Dear Parents
Happy New Year!
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and were not affected too much by any COVID restrictions.
So, here we are starting another calendar year and a new school term with lots of challenges ahead of us. It is clear that we are going to be presented with a range of situations and we are going to have to find a forward with them all! The Department for Education (DfE) have issued new guidance, which affects us all.
Updated Government Guidelines
Current Practice
Most of the recent guidelines issued do not apply to primary-aged pupils and as such, there are no significant changes to our practice at William Ransom.
We will be continuing with the current request that any parents / carers entering the school site wear a face covering (unless exempt).
Positive Cases and Isolation
From 22nd December, changes came into force relating to the isolation period for confirmed positive Covid cases. The previous ten-day period of isolation has now been reduced to seven days, providing they can return a negative Lateral Flow Test result on day six and day seven. The first test must be taken no earlier than day six and the two tests must be taken 24 hours apart.
Anyone who is unable to carry out a lateral flow test should complete the full ten-day isolation period.
We will continue to log positive cases in school and use the information provided by you to track absence and update the local authority, when appropriate. For this reason, please do let the school office know if your child is not going to be in school and the reason for the absence.
At William Ransom we recognise that the guidance states: Children (and fully vaccinated adults) who have been identified as a close contact of a positive case, are asked to test daily (LFTs) rather than isolate and if they deliver negative results, they should continue to attend school. If they return a positive result or have symptoms, then they should isolate and request a PCR test. However, please think carefully about sending children into school if your household has someone with Covid. There is no doubt that we managed to keep our numbers low in the Autumn by asking siblings of Positive cases to remain at home. We will record any absences through family contact with a positive case as authorised.
Remote Provision
This hasn’t changed significantly. Pupils who are not attending school due to self-isolation and who are well enough, will be able to access learning provided by school. If a child is off school because they are generally unwell, then this is not available. Depending on the number of children in a class isolating this will either be paper based or on Google Classroom.
The government has made it possible in this latest set of guidance to switch to remote provision for a class or group of pupils should a school not be able to adequately (and safely) staff the teaching in school. This will be for as short a period as possible and of course, will very much be a last resort.
We have made contingency plans for some staff absence but if numbers go beyond what we can safely cover, it might be necessary to send classes or year groups home. Please ensure you are receiving school messages on Twitter and that all necessary family members are informed of any group closures.
As a reminder we have a joint leadership team for the Spring term, but we are in constant communication with one another.
We hope that none of our contingency plans will be needed and that we get through the next few months as calmly as possible!
Yours sincerely,
Mary Driver Julie Hall Victoria Wheat