Dear Parents
I would like to take this opportunity to update you on various aspects of school life. For all of you who are short of time the key points are as follows:
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KEY MESSAGES
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For those appreciative of a little more context, please note the following. This week we were able to host the delivery by the NHS of the vaccinations to those children between ages 12 – 15 on Tuesday, 16th November 2021. It was pleasing to see approximately two hundred students taking up the vaccine. The NHS staff who have been touring all schools in the region commented upon their maturity during the process.
Whilst no guarantee of immunity, please can I encourage all families to consider having their child vaccinated as we continue to see the rate of infection fluctuate within different year groups of the school. At present the highest Year Group is Year 10 with six confirmed cases. I would therefore ask students in Year 10 to increase their home testing for the next five days, and to complete the tests on a daily basis. Please register your results via the app, which can be accessed here. NHS via the link provided
Alternatively, if you have not already done so, and your child is over the age of 12, you are able to book your child in to have a COVID vaccination at one of the community-based centres. Book an NHS COVID vaccination directly for your child aged 12 – 15 here.
Upon request from Public Health we have re-introduced the wearing of face masks for students and staff whilst moving around inside the building. Please can I ask you to ensure your child has a mask that they can wear, and ideally a pack of spare masks that can be used during the day if one becomes lost or broken. If we are unable to keep the infection numbers from rising, I anticipate needing to enforce the wearing of masks whilst sat in lessons, as well.
With regards to the above two requests, we are fully aware and respectful of those individuals who are unable to be vaccinated or for good reason are not able to wear a face mask but we are obviously keen to keep this to a minimum. Students in this position are now becoming adept and having an exemption card to hand in their top pocket and are able to show this discreetly and quickly to staff when challenged.
Dr Morris will shortly be writing to the Year Groups affected, but our next two Parents’ Evenings will move back to on line appointments. We had previously hoped to host these in person, but upon advice from Public Health will revert to the on-line appointment system. We are aware that this was the preference of many of you already.
Today we have celebrated "odd sock day" to help raise awareness of our anti-bullying stance. Perhaps this message might be a prompt to discuss the issue with your child and remind them of the importance of sharing any struggles that they may have with adults at school or at home, who can assist.
Finally, on return from half term, I took the opportunity to speak to Years 7 - 11 about several different aspects of life where each of us need to take responsibility for our own and each other's safety. One of the topics that I touched upon was the ongoing and nationwide issue of knife crime. Parents with children in older years will be familiar with the process of us linking with colleagues from the Metroplitan Police to host a knife arch within the school. From experience this provides Officers and school staff with further opportunity to discuss the issue of knife crime, and bring awareness and peace of mind to a matter that none of us should be complacent about. Again, perhaps this note might act as a prompt for you to be able to discuss the issue with your child, again assuring them of the support available to them from all adults at the school.
Yours faithfully
Phil Grundy
Principal
