Half of Year 7 at Newport school told to self-isolate following girl's inconclusive test result
More than 100 secondary pupils have been advised to self-isolate as a precaution after one student's test was "inconclusive".
Half of Year 7 at the Burton Borough School in Newport were sent home today after one girl's lateral flow test returned an unclear result.
Students had only come back to school en masse this week.
Headteacher Krissi Carter said it was a precautionary move that was agreed with the local public health authorities, and that if a new test is negative the affected students could all be back in school on Monday.
In a letter to parents and carers today she said: "I would like to thank all Year 7 families who had to act quickly this morning to pick up their children following an inconclusive lateral flow test result.
"This morning, a lateral flow test a student carried out came back with a very faint second grey line and did not indicate clearly whether it was a positive test or not.
Unique case
"On checking, we also found it to be a slightly smaller cartridge than all of the others that had been used, even though it was included in the same batch and was of the same product type.
"Following consent from the student's family, two more lateral flow tests were carried out on the student by our medically trained volunteers, both of which came back negative.
"Following discussions with the health protection hub, it was decided that as a precaution, all close contacts of the student would be sent home to isolate immediately, as the matter was looked into further."
She said that because it was a "unique case", Public Health England and the Department of Education said the child in question should go for a more reliable PCR test.
If that test returns a negative result, all of the students should be able to return to school next week.
The result is expected on Saturday.
