What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges during COVID-19

The government continues to manage the risk of serious illness from the spread of the virus. The Prime Minister announced on 27 November 2021 the temporary introduction of new measures as a result of the Omicron variant and on 8 December that Plan B, set out in the autumn and winter plan 2021, was being enacted. These measures are precautionary, while the variant is tracked and assessed. As a result, we are reflecting these measures in this guidance for parents. This advice remains subject to change as the situation develops.

COVID-19 continues to be a virus that we learn to live with and the imperative to reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education remains.

Our priority is for schools, colleges, childminders and nurseries to deliver face-to-face, high-quality education and care to all children and young people. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health.

We have worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to revise this guidance.

The main messages from this guidance are:

• nationally, education and childcare settings are open, and attendance is mandatory (for schools) and strongly encouraged (at childminders, nurseries and colleges)
• the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has made it clear that the overwhelming majority of children and young people still have no symptoms or very mild illness only
• updated advice on tracing close contacts and isolation to reflect the changes to isolation rules
• continuing to take regular rapid tests will help you to identify infections early and reduce transmission
• your nursery, school or college no longer trace close contacts – close contacts will be identified via NHS Test and Trace
• children and young people aged under 18 years 6 months who usually attend school, and have been identified as a close contact, are not required to self-isolate
• your child no longer needs to remain in a consistent group (‘bubble’)
• if the number of positive cases substantially increases in your nursery, school, or college, or if your nursery, school, or college is in an enhanced response area, you might be advised that additional measures should be introduced
• all children aged 12 and over are now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination
• changes to advice for clinically extremely vulnerable children and young people
• updated information to confirm that schools, colleges, nurseries and childminders are not required to use the NHS COVID Pass, unless they are holding a specific event that meets the attendance thresholds
• in primary schools, we recommend that face coverings should be worn by staff, adults, and those aged over 11 (including visitors) when moving around in corridors and communal areas
• where pupils in year 7 and above are educated, we recommend that face coverings should be worn by pupils and students, staff and adult visitors when moving around the premises, outside of classrooms, such as in corridors and communal areas
• updated advice on the use of face coverings to include the use of face coverings in classrooms for year 7 and above

Note: The use of the term ‘college’ relates to all further education providers throughout this content.

Information for parents and carers about attending schools, nurseries and colleges in the spring term 2021.

Documents

What parents need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges during COVID-19

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Back to school: COVID testing in schools – questions answered

Details

Information for parents and carers of children at:

• registered childcare providers (including nurseries and childminders)
• primary and secondary schools (including independent schools, maintained schools, academy trusts, free schools and special schools)
• colleges (for the purposes of this guidance ‘colleges’ means publicly funded sixth form and further education colleges, independent training providers and special post-16 institutions)

Published 18 June 2020
Last updated 02 Jan 2022 + show all updates

1. 02 Jan 2022 Updated guidance
2. 30 March 2021 Updated guidance on home testing for students, changes to shielding, returning to boarding schools, Test and Trace support payments, wraparound provision, school trips, confirmatory PCR tests for secondary and college-aged students and Ofsted Inspections.
3. 16 March 2021 Updated information on returning to boarding school from overseas and elective home education.
4. 5 March 2021 Added information on asymptomatic testing for parents and adults in households with children at school or college.
5. 24 February 2021 Changed the guidance document ‘What parents need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges during COVID-19’ to an accessible version.
6. 23 February 2021 Update ‘What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges’, up to and after the full reopening on 8 March 2021.
7. 3 February 2021 Updated sections on attending nursery, school and college, remote education, exams, asymptomatic testing and lateral flow tests, Ofsted inspections, entry tests for selective schools, food, and EHC plans.
8. 21 January 2021 This guidance has been updated following the PHE position statement on daily contact testing.
9. 20 January 2021 Added information about updates coming shortly.
10. 8 January 2021 Updated to reflect the new national restrictions that were introduced on 5 January 2021.
11. 31 December 2020 Updated to reflect announcements about the phased return of secondary schools and colleges and the use of the contingency framework in some primary schools.
12. 23 December 2020 Added information about tier 4 restrictions and returning in January 2021.
13. 14 December 2020 Updated the self-isolation period from 14 to 10 days from the day after contact with an individual who tested positive – in the ‘self-isolation’ and ‘actions that nurseries, childminders, schools and colleges will take’ sections.
14. 7 December 2020 Updated the information on primary assessments and GCSE and A Level exams in summer 2021, Ofsted inspections and exams for selective schools.
15. 27 November 2020 Updated to reflect the local restrictions, including changes to the sections on shielding, face coverings, school and college trips and extra-curricular activities. We have also added information about performances in schools.
16. 12 November 2020 We have updated this guidance to include information on the national restrictions by adding a ‘national restrictions’ section and updating the relevant information about face coverings, clinically extremely vulnerable children and extra curricular activities.
17. 6 November 2020 Added a link to the new national restrictions from 5 November guidance.
18. 29 October 2020 We have updated this guidance to include changes to information on self-isolation and shielding, who needs to get a test for coronavirus (COVID-19), face coverings, assessment and exams.
19. 16 October 2020 Updated information on alert levels.
20. 1 September 2020 Updated information about the use of face coverings.
21. 21 August 2020 We have added new information on school admissions. We have updated the information on travelling to and from nursery, childminders, school and college, education, health and care (EHC) plans, wellbeing, online safety and assessment and exams.
22. 31 July 2020 Removed ‘What parents and carers need to know about nurseries, childminders, schools and colleges until August 2020’ as now out of date.
23. 10 July 2020 Update to the transport section in the guidance for this summer term – ‘What parents and carers need to know about nurseries, childminders, schools and colleges until August 2020’. These changes ensure consistency with guidance from the Department for Transport.
24. 2 July 2020 Added guidance for parents and carers about early years providers, schools and colleges in the autumn term.
25. 30 June 2020 We have added content on summer provision, school uniform and a package of support worth £1billion to support pupils to catch up. We have updated content on school meals and the Covid Summer Food Fund.
26. 18 June 2020 First published.