Dear Parents / Carers,

Over the half term break, I have been informed that two students have tested positive for Covid -19. This means that we have had three students in total who have received a positive test result since we came back in September: one each in years 7, 10 and 11. This is a very low number, and is something which we can be pleased about.

I am writing to you because I have had to ask all year 10 and all year 11 students to isolate for 14 days – or since they might last have been in contact with the student who has tested positive in their particular year group. While all of our year groups are in self-contained bubbles, it is very difficult to be sure who has been in close contact with who, within those bubbles. The fact that the two recent cases have been reported over a half term break has meant the disruption to learning has been confined to three or four school days. However, had these cases been reported during term-time the disruption would have been much more significant.

Having had time to reflect over the past couple of days, I would like to make some important points which we must consider as we move forward into the autumn and winter. Some of these points highlight a change in our practice as a school, and others are reminders of how you can support the school and make our chances of staying fully operational more likely.

Important points to note:

Please be vigilant

It is possible or even likely that if your child were to contract the virus, their symptoms would be mild. In pre – Covid times of course we would actively encourage full attendance at school, and only advocate time off if a child was clearly unwell. In the current circumstances however, you should keep your child at home even if they are only showing mild symptoms of illness. Excessive tiredness, sore throat, high temperature, persistent cough, loss of taste / smell, stomach upsets are all possible symptoms which you should look out for. If you notice any signs at all, please take your child to be tested. If you continue to send your child to school with mild symptoms of illness and they subsequently test positive, we will need to send their entire year group home for two weeks.

Rainy days

If the weather is rainy, we usually allow students to stay inside the buildings during break and lunch times. However, this means that all students in the bubble are mixing together in enclosed spaces eg. halls, corridors and so on. This is problematic in all year groups as it means that we cannot keep teachers socially distant from pupils, and we cannot monitor which students are mixing together within the bubble. If we can limit the amount of time that students are in close proximity during unstructured time in enclosed spaces, we will be able to send home far fewer students if someone tests positive for Covid -19. This might be the difference between a handful of students and the whole year group. Over the next few months, we will send students outside as much as possible for breaks and so it is very important that they wear a warm, waterproof coat and ideally that they bring an umbrella to school each day. We will of course use our judgement on when to call students into the buildings when weather conditions become prohibitively difficult.

Assemblies

Full year group assemblies in the main hall will be cancelled until further notice. We have held weekly assemblies for all year groups thus far. However, we will hold assemblies remotely for the next few weeks and review things towards the end of term. That is, Heads of Year will conduct their assemblies remotely from their offices, while pupils will watch the assembly on the main screens in their tutor-group classrooms.

Hand Sanitizer

We have more than 100 hand sanitizer stations across the school. We refill them daily, and they are all visible and easy to access. It is a good idea to provide your child with their own hand sanitizer too as some students prefer their own products and so will be more likely to use it regularly.

Masks

Please ensure that your child comes to school with a mask each day. Ideally they will carry some spares too. We ask all students to wear masks when they are in communal indoor spaces (other than classrooms). Additionally, it might be useful to note that we sell masks for 20p each in school.

Some disruption to school life may well be inevitable for some students over the course of time. However, if we all help to abide by and support the above guidelines we will have a much-reduced chance of closing the school to entire year groups in single instances. Thank you again for your continued support in challenging circumstances,

Take care and stay safe,

Val Masson