Dear parent/carer/guardian,
I am certain you have caught up via all social media channels/TV on the Prime Minister's announcement regarding the 'Living with Covid' plan. The guidance we have received from the DfE isn't as clear as we would have hoped, so below is a summary of the changes for all of us outside of school from today and Thursday and what we will continue to do as a federation.
From Today:
- in all mainstream settings, twice weekly testing for pupils and staff stops
- in all special settings, twice weekly testing for secondary pupils and staff continue
- within the Imperium Federation, twice weekly testing for all staff (Waterside and King's Oak) and for pupils in King's Oak will continue until Easter
From Thursday:
- anyone with COVID will no longer be legally required to self isolate
- guidance remains in place for those to test positive to self isolate for 5 days
- within the Imperium Federation, we will continue to self isolate for 5 days if test positive until Easter (staff and pupils)
From April 1st:
- COVID tests will no longer be free for the vast majority
- COVID passports will cease to be required except for international travel
- COVID no longer requires a risk assessment
After discussion yesterday evening, we have decided to continue with our current measures until Easter...why?
I am certain you will agree, that although recently we have had more cases than we had throughout the pandemic, we have - by focussing on mask wearing, hygiene etc managed to keep ourselves and our community safe.
We have enough LFT's to ensure that whoever needs to can test twice weekly - these will be given out this week.
We will continue to review this situation and take on board any further guidance received from either Government, PHE or our unions.
I hope you can agree that this measured course of action seems prudent.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at school.
As ever
Meic and the Waterside Team