Friday 09 July 2021
Following the changes to border restrictions on 1st July 2021, parents are asked to please note that any young person who has travelled outside of the Bailiwick in the previous 14 days must have a Covid-19 test to confirm a negative result within the 48 hours before they return to an education setting, even if they have travelled through the "blue channel".
An education setting includes any early years provider (for example pre-schools, nursery or childminder), school or college.
Public Health guidance is that this system of testing prior to returning to education settings, which has been in place previously for those in passive follow-up, should also be extended to holiday and sports clubs run during the summer holidays. As such the same principle applies, if anyone attending a holiday or sports club-run activity has travelled out of the Bailiwick in the 14 days prior, they should have a Covid-19 test within the 48-hour window before attending. If they are attending multiple clubs within 14 days of returning to the island, then one test in the 48-hours before attending the first club will suffice.
Parents are asked to follow this Public Health guidance, which is in place to mitigate the risk of Covid-19 cases spreading through groups of young people who have not been vaccinated.
These tests are free of charge and can be booked at https://gov.gg/returntoeducation. Once completed the scheduling team will be in touch to book a test slot within the 48-hour period. This testing regime is likely to remain in place into the autumn term.
The requirement for testing also extends to adults who help with activities in education settings or sport/holiday clubs and have travelled off island in the 14 days prior to attendance. Please note this is for all adults, irrespective of vaccination status, due to the need to take a responsible approach when coming into contact with groups of young people.
For anyone not fully vaccinated, country and region categories apply as normal with respective isolation and testing requirements in place. More information on categories can be found at: https://covid19.gov.gg/guidance/travel/countries
However, parents or carers who have travelled outside of the Bailiwick within the previous 14 days are not required to have a test if they are attending an educational setting purely for the purposes of collecting or dropping off a young person, although they should continue to respect physical distance from other children and young people during the short time that they will be on-site.
For those students attending educational settings on exam results days, the principle remains the same and they should have a Covid-19 test within the 48-hour period prior if they have travelled outside of the Bailiwick during the previous 14 days.
Further reminders will be publicised before the start of the autumn term in September, when this system is likely to continue to remain in place.
