As we approach the April break, we hope you and your families will be able to enjoy some family time together despite the current restrictions.
Everyone at AIS appreciates the pre-screening measures parents and staff undertake before setting out in the morning for school. AIS Nurses are reporting that parents and families are doing a great job with this important task. We informed you that a student tested positive for COVID-19 last Friday, and as a result of ‘close contact track and trace’ measures, we have been notified of a second student case on Thursday 18 March. We wish both our students well and look forward to their return to school soon. All further actions have been taken. We ask that you keep your national section informed if any student develops a COVID-19 infection. Such information remains anonymous and is only used for monitoring prevalence within our specific school community.
We have updated the AIS Health Screening Flow Chart. We have emphasised further the AIS requirement that if any student or staff member is required to take a COVID-19 test, their siblings must also remain in self-quarantine until the test outcome is received, (Annex F). We understand that at times like this self-quarantine can become frustrating and inconvenient and we appreciate your continued support in keeping our children and school community safe.
Current Restrictions
All current Dutch measures will apply up to and including Tuesday 30 March. On Tuesday 23 March the government will assess what measures are necessary as from 31 March. The Netherlands has extended the curfew until at least Wednesday 31 March. The risks and uncertainties regarding the new variants’ increasing prevalence continue to point to a third wave. The testing and vaccination programme continues, but the message remains to work from home if possible and central to Host Nation guidance is to keep socially distanced from others outside the family group.
IMPORTANT: Travel over the School Vacation
Travel restrictions remain in place, and travel outside the Netherlands is on an emergency basis only. The advice not to travel abroad will apply up to and including Thursday 15 April. If you or your child are travelling outside of the Netherlands, a negative test result (PCR) needs to be provided, and AIS students will need to quarantine for ten days before your child can return to school. We have updated Annex D4 to reflect current travel restrictions.
Adhering to these measures will be critically important and will support the efforts to keep AIS open for face to face learning in the weeks following the vacation period.
A reminder on how parents can help
- We ask that you maintain the vigilance in the pre-checks you conduct at home daily and that you keep your child/children/family at home if they (or you) are showing any signs of feeling unwell.
- If your child is showing COVID-19 symptoms, they are considered a SUSPECT case and can be tested. Any unwell student will need to be 24 -hour symptom-free, without medication, before they return to school. The national section requires written confirmation to confirm that the test is negative/outcome of medical advice before returning to AIS. All information is held sensitively and protected and destroyed once confirmation is received.
- All people in the household of any SUSPECT case are CONTACT cases automatically until the symptomatic person’s situation has been cleared.
- We ask that you keep national sections informed of any situation that arises where your child/family is a suspect/contact case for COVID-19 as it is critical information for contact tracing and tracking.
- Ensure your child wears a mask on school transportation, on the school site, and when moving around in and outside the buildings. Follow national guidelines in classroom environments.
- Remind your child to wash/sanitise hands frequently.
- See Annex A, D and F on the Parent Portal on the AIS website.
If you require the parent portal password, it can be obtained through the National sections.
Keep reminding your child:
- To keep a social distance of 1.5 m and wear a mask when entering and moving around in a public space on the school campus.
- Wear a mask on transportation. Inside the national class/bubble, national requirements may differ – Annex B and Annex D.
- Wash hands frequently
- Help your child understand the importance of their actions for the safety of themselves and their teachers and family at home.
- Students will continue to use the designated ‘zoned’ areas and routes for students to enter and exit school building – Annex C.
COVID-19 Summary
- Limit social contacts and adhere to social distance restrictions
- Stay at home as much as possible.
- Do not travel when not necessary; this also includes within the NL. Travelling in from outside the EU one needs to have and present proof of a negative test. No unnecessary trips abroad at least until Mid-April 2021.
- Strict advice to work from home when possible.
Testing: In case you develop symptoms of COVID-19 you should make an appointment to be tested via the number available: GGD 0800-1202.
The following links provide the most up to date information available from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM):
Common symptoms of COVID-19 are:
- Cold symptoms such as a nasal cold, runny nose, sneezing, sore throat
- Coughing
- Shortness of breath
- Elevated temperature or a fever
- Sudden loss of taste and smell (without nasal congestion).
Keep well and safe,
AIS Directorate.
See also: