New quarantine policy for Jersey boarding school students

Friday 26 March 2021

Boarding school students returning for the holidays will be allowed to leave quarantine after a single negative covid test under new rules drawn up by the Government.

From 26 April, under-18 students returning to Jersey for half-term, or at the end of the summer term, can be treated as ‘green zone’ arrivals - even if their school sits within an ‘amber’ or ‘red’ jurisdiction.

To be eligible, parents or guardians will have to make an application in advance with evidence that:

• the child has spent the past 14 days at the school;
• there have been no positive cases in the school during that period;
• the child has not stayed overnight anywhere else on the way to Jersey;
• the child has had no symptoms in the past 14 days.

Parents of children returning for the Easter holiday before 26 April may also apply to have their isolation requirement varied from the red classification, which currently applies to all arrivals, to the current traffic light rating of where their school is located.

Parents will need to provide written confirmation of the location of their child’s school, and that their child has not been identified as a direct contact or tested positive for the virus in the fortnight before their arrival in Jersey. 

Those that are granted exemption from quarantine after a single test will still have to be tested on days 5 and 10.

Pictured: Until 26 April, all new arrivals are currently treated as 'red' - but parents and guardians of boarding school students will now be able to apply for an exemption for their children.

The Government said the policy was decided following consultation with the Scientific and Technical Advisory Cell.

“While we will need to reconsider this policy if there is a deterioration in the covid-19 situation in the UK, it is my hope that local students attending UK boarding schools, and their families, will be able to make arrangements for school holiday periods,” Health Minister Deputy Richard Renouf said.

“At the same time, we will continue to provide the island with the reassurance that results from a robust testing regime.” 

Students over the age of 18, such as those returning from university, will not be eligible to vary their quarantine requirements.

Applications to the scheme for children returning at Easter can be made between now and Tuesday 30 March HERE.