Aspire Trust Letter re Covid 19 Testing – 1st September 2020

1st September 2020

Dear Parent or Guardian

We are pleased to share the news that your child’s school is taking part in an exciting new Southampton COVID-19 Testing Programme this term.

This new test is very simple and involves collecting a sample of saliva in a plastic pot. Free tests will be offered to all pupils and all staff at the school.

You will receive a testing pack which contains pots and a leaflet that shows your child how to complete the test at home.

We will share more information with you soon about how this process this will work. Please do look out for this.

What is the testing programme?

This is the second phase of the COVID-19 Testing Programme led by a partnership between Southampton City Council, the University of Southampton and the NHS, alongside a wider Hampshire network of public services.

It has been designed to see how the new saliva test can be rolled out in different education settings. Four schools which are part of the Aspire Community Trust are taking part in this first trial phase – Mount Pleasant Junior (including students/staff based here who are registered at Springwell School), Maytree Infant, Swaythling Primary and Cantell School.

Lessons run by the team from LifeLab at the University of Southampton will be taking place in school to explain this process to our children and young people in a fun and engaging way.

Why is this important?

Knowing who has COVID-19 is vital to stopping its spread.

We hope that you are as excited as we are about the potential for this test to help us manage the risk of COVID-19. Alongside all the other measures we are taking to control the virus, it could help us to keep our communities safe and well and keep our schools open. We will also be paving the way for this test to be used to help in the recovery from COVID-19 across the country.

Testing is not compulsory, but I strongly encourage you take part. We will be in touch soon with further details of how your child can take part in this exciting programme.

Yours sincerely

Harry Kutty

Chair – Aspire Community Trust

Headteacher- Cantell School