Question re testing DD6

[Crunchymum]

DD6 has a cold, with her it almost always turns into a cough and last night, after she went to bed I heard her coughing (several times for about an hour) so I ordered a home test and then nowt.

Not a single splutter. She was in with me from 11pm onwards (snotty but not coughing) and has woken up fine. Just a runny nose / bit bunged up.

As I've ordered a home test, shall I keep them all off? It would mean 8yo staying home too and 3yo missing a medical appointment?

Will ordering the test and not doing it flag up to school?

At this moment in time she doesn't have a cough, but it could still develop?

This is the definition from the NHS:

a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

Did she have that (doesn't matter if she doesn't have it now)? Did she have any other signs of covid?

You said she was coughing a lot for an hour, you thought it was bad enough to need a test at the time. Keep her off and everyone else and do the test.

DD has gone in. I called the school, gave them all the relevant information and they were happy to have her in.

She coughed a few times, for about an hour (say 9.30-10.30pm) and then nothing.

No other symptoms or signs but I let the school make the decision on the end.

Sorry, hasten to add we did do a (negative) lateral flow test and told the school this... although they didn't ask for any evidence of it.