Mansfield primary school staying open despite ‘series’ of positive Covid-19 cases – including the headteacher

A primary school in Mansfield remains open despite "a series" of positive Covid-19 cases among its members of staff, including its headteacher.
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St Peter's Primary Academy Mansfield on Bellamy Road so far has six positive cases among its staff members since last week.

The school refused to comment when approached by the Chad but, in a letter sent to the parents on Sunday (November 15), headteacher James Marshall said the symptoms have not been what they expected.

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He said: "As I write this, I am not aware of any parents contacting the school office with any cases in pupils. The challenge we have experienced is that the symptoms have not been what we expected and, had I not been tested, we would not have known about any cases in school.

St Peter's Primary Academy MansfieldSt Peter's Primary Academy Mansfield
St Peter's Primary Academy Mansfield

"All members of staff who tested positive showed symptoms as fatigue or heavy colds rather than high temperature, continuous cough and/or loss of taste or smell."

He also assured the parents that the school was being proactive and ensuring that the integrity of the bubbles stay intact.

"Where we believe there may be a case, we are sending the member of staff for a test rather than waiting for any of the main three symptoms.

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"We believe any impact on classroom closure or partial closure has been the result of separate cases, rather than the same case being spread through school."

He also said that over the weekend, there has been a positive case in one of their kitchens but the movement of food from the kitchen to children does not meet the criteria for close contact.

"Face-to-face contact within a metre for 1m or less: -1m-2m contact for 15 minutes or more; So, there is no reason to believe that there would be any breach of the kitchen bubble to any other part of school," he said.

However, due to the close contacts within the kitchen, the other members of staff in the kitchen are likely to test positive or need to isolate for two weeks.

Families are also advised to provide a packed lunch on Monday and Tuesday and the school will make sure the food is ordered by Notts Catering. Those with food vouchers will be refunded.

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