Currently, all high school students, including those who are under 12 years of age, need to wear a mask both indoors and outdoors, including on dedicated school transport*, unless they are seated or are able to maintain a 1.5m distance from others.

Below you will find information that is most relevant to our Foxwell State Secondary College community. In addition to the COVID safe measures currently in our college, the following will also be in place from 7 February to 4 March 2022:

• if your child is sick or feeling unwell, please keep them at home. Students can receive priority access to RATs at Queensland Health testing clinics. Visit a testing clinic near you
• parents and carers are also asked not to come on college grounds. You will be asked to remain in your vehicle for school drop off and pick up where possible. Alternatively, please stay behind the black fences on the car park side of the 2 minute Stop-Drop-Go lane.
• school camps, excursions, whole of college assemblies and large gatherings have been suspended and limits have been placed on external contractors, face-to-face staff meetings, parent–teacher interviews, and professional development

  INFORMATION ABOUT RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS

  The Queensland Government has a plan for priority rapid antigen testing for school staff and students.

  To keep our college community COVID-19 safe, students and staff must not attend school if they are unwell or have COVID-19 symptoms.

  If your child or our staff are sick/symptomatic

  • they should attend their local Queensland Health testing clinic where they will be prioritised to receive a rapid antigen test (RAT);
  • parents cannot collect a RAT kit from the school for this purpose;
  • if the test result is negative and the staff member or student is well, they can return to school;
  • if the test is positive, the staff member or student will need to follow Queensland Health quarantine and isolation requirements.
  • Students who are sick or too unwell to engage in learning will not be expected to complete learning from home. Students who are well will be supported to continue with their learning from home for their period of quarantine or isolation.

  If your child or a staff member becomes symptomatic at school

  • your child will be immediately isolated in a safe place, and you will be contacted to collect your child.
  • when you collect your child, you will receive a RAT to administer at home.
  • staff members will immediately leave the school and be provided with a RAT to administer at home.
  • if the test result is negative and the student or staff member is well, they can return to school.
  • if the test is positive, they will need to follow Queensland Health quarantine and isolation requirements.
  • students who are sick or too unwell to engage in learning will not be expected to complete learning from home. Students who are well will be supported to continue with their learning from home for their period of quarantine or isolation

CONFIRMED CASE/S OF COVID-19 ON OUR COLLEGE SITE

We will follow the advice and requirements from Queensland Health, and will work to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of staff, students and visitors are prioritised.

We will inform our community via our Schoolzine Bulletin when advised that a COVID positive case has been on site. You will be advised:

• that there has been a COVID-19 case at the college [we will keep the details of the case confidential]
• to monitor for symptoms and to stay home if unwell.

We ask parents to notify us of the positive result of any student who has been on our school site during their potential period of infection.

WHAT IF A STUDENT OR STAFF MEMBER IS A CLOSE CONTACT?

We will continue to follow the latest testing, isolation and quarantine requirements for confirmed cases and close contacts as outlined by Queensland Health. As at 27 January 2022:

• You are a close contact if you have been with a person that has COVID-19 for more than four hours in a house or other accommodation, a care facility or similar. (Usually, this means you are a close contact if you live with a person that has COVID-19. But, if you have stayed away from them, you are not a close contact. For example, if they are in a separate part of the house that has a separate entrance and no shared common areas, and if your contact with them wasn’t more than four hours.)
• You are not a close contact if you have had COVID-19 in the past 4 weeks.

Follow these steps if you are a close contact:

1. Immediately quarantine

Quarantine means you need to stay away from other people as much as possible because you are at highest risk of getting COVID-19 and if you do, you may spread it to others.

If you are a close contact, you need to immediately quarantine yourself at your home, or other suitable accommodation, for 7 full days from the date you last had contact with the person that has COVID-19. If you live with them, your quarantine will last the same amount of time as their isolation period.

If you have any COVID-19 symptoms, even mild, when you find out that you are a close contact, you must get tested. You can get tested using a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) or a PCR test.

Children/students must follow the same requirements as adults if they are close contacts.  Children cannot go to school if they are a close contact. This applies even if you are a critically essential worker and are allowed to leave quarantine to work.

Once you complete your quarantine period, you are not considered a close contact. For 7 days after completing your quarantine period, you must:

• monitor for COVID-19 symptoms.
• get a COVID test if you develop COVID-19 symptoms, and quarantine while you wait for the result