5th January 2022
Dear Parent/Carer,
I hope you had a pleasant Christmas and New Year with your family and friends. I appreciate that some families may have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 situation througheither someone in your family contracting the virus or you having to change your plans in other ways. I hope your family managed to enjoy some sort of break. We are really looking forward to welcoming back our students to school!

Having written to you in detail at the end of last term, I just wanted to give you a few important updates as the spring term begins, following the latest government guidance which was released on 2nd January. The government has said it will review this guidance on 26th January.

Essential items for school: sanitiser, tissues, mask
Please could you kindly ensure that your son/daughter always brings a small bottle of sanitiser, a
small pack of tissues and a face covering every day, plus a spare face covering (unless they are
exempt from wearing face coverings). Thank you.

Face coverings in classrooms
In line with the latest government expectations, please can you kindly ensure that your child has a
face covering to wear in all internal areas of the School, including in lessons, (unless exempt). Thank
you for your continued support with this. If you wish your child to be exempt and you have not
informed the School of this up to now, please kindly contact your child’s Progress Leader.

The seven-day isolation period has been confirmed
The 10-day self-isolation period for those who record a positive PCR test result for Covid-19 has been
reduced to seven days in most circumstances, unless the individual cannot test for any reason, and
the government has confirmed that this applies to students attending school and school staff.
Students and staff may now take lateral flow device (LFD) tests on day six and day seven of their selfisolation period. These tests must be 24 hours apart. We suggest taking them first thing in the
morning, then, if they are both negative, your child can return on day 7. If the first and/or second are
positive, then please continue to test each day. As soon as you have two consecutive negative test
results, they no longer have to complete 10 full days of self-isolation and can return to school. Day 0
of the isolation period is the first day of symptoms or the day of the positive test if there are no
symptoms.

Close contacts taking LFD tests for 7 consecutive days
If there are positive cases in a student’s year group, we will inform parents/carers about this,
without identifying the child. We will then recommend that children in the relevant year group do an
LFD test each day for 7 days.

Students with symptoms of COVID-19 having to self-isolate
The latest government guidance also states that anyone with symptoms, even mild
symptoms, including: sore throat, headache, muscle ache, fatigue, shortness of breath,
blocked/runny nose, diarrhoea and vomiting, and cold-like symptoms should be sent home from
school and asked to self-isolate until they receive a negative PCR test so the School will continue to
operate this procedure.

Close contacts within the same household of someone testing positive for COVID-19
Warwickshire County Council and Public Health have also recommended that where there are
children who are close contacts of a positive COVID-19 case within the same household – i.e. the
positive case could be a sibling or a parent/carer, that the parent/carer should keep their
child/children at home until they have tested negative on a PCR, alongside undertaking daily LFD
tests. We will operate this policy.

Continuing to work closely with local Public Health
Like all Warwickshire schools, we will continue to work with our local Public Health team and take
appropriate steps in making contingency plans as deemed necessary. This may include asking
particular year groups to work from home on remote learning at times where necessary, for
example, if we there is an outbreak of COVID-19 cases or if we have a significant number of staff
absent. We will always seek to avoid this if we can.

Eligibility and timing of vaccinations
The government recommends all school staff and eligible pupils take up the offer of a vaccine. The
government points out the following:
“All young people aged 16 and 17 years have now been offered 2 doses of COVID-19 vaccine 12
weeks apart. Children and young people aged 12 to 17 years who are at increased risk from
infection, or who are living with someone who is immunosuppressed, have also been offered 2
doses of the vaccine, 8 weeks apart.
And now all children aged 12 to 15 years are being offered 2 doses of vaccine as part of the schoolbased COVID-19 vaccination programme.
Children aged 12 to 15 will be able to receive their second dose of COVID-19 vaccination in their
school in the new year. All children who have yet to receive their first dose can have their first at the
vaccination session.

12-to 15-year-olds are also able to access the vaccine outside of school through vaccination or walk
in centres. Bookings can be made on the NHS website.
The vaccine will also continue to be offered in school to ensure there is equal access for all children.
Children who are 12 years old and over on the day the School Age Immunisation Service (SAIS) team
visits the school, will be offered a vaccination as part of the in-school vaccination programme”. We
will advise you once we know the date that this will be offered in school.

Remote learning
As a school, we remain committed to offering high quality remote learning to our students when this
is required.

Compulsory attendance for all students
The government has made it clear that school attendance remains compulsory for all students and it
is a priority to ensure that as many children as possible regularly attend school.

Those formerly considered to be clinically extremely vulnerable
The government has made clear that following expert clinical advice and the successful rollout of the
COVID-19 vaccine programme, people previously considered to be particularly vulnerable, clinically
extremely vulnerable (CEV), and high or higher-risk are not being advised to shield again. Children
and young people who were previously identified as being in one of these groups, are advised to
continue to follow the guidance contained in ‘Coronavirus: how to stay safe and help prevent the
spread’. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-coronavirus-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannotdo
Children and young people previously considered CEV should attend school and should follow the
same COVID-19 guidance as the rest of the population. In some circumstances, a child or young
person may have received personal advice from their specialist or clinician on additional precautions
to take and they should continue to follow that advice.

Student wellbeing and support
Some students may be experiencing a variety of emotions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,
such as anxiety, stress or low mood. We will continue to support these students in a range of ways,
including these students working with specialist staff. If you have any concerns about your child’s
needs in this respect, please contact your child’s Progress Leader.

Maintaining control measures in school
We will continue to maintain the strong control measures we have had in place in school.
These include:
-hand hygiene- frequent and thorough hand cleaning with hand sanitiser or soap and water.
-respiratory hygiene using the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach.
-maintaining appropriate levels of cleaning, using specialist recommended products, including a
particular focus on frequently touched surfaces.
-keeping occupied spaces well-ventilated, whilst maintaining a comfortable environment for
students and staff.

Maintaining asymptomatic testing
Testing remains important in reducing the risk of transmission of infection within schools. As you are
aware, we are beginning the term with all students whose parents/carers have given consent, taking
an LFD test in school. We will also ask staff and students to continue to test twice weekly at home,
with LFD test kits on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. This has proven to be really helpful so far in
identifying positive cases of COVID-19.

Following public health advice on managing confirmed cases of COVID-19
We will continue to follow Public Health advice on these matters, including when someone in school
develops COVID-19 symptoms.

Limiting visitors to school
To reduce the possibility of the virus spreading, we will be limiting the number of visitors coming
into school. Communication with parents/carers will be via the MyEd app, email, text or telephone
conversations. We will not be inviting parents/carers into school for the time being, unless in
exceptional circumstances.

Maintaining positivity, a sense of normality and our core focus as a school
I appreciate that the current situation regarding the Omicron variant of COVID-19, and its
implications for our school, may cause you some anxiety. We are determined to maintain a positive
outlook and ensure the young people in our care continue to benefit from our work on teaching and
learning and personal development and enjoy school. Your support, as always, is greatly
appreciated.

Please do not hesitate to contact the School if you have any questions or concerns about any aspect
of the aforementioned points.

Best wishes,
P.Kelly
Headteacher