Update – 7th July 2021

Dear parents, carers and families

Like many of you, I have been listening to the government announcements around covid-19 and am looking forward to the lifting of restrictions. I have missed going to football with my friends, and am excited that I will be able to do that soon. We are starting to get back to normal.

I have reflected carefully on this week’s announcements, and wanted to share the approach we will be taking until the end of term.

It is only by working together that we can ensure we keep our community safe. I am therefore proud that, at the time of writing, we have only had two confirmed coronavirus cases in the academy since Easter. We also know that some pupils have had to self-isolate at home due to contacts in the community. I know that many other schools have had much more disruption and we are keen to avoid this – we want our pupils to be in school and we do not want to be complacent!

Therefore, when step four comes into place on Monday July 19^th, we will retain our current coronavirus measures, which I have summarised below. The government guidance states that we can do this “If your school is still open at Step 4, you may wish to continue with these measures until the end of your summer term.”

Face coverings

To keep our community safe, our guidance around face coverings will remain the same. This means pupils do not need to wear face coverings in classrooms or outside areas (except while lining up).

We will continue to expect pupils and staff to wear face coverings in communal areas (including, corridors, changing rooms and some practical lessons). This will ensure our community is kept safe when we have busy corridors or pupils may pass others. As stated above, the government guidance permits us to continue with these measures until the end of the summer term.

Testing

It is essential that all pupils continue to take two lateral flow tests each week and log the results, both with the NHS and the Academy. By doing this, we are all doing our bit to ensure that there will be no outbreaks in the Academy. We will continue to issue testing kits to pupils and staff every three weeks as we receive them. This should continue over the summer where you are coming into school.

September

We have received new guidance for September and I am pleased that it looks like we will be able to run the school almost as normal from then. We have received advice that we need to complete lateral flow tests with each child (as we did back in March), and this may affect the start of term. I will share full details before the summer once we have taken the time to plan this fully.

Thank you for all your support during this challenging time,

Yours faithfully,

Graeme Smith