Letters

Dear Parents and Carers

I am happy to say that the numbers of staff and students with Covid and self-isolating has fallen this week. I hope this continues and that we can look forward to the rest of the term without many more cases. However, the situation is very unpredictable and we all need to take care to stay safe.

We have had to cancel our taster events for Year 6 in school during term time, but we are still running our summer school for Year 6. This will not be the same as the usual transition event but it will give Year 6 children the opportunity to meet new friends and explore school, as well as lots of fun activities.

As we approach the end of the school year we are making plans for the end of term and our return in September. We will finish this term on Wednesday 21 July at 12:30. In the summer there will be the release of the exam results for Years 11,12 and 13.

The new term is due to start for students on Tuesday 7 September HOWEVER we have heard from the Government that we will need to put in place a Covid self-testing system for students as they return, as we did in March this year. This means that we will have to stagger the start for students – not all year groups will return on the same day or at the same time. Once we have finalised this organisation we will make sure you are emailed the details. As in March we will send you a link to a consent form which you will need to complete before we will ask your child to complete a self-test. In March well over 90% of children completed these self-tests, please help us by completing the consent from before the start of the term.

The Government and the media have been publishing information about changes to the way we will deal with positive cases in school. This will start in September. At present this indicates that there will not be any need to trace close contacts in school. I am sure this will create a mix of emotions in our community, but it will mean that students will have more valuable time in school and will save staff time working out who have been close contacts and the linked communications home.

I am sure that there will be plenty of support for the England football team this weekend and I know we also have a few Italy supporters in our midst too! I hope you all enjoy watching the match, if that is what you choose to do. It will certainly be very difficult to avoid hearing all about it whatever the outcome!

Best wishes

Alex George

Interim Headteacher