Dear Parent/Carer,
We have been informed of a further confirmed positive case of COVID-19 this morning. The student (Year 7) in question has not attended school since Friday 4 September 2020. The student started to show symptoms on Sunday 6 September but due to the national shortage of testing wasn’t tested until Friday 11 September and received the results this morning (Wed 16). After consultation with Public Health England we have been advised that anyone who was in “close contact” with the student up to 48hrs prior to the student showing symptoms will need to self-isolate for 14 days from that point (4 September) and thus would be able to return to school on Monday 21 September. As a result the Y7 tutor group (7JOB) group, who have all lessons together, will be required to self-isolate, and continue working at home as of today until Monday.
As the Executive Principal I have taken the precaution of whole-group isolation as an extra safety measure, rather than just the students sat in close proximity to the affected student. From information gathered from the students/families themselves, no other students outside of the tutor group have been in ‘close contact’ and therefore no further tutor group or year group need be affected, however, if you have specific concerns contact your child’s Assistant Achievement Leader.
As always our thoughts are with the student and their family and we wish them a speedy recovery.
As I stated last week this will be an ongoing situation and I thank everyone for their support and understanding as we continue to respond to these challenging circumstances. If I can continue to ask for your support around you not phoning school based around rumours or social media commentary. These challenges are becoming increasingly common across almost all schools.
I am also fully aware that this is different advice from PHE than in the first case last week, but once again, I am bound by their guidance even if it does appear different for similar cases. Equally we are just as frustrated around the delays in tests and subsequent results which, in this case have taken almost two weeks.
PHE advice and our view is no other student needs to be absent from school. If, however, you have specific concerns around a child with underlying health issues/medical conditions please contact the Assistant Achievement Leader for further clarification.
As always, thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely,
Mr S Huntington
Executive Principal