Dear parents/carers and staff

On advice from WA Health, I am providing the following information. There have been positive cases of COVID-19 in years 7, 8 and 9 at Perth Modern School.

For all COVID-19 enquiries, if reporting a COVID-19 positive case or close contact, please email Ms Fiona Tholet, Associate Principal on Fiona.tholet@education.wa.edu.au

They attended school on Friday 4 March and Tuesday 8 March while infectious.

If students and staff are identified as close contacts of the case, they will be contacted directly by the school.

A close contact information sheet from WA Health is attached to this communication.

Please note under the very high caseload settings in school, students who are asymptomatic but have been identified as a close contact under the existing definitions (but not a household close contact), will be able to continue attending school or childcare and benefit from face-to-face learning.

Under these new guidelines, at Perth Modern School we require students who have been identified as close contacts to:

• be collected from school (not on public transport).
• COVID-19 tested (either RAT or PCR).
• If they return a negative result and are asymptomatic then they can return to school.
• Please continue to monitor for symptoms. After returning a negative test, symptoms can still occur for up to 2-3 days.
• If they return a positive test, then isolate as per previous health department instructions.

Please note: Students who have been identified as a close contact by the school (not a household close contact) and are already in isolation, can return to school on Thursday 10 March if they fulfil the dot points stipulated above.

The school-based close contact protocols allow asymptomatic students in school or childcare to attend school, childcare, after-school care and other school-based sporting, cultural training or after school events at the students’ school, but self-isolate at all other times until the seven days has passed. This does not include attending other social, cultural or community sporting activities not based at the asymptomatic students’ school.

Advice for all families and staff: 

• The school remains open.
• If your child is not identified as a close contact, your child is not required to quarantine and should attend school.
• If staff are not identified as a close contact, they are not required to quarantine and should attend school.
• As for everyone in Western Australia, we ask that you monitor your child/yourself for symptoms of COVID-19 and get tested and isolate until you receive a negative result, if symptoms develop.
• If you or your child develop symptoms, please do not attend school.
• Please note that the Omicron strain can present with less typical symptoms such as diarrhoea, particularly in children.  

If you have queries or concerns, please contact WA Health on 1300 316 555. 

Kind regards 

Mitchell Mackay

Principal

Perth Modern School