The school are delighted to announce that S6 pupils Amy-Lee McLachlan and Kori Turnbull have been selected as school captains for session 2020-21. Both Amy-Lee and Kori won a pupil vote and following an interview with Mr Gardiner, Depute for S5-6 and Head Teacher Mrs Rooney, where they discussed what the role of school captain involves, the skills and qualities they possessed in order to undertake the role, and finally how they could progress the role and school in their capacity as captains were successful. Amy-Lee and Kori are now looking forward to representing the school, being a role model to pupils, and working closely with the school’s senior management team and pupils to help solve issues that are important to the school community. Congratulations to both pupils.

The entire school community are working very hard to ensure the utmost safety of our pupils and staff now that school has resumed. During this unprecedented time all at Braidhurst are following the guidance for schools from North Lanarkshire Council and the Scottish Government regarding the safe resumption of teaching and learning. This includes: following a timetable of double periods to minimise pupil movement throughout the day, staggering interval and lunch times to prevent crowds and our outdoor areas now have zones which separate year groups during break and at lunch.

The school also has an enhanced cleaning process in place, including: wall-mounted sanitising dispensers placed at strategic points around the school for pupils and staff to easily access, a sanitising station in the school foyer which includes gels and sprays for everyone to use as soon as they enter the school building, furthermore staff and pupils are sanitising their desks and computers after each use.

We are grateful to staff for helping with these procedures and to our pupils who are willingly getting their hands sanitised at every opportunity – ‘skoosh hands, stay safe’ is our new catch phrase! All of these measures are in place to ensure that Braidhurst is a place of safety for our young people and staff and that risk is kept to a minimum. We appreciate the great support and co-operation of our entire school community in this new normal.

To all parents and carers

Common Cold and COVID-19 Symptoms

I understand these last few months have often been challenging, particularly for parents and carers. Now that schools and nurseries have returned I am writing to provide some advice where a child or young person in your care presents with symptoms of the common cold or similar bugs during this pandemic.

Following the return of schools after a prolonged break, it is common for colds and similar viral infections to circulate. In many cases, children will be well enough to attend school and continue their learning with little or no interruption to their education. In other cases, for instance where they have quite a heavy cold, they may need to take a day or two off to recover.

This is not the case for children and young people with potential COVID-19 symptoms, they are required to self-isolate and seek a test through nhsinform.scot or by calling 0800 028 2816.

In order to ensure your children do not miss out on their education, it is important to be clear about how COVID-19 symptoms differ from those of other infections that we normally see circulating at this time of year.

COVID-19 Symptoms

It is important that all of us – including those who make up the community around a school – are vigilant for the symptoms of COVID-19 and understand what actions we should take if someone develops them, either at school or at home.

The main symptoms to be aware of are:

• new continuous cough
• fever/high temperature
• loss of, or change in, sense of smell or taste.

If a young person or a child in your care develops any of the above symptoms, they should self-isolate and you should book them a test as soon as possible at NHSinform.scot/test-andprotect, or by calling 0800 028 2816

We recommend testing only for those with a continuous cough, fever, or loss of or change in the sense of taste or smell. The UK senior clinicians continue to keep the symptoms for case definition under review and will continue to use evidence to adjust these if it becomes necessary.

It is essential that people who have COVID-19 symptoms, or who share a household with someone who has symptoms, do not attend school, nursery or other childcare settings, and must self-isolate along with all members of their household. If the test is negative, self-isolation can end for everyone. If the test is positive, Test and Protect will give you further advice.

Cold-like symptoms

If, however, your child does not have symptoms of COVID-19 but has other cold-like symptoms, such as a runny nose, they do not need to be tested and they and you do not need to self-isolate. Your child can go to school if fit to do so.

The Scottish Government appreciates the huge effort being made by parents, carers and school staff to ensure the risk of COVID-19 is minimised and to support children’s education.

For further advice please visit the Parent Club website or NHS Inform.

Professor Jason Leitch

National Clinical Director

Scottish Government