A pupil testing positive for Covid-19 from Callington Community College has not resulted in their whole year group being sent home to isolate, the school confirmed today.

In a letter to parents principal Wendy Ainsworth said that contrary to initial advice that a whole year group ’bubble’ would have to isolate if there was a positive test within the group, Public Health had now advised otherwise.

She said: ’I can confirm that the individual is a student and furthermore both the student and their sibling are now isolating in accordance with the guidelines. Neither of them have been in college today.

Secondly, all of our actions have been in accordance with strict Public Health guidelines. Following the confirmation of a positive result outcome on Saturday evening, I phoned the Public Health office on Sunday and they clarified all of our next steps. These included not having to isolate the entire year bubble. This is because, through the support of the family and teachers of affected groups, we were able to identify all individuals who would qualify as ‘close contact’. These include additional students who were in the same group at break times or were sat within two metres of the individual in class.

’No teaching staff have had to isolate as they all teach from within a two metre bubble. Due to the protocols of sanitising, mask wearing, one way systems and our control of students through corridors, there was no need to isolate the year group. In addition, we were visited two weeks ago by the Health and Safety executive and they confirmed our protocols were robust and effective in maintaining safety.

The college has an enhanced cleaning protocol, which has been in operation since March 2020. A team cleans all ‘high contact’ surfaces such as door handles, light switches and push plates throughout the day. In addition, there are teams throughout the college after hours who clean every surface, to include window frames, desks, chairs and window sills. Staff are asked to leave the site by 3.45pm to allow this enhanced cleaning protocol to take place.

All isolating individuals have been advised of the date that they can return and in line with public health guidance, it is 14 days after the onset of symptoms in the affected individual. This enables these children to return to college on Thursday, October 22. They have additionally been advised to seek a test if their child exhibits any symptoms in this time frame. All children are receiving work to their homes.

I realise that yesterday’s news will have been deeply unsettling and worrying for many. It was sadly inevitable, given the rise in cases across the country, that at some point we would have a positive case. However, I must thank the family for their prompt correspondence and College staff who provided key information very quickly. This enabled a rapid, protective response.

I continue to assure you that the college is as safe as an environment as it can be. I cannot guarantee that there will be no more cases, as this infectious disease is out there in our locale and has been for some time, but I can guarantee that our responses will continue to be prompt and we will continue to persist in our safety messages to students, staff and the local community to include advocating mask wearing, ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ and regular hand washing.