17th December 2021
Update COVID: Advice to all students 17/12/2021
Dear students, parents and carers
I last emailed you on Friday 10/12/2021 with all the current Covid information and updates. This link will take you to the Covid-19 section of the college website where you will find all the information and resources you need from the College.
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for doing their best, over the last four months, to keep Covid at bay and minimising any risk of transmission within South Devon College by wearing masks, using sanitiser, maintaining social distancing and taking up the offer of vaccinations and boosters as they become available.
Please see below for the current and most important information. Should anything change before we return to College in January 2022, we will send out a further update.
- Christmas LFD testing and return to College in January 2022
- If you receive a positive Covid PCR result over the holiday
- Close contacts of a COVID-19 case
- Covid vaccination
- January examinations
- January – Face covering advice
- Reporting COVID-19 Cases: Latest data
Christmas LFD testing and return to College in January 2022
- FE students and all education staff to self-test twice a week over the Christmas/New Year break. Your LFD home test results, as usual, should be reported to the government website HERE and the College link HERE. Links are also easily available on SDConnect and SDCentral.
- All staff and students must test at home either the evening or morning before they return to their education setting in January before continuing with twice-weekly at home testing
- Students must also share their results with the College via the Covid test results form, as soon as possible after a test so the College can monitor any localised ‘outbreaks’. The College will be reviewing who completes this form, as well as the results, and keeping Public Health England informed of the numbers of students conducting home tests. The SDC COVID results reporting form is now even quicker and easier for students to report their results.
If you receive a positive Covid PCR result over the holiday
If you test positive for Covid using a PCR test over the holiday, you must report it to the college using the same college reporting link HERE. NB You can now report both LFD and PCR test results to the College using this form.
Close contacts of a COVID-19 case
From 14 December, a new national approach to daily testing for contacts of COVID-19 has been introduced. All adults who are fully vaccinated and children aged 5 to18 years and 6 months, identified as a contact of someone with COVID-19 – whether Omicron or not – should take an LFD test every day for 7 days instead of self-isolating.
Once notified by Test and Trace as a close contact, all eligible staff, pupils and students are strongly recommended to take a LFD each day for 7 days and report the results through the online reporting system. If they test negative, they can continue to attend college (once we return). Outside of college, they should continue to follow national guidance. This approach should also be adopted over the Christmas holiday and on return in January.
Covid Vaccination
All eligible students aged 12 and over are encouraged to take up the offer of the vaccine, including boosters.
Scientists and the Government tell us that vaccines are our best defence against COVID-19. They help protect young people and adults, and benefit those around them. Vaccination makes people less likely to catch the virus and less likely to pass it on.
To book a vaccination, please visit: Book or manage a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination – NHS (www.nhs.uk).
January Examinations
Exams and formal assessments will go ahead as planned in the New Year.
Face Coverings in January
The wearing of face coverings in communal areas of College for students, staff and visitors is expected to carry on in January 2022. Students do not need to wear face coverings in classrooms.
Reported COVID-19 Cases: Latest data
The table below gives the most up-to-date picture of COVID-19 infections at South Devon College in all areas.
| Weekly cases: (Total confirmed positive cases reported in the last week) | 14 |
| Total cases: (A running total of positive/presumed positive cases reported to the College by students and staff since the first case was reported on Wednesday 7th October 2020) | 410 |
I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I look forward to seeing you all in the new year. Please note that the College reopens to students on Wednesday 5th January 2022.
Kindest regards
Laurence Frewin
Principal and CEO
South Devon College