Good afternoon,

As you know, we have been made aware of three new cases in our student body. One of the cases does not impact on any other students, but the Y8 case has meant that we have asked Y8 to work from home until 30th November.

Parents are being sent letters today to outline which students should be isolating and which are just required to work from home. There is a difference and we have tracked the students who need to isolate back to our two cases.

To say this is an unreal experience is an understatement. We now have 19 members of staff who are off with COVID related issues (either positive tests or isolating due to contacts). It would not be a lie to say this has placed considerable strain on everyone in the school community, and I thank you so much for your support of this.

By way of an update, this is where we currently stand:

Year 7 - 21 students isolating that are due back on Tuesday 17th November

Year 8 - The year group has been sent home with 105 students needing to isolate. Those students including those not isolating but staying at home will return on 30th November. We do have 18 students who have been isolating and they are due to return on Tuesday 17th November. The rest of the year group are not isolating, but they will need to adhere to government guidance.

Year 9 - Students currently in school as normal.

Year 10 - Students return to us on 23rd November.

Year 11 - Students return to us on 23rd November.

Year 12 - Students in as normal.

Year 13 - Students in as normal.

We do have a few students who have isolation time periods slightly different to the ones above, they will know when their return dates are and please go by the date on the letter sent to you.

Being completely honest with you, I am fairly sure that this will change as time goes on and we have been talking to the health teams about this situation. It seems we are not alone in facing this, but that doesn't make it any easier. The guidance is pretty straightforward regarding what constitutes a close contact and as you can imagine, that does make a huge impact on a school setting.

We are in the process of sending out vouchers for any child in receipt of free school meals.

In the meantime, please continue to support the online learning and I thank you so much for your kind words and offers of help during this very strange time.

I promise to update you more when I get that information.

Stephen Brady
Headteacher