DfE Coronavirus Update: 17 March 2021
The below update comes from the Department for Education (DfE)’s daily coronavirus email update for all early years, children’s social care, schools and further education providers. If you would like to receive this email directly, please sign-up using this subscription form.
Vaccinations of eligible staff in education settings
Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines are the best way to protect people from coronavirus (COVID-19) and will save thousands of lives. We welcome the support of education and childcare settings in encouraging vaccine take up and enabling staff who are eligible for a vaccination to attend booked vaccine appointments where possible.
The vaccines have been through the same regulatory approval process as any medicines to ensure they meet strict safety standards and offer high levels of protection. They were tested on thousands of people of different ages, ethnic backgrounds and with different health conditions before being approved.
The vaccine cannot give you coronavirus (COVID-19) and will reduce your chance of becoming seriously ill. Some people may experience side effects from the vaccine – if you do, most of these are mild and short-term, lasting no longer than a week (but usually much less).
DHSC has published a blog on Covid-19 vaccines – frequently asked questions.
PCR and LFD testing during Ramadan
The British Islamic Medical Association’s view is that taking polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or lateral flow device (LFD) tests during Ramadan does not invalidate the fast.
People may feel more comfortable doing the tests when they are not fasting. In this case, with the move to home-testing, tests can be carried out at any time.
Test kit supplies for primary schools, school-based nurseries and maintained nursery schools
You will need to use the contact us form to place orders for additional test at-home kits to enable twice-weekly testing of staff to continue over the Easter period.
Orders placed before 5pm on Wednesdays will arrive the following week, after this time orders will be processed and delivered the subsequent week. Therefore, we advise that you place an order no later than 5pm today, Wednesday 17 March, to ensure delivery in week commencing Monday 22 March.
Further information on how to order additional test at-home kits and details on the national testing policy can be found on the primary schools and nurseries document sharing platform.
Test kit deliveries for private, voluntary and independent nurseries (PVIs)
Private, voluntary and independent (PVIs) nurseries will have started to receive an initial delivery of lateral flow device test kits from Thursday 11 March, ready to commence the testing of staff from Monday 22 March.
If you have not received your initial delivery or have missing or damaged items, you can report this to us.
Before submitting a report on missing deliveries, please check the delivery schedule published on the primary schools and nurseries document sharing platform for your expected delivery date. Please check whether you have received a “sorry we missed you” card, which will allow you to re-arrange your delivery. Also, please check with your colleagues whether the delivery has arrived as another member of staff may have accepted the delivery on behalf of your setting.
To report any missing or damaged items, please complete the nursery rapid testing delivery supply form. You will need your nursery’s unique identification number to complete this but will not require a DfE sign-in account.
The number of testing kits that nurseries have received for staff testing is based on an estimation of staff using the number of childcare places on record with Ofsted. If this data is no longer up to date and you do not think you have received a sufficient number of test kits, please also use the nursery rapid testing delivery supply form to report this to us.
Update to guidance for parents
We have updated our guidance on what parents need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges during COVID-19.
The guidance now includes information on returning to boarding school from overseas, including arrangements for pupils to quarantine on arrival in the UK. It also provides additional information to support parents considering elective home education for their child.
We have also published a collection of guidance providing information for parents and carers of children attending early years settings, schools and colleges during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
This collection brings together information and guidance for parents on:
Essential information for the spring term
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing
Clubs and out-of-school settings
Home-schooling and remote education
Support for children and young people
Guidance now available as HTML
We have published the actions for schools during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak guidance and the providing apprenticeships during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak guidance in HTML format to make them more accessible for our audiences, compared to the original PDF format. We have also removed reference to 8 March where appropriate.
There have been no policy changes as part of this process.
The information below has not changed since our last update.
Department for Education coronavirus (COVID-19) helpline
The Department for Education coronavirus (COVID-19) helpline and the PHE Advice Service (option 1) is available to answer any questions you have about coronavirus (COVID-19) relating to education settings and children’s social care.
Phone: 0800 046 8687
Opening hours:
Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm
Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm
Please listen carefully to all of the available options before selecting the most appropriate option for your nursery, school, college or university.
Look up your unique organisation number (UON)
If you have not received your unique organisation number (UON) for ordering new coronavirus (COVID-19) test kits you can look it up using your unique reference number (URN) or your UK provider reference number (UKPRN) or by calling the Test and Trace helpdesk on 119.
Department for Education guidance
Our guidance to support education providers, local authorities and parents during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak can be accessed using the links below:
You can access up-to-date information and guidance on Coronavirus (COVID-19) via the main government website: www.gov.uk/coronavirus