Lateral Flow Testing Information

Week 1-2 Initial Testing from week beginning 4 January:

• All schools and colleges with secondary-age pupils will be offered the opportunity to test all staff and students.
• The testing workforce will be made up of paid agency staff, volunteers or school workforce.
• Pupils and students will be offered two Lateral Flow Device (LFD) rapid tests spaced three to five days apart (minimum 3 days).
• The LFDs provided to schools and colleges are simple to use (young people can swab themselves, with a trained person supervising them). They produce a result in around 30 minutes.
• Anyone with a positive result will need to leave school/college, take a confirmatory Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test and follow the self-isolation guidelines (currently 10 days).

• This approach will allow those (pupils, students and staff) who are in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 to return to school/college if they agree to be tested for 7 days following their last contact with a positive case.
• If at any point a member of staff, pupil or student or student tests positive, they will need to leave school or college, take a confirmatory PCR test and follow the isolation guidelines.