You will know that there has been updated guidance from Public Health England this week for those who have symptoms related to the coronavirus; this can be found at  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection and I would advise that everybody reads this and keeps as up to date with government advice as they are able to.

The key information is that anyone who has symptoms (a new continuous cough and/or high temperature) stays at home for 7 days if they live alone. However, if there is more than one person in the household, everyone must stay at home in self isolation for 14 days. However, anyone who has symptoms appear during that 14 day period should then remain at home for 7 days, meaning that if symptoms develop on day 13 for one member of the household that person must remain isolated for a full 7 days.

We are aware that there are a number of families self isolating and we have shared information directly with them as we cannot receive students back into school before the end of the 14 day period; you will be asked to collect students if they do return or if a child becomes ill during the school day with these symptoms.

 

We have asked staff to email or place work in google classroom for any student missing school. If parents/carers have any questions regarding access to school email or google classroom please contact the school for advice. Please note, that where specific class teachers are not in, there may be some delay in sharing work, so students should be proactive in emailing friends in their classes to catch up; only if they are well enough to work.

We do have a number of staff who are in a similar position, required to self isolate as part of their wider household and as such students in school may not have their own teacher for a lesson; you should be aware that all work is set and assessed by the teacher or a subject specialist colleague in the school and we need all of our students in school to work as hard in these lessons as all of their others. 

At present we can staff our timetable but we are considering, on a daily basis, the need to collapse some classes and it might be the case that some students are undertaking supervised study rather than whole class learning. This will be a member of the school's middle or leadership team and we are confident that this option is preferable over partial closure of the school, which would mean having some year groups in but not others. 

We are taking some other measures to reduce risks for any potential spreading of germs, our Fun Run will be postponed until the Summer term and we have postponed planning our Year 8 Parents Consultation Evening; new dates will be shared with parents/carers when we are in a position to do so. We are also reducing assemblies and only using the Main Hall where we can distance the students and we will also be cancelling afterschool sessions, clubs and study sessions until further notice. This is partly because we have a reduced staff but also allows for our cleaning schedule to be thoroughly followed across the school on a daily basis. The LRC will remain open until 4pm on a daily basis for the time being and we will take steps to reduce numbers in one space if this is busy. The school minibus will be available to get students home to our catchment villages which are not served by later bus routes.

For all of these changes in these unprecedented times, we are trying to ensure that high quality learning continues to happen every day in the school and we thank parents/carers for sensible actions they are taking and supporting their children with learning at home. It is important that all students recognise that even with changes to classes or a school closure the message from the government is that it will not be an extended holiday but "working at home" and by establishing these expectations now, we can minimise any long term impact upon future academic success.