COVID Safe Guidelines for Term 2 2022

The Victorian Government has announced some important changes to COVIDSafe measures for schools that will apply from the start of Term 2.

Face masks

Face masks are recommended for for staff and students 8 years and older for indoor settings unless masks make clear communication difficult. This recommendation is from the 19th July 2022 until the end of winter. This should not interfere with activities such as sport or music programs.

Screening requirements

Students who have tested positive for COVID-19, and have completed their 7-day isolation period, now do
not need to undertake rapid antigen test (RAT) screening for 12 weeks after their release from isolation.
This was previously 8 weeks.

Household contacts

Students who are household contacts of a COVID-19 case are not required to quarantine. They may return
to school as long as they undertake rapid antigen tests (RAT) 5 times during their 7-day period. They are
required to notify the school that they are a household contact.
Students aged 8 years and above who are household contacts are required to wear face masks when
indoors at school unless they have a valid exemption.
If a student household contact returns a positive RAT result, they must isolate for 7 days.

Vaccination requirements for visitors to schools

Parents, carers and other adult visitors (not performing work) are no longer required to show evidence of
two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

RAT screening program reminder

RATs will continue to be supplied for the first 4 weeks of Term 2 to support the early detection of COVID-19 in our school.
The testing recommendations will remain the same this Term for students and staff with:
• mainstream schools – recommended to test at home twice a week
• specialist schools – recommended to test 5 days a week at home due to the higher risk of severe
illness for medically vulnerable children.

As we approach winter and flu season, the vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 and booster shots for
students 16+ remains the best way to ensure protection for students and staff.

If you have any concerns about getting your child vaccinated, please get in contact with your GP or
another health professional who can answer your questions.

Thank you for your ongoing support in keeping our school safe.

Effects of COVID-19 on Children’s Physical Health

Dr Anthea Rhodes, Paediatrician at the Royal Children’s Hospital, has run an online Webinar to discuss many of the questions parents are asking about the effects of COVID on their children. A replay of her live stream can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c7M7xawWxo

This replay covers information such as:

How does getting COVID affect children physically at the time

Are children likely to have long term effects?

What if my child has an underlying health condition?

How can we support the mental health of our children?

If you are asking yourselves some of these questions, it is worth having a look at this clip as we move to having all our children back onsite in the coming weeks. It may help put your minds at ease a little.

COVID 19 Links and Resources