
• leave isolation after 7 days unless you have symptoms (including, a sore throat, runny nose, cough, or shortness of breath). Note: if a person continues to have symptoms, they are able to leave isolation after 7 days with a medical clearance.

Once a person who has tested positive to COVID-19 has finished their isolation period they can immediately return to school.

Schools will no longer have to send cohorts home or undertake contact tracing when there is a case within the school.

In place of contact tracing, a letter from the School will be used to alert the school community that there has been a case and to monitor for symptoms. There may be circumstances when it might be appropriate to just send the letter to a class or cohort group depending on the contact the person who has tested positive had in the two days prior to being symptomatic or testing positive.

When can a student or staff member return to school after testing positive?

Once a person who has tested positive to COVID-19 has finished their isolation period as detailed above, they can immediately return to school. 

Individuals do not have to return a negative test to leave isolation as there may still be a viral load present in their system which may result in a positive test result. However, they are not likely to continue to be infectious. 

NSW Health have advised that once a person who has tested positive has finished their isolation, they do not need to self-isolate or undertake testing (RAHT or PCR) for 28 days unless symptoms reappear. Following these 28 days individuals should resume RAHT surveillance testing. If your child has tested positive for COVID in the past 28 days, please advise the School by emailing this information to Senior School reception at reception@kws.nsw.edu.au or the Junior School Office at junioroffice@kws.nsw.edu.au

What is the definition of a household/close contact?

A household contact is a person who lives with someone who has COVID-19. Only household contacts are required by NSW Health to isolate for 7 days (unless the person has previously tested positive to COVID and ended their isolation for this in the past 28 days). Previously, those that had been with a positive case for 4 or more hours was also considered a close contact – the definition has been updated and this no longer makes someone a close contact (i.e., close contacts are household contacts only). Any other individual that has contact with a COVID positive person is not required to isolate but is advised by Health to assess the level of risk of the contact and respond accordingly. This means any exposure to COVID at school or socially does not result in a person being a close contact. 

What happens if a staff member is identified as a household/close contact? 

Can they attend work during their isolation period?

For now, Kinross Wolaroi staff who are household/close contacts will be required to isolate for 7-days. 

What happens if a student is identified as a household/close contact? Can they attend school during their isolation period?

No. A student is no longer able to attend school through the use of RAHT if they are identified as a household/close contact. Students identified as household/ close contacts are required to complete the 7 day period of isolation.

What if a parent does not allow their child to have a RAHT test twice a week?

The use of RAHT for students will not be mandated by the NSW Government.

Not participating in RAHT testing may have implications for their child’s participation in other school activities depending on the school’s policies and COVID protocols.

Adults on campus

Visitors to campus will continue to be limited to essential visitors only. There will be an exemption for two parents of new students in Year 7, Pre-Kinder and Kindergarten to attend campus on the first day of school only.

All staff, contractors and visitors on campus will continue to be required to be double-vaccinated and to provide evidence of vaccination. Staff and contractors are required to provide vaccination certificates and others are required to show their certificates at reception prior to entry.

Visitors will no longer be required to register using a QR code on arrival but must continue to always register their presence on campus at Reception prior to entering the school. 

Pick ups and drop offs

Parents and carers must remain in their cars when dropping off and collecting students before and after school.

Uniform Shop

Families are encouraged to purchase online and use delivery or click and collect rather than visiting the shop in person. A density limit of 2sqm will continue to apply in the Uniform Shop. Please wait outside while other customers are served. All visitors must register at reception and provide evidence of full vaccination prior to entering campus to visit the Shop.

Canteen

The Canteen will continue to operate but will not be open to students for casual purchases. Lunch orders ONLY will be taken (no recess orders) and orders will be distributed to Year cohorts in their assigned playground areas.

Masks

Health advice continues to be that masks provide an important first line of defence in minimising transmission, particularly as the Omicron variant is recognised to be highly transmissible.

• All Senior and Junior School staff will be required to wear masks indoors.
• No vented masks or cloth masks should be worn. Surgical masks are strongly recommended to be worn.
• Senior School students are required to wear masks indoors.
• Primary school students are strongly recommended to wear appropriately-sized masks indoors.
• Masks must be worn by contractors and visitors to the school, including parents and carers – anyone over the age of 12 on the school site who is indoors is required to wear a mask.

Are students required to wear masks on buses?

The PHO requires that all people over the age of 12 wear a mask at a public transport waiting area and in a public transport vehicle or vessel (such as a bus or train). In regard to private school buses, the mask-wearing requirements in the school (mask wearing in an indoor setting) also apply to the bus.

Student Activities

Density limits no longer apply for activities in schools, such as assemblies and ceremonies however the School will continue to minimise the opportunity for contact between students and staff members, through strategies to minimise exposure across different groups, particularly in the context of the highly transmissible Omicron variant that is the prevalent strain at the moment.

Some higher risk activities such as singing and ensembles may now take place, and offsite activities such as excursions, incursions, camps, swimming carnivals and inter-school sport are also permitted.

Health advice strongly recommends minimising activities and gatherings that are extraneous to student learning, particularly at the start of Term 1 while cases and transmission in the community is expected to continue to be high.

If the school chooses to run a specific activity, then additional COVID safe planning based on the school’s own risk assessment will be undertaken to mitigate risk. In addition, parents/carers may be required to make informed decisions and provide a consent that acknowledges the risks for their child’s participation.

Music and singing

Some of the activities in the Arts such as music, singing and dancing are recognised as activities which require specific consideration of risk mitigation strategies. There are restrictions on singing and dancing in community settings, but these restrictions do not currently extend to school settings. The School will apply risk mitigation strategies for managing music, singing and dancing.

Last year there were restrictions on which instruments students could play – are there any restrictions on music? On singing or choirs?

There are not expected to be restrictions on particular instruments. The School will undertake a risk assessment process to identify the best safety strategies for instruments, singing and choirs.

What is the approach for excursions, sport and co-curricular activities? 

Performances, sport, excursions and camps are also permitted with COVID safe assessment and planning.

Ventilation

The virus that causes COVID-19 can be spread from person to person through contact with droplets, which are produced when a person sneezes or coughs, or through other small respiratory particles that are produced when people talk, sing or shout.

These small particles can remain in the air for some time. Particles in the air may build up if there is not enough ventilation, for example, if a group of people sing or speak loudly in an indoor space without the windows or doors open.

Open or well-ventilated spaces reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 because infectious particles are more quickly diffused in the open air than in spaces with less ventilation.

Transmission of COVID-19 is more common indoors, where there may be less space to physically distance, and where people may come into contact with droplets and airborne particles more easily.

To help reduce the risk, it is important to take steps to improve ventilation in indoor settings so that any infectious particles that may be present in the air are more quickly removed.

NSW Health therefore continue to encourage maximising ventilation in indoor areas where possible.

Strategies that will be used at School will include:

• opening windows and doors to create an air flow
• use of outdoor and covered areas wherever possible in preference to indoor spaces
• learning spaces have been checked to ensure appropriate levels of ventilation and measures are being taken to improve areas where this is possible.

Staff Shortages

The School is establishing protocols for managing staff shortages to ensure student safety and continuity of learning. As was the case in 2021, where needed, the NSW Government has acknowledged that schools may need consider implementing hybrid models of learning (i.e., a combination of face-to-face and learning from home).

There is strong support from Health for the continuation of face-to-face learning and the School will make it a priority to remain open and only move to learning from home for all students in exceptional circumstances.

What can be done to handle staff shortages?

The School may employ a range of layered strategies to manage staff shortages, including the usual processes such as engaging casual teachers or combining classes, using the School auditorium for multiple classes, use of non-teaching staff to supervise students, implementing hybrid learning models or transitioning to remote learning.

Learning during isolation

Students who are required to isolate will be provided with classroom content and materials to support their learning while they are away from school.

Summary of health measures

We have prepared a handy summary of our Term 1 health settings which you can DOWNLOAD HERE.