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Dear Parents and Carers, 

Before 2020 was out I wanted to write to you updating you on the emerging plans at Highams Park School for 2021.  This last year has been incredibly challenging for everyone and I am very conscious that some of you have experienced bereavement and loss as a result of this pandamic.  All of us have encountered huge disruption to our lives and your children, our students, have battled to overcome the interruption to their educational.  

Personally, I write this letter to you as I recover from having the virus myself over the Christmas break.  Many of you will have experienced first-hand the way in which the virus can impact a family and my wish for you all in 2021 is that we are quickly able to secure the effective and swift distribution of the vaccine as I believe that this will mark the real turning point in bringing the virus under control.

As you are all aware the question over when schools should return in 2021 and how mass testing might be used to keep schools operating safely both feature in the daily headlines.  I fear that, having sent this e mail, by the time you read it the plans will be out of date and the national picture and instructions will have changed.  However, there are some things that I hope we can all work together on and hopefully move into 2021 with a little more certainty.

As it stands, the directions that we have from the government are that only certain year groups should physically return to school at the start of term. This will work as follows:

  • On Tuesday 5th January, only Year 11 and 13 students will return to school for face-to-face teaching.
  • From Tuesday 5th January, all other year groups, so Years 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, will have their lessons delivered via Microsoft Teams.  Please ensure that your child logs in at their timetabled period to continue with their learning.

Children of critical workers and students considered vulnerable may also return to face-to-face education from Tuesday 5th January, but parents must indicate their intention to make use of this provision by completing the following survey response. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/7KXTRCG

  • Free School Meals will be available for eligible students to collect from school during their allocated lunch time.  Again, if students are intending to collect their FSM, parents should indicate that this is the case by filling in the survey above.
  • From Monday 11th January all year groups are due to return to face-to-face education.
  • The Year 11 mock examinations commencing on Tuesday 5th continue as planned at present, and students in Year 12 should continue to prepare for their forthcoming in-class assessments.  

Please continue to monitor your emails and the school website as there is much speculation about whether central Government will impose changes upon us in an attempt to bring the spread of the virus under control.

Mass Testing

As you may be aware, over the Christmas break schools have been asked to implement a system of mass testing .  It is intended that this covers every student and each member of staff.  The tests used will be the new lateral flow tests which provide a result within 30 minutes rather than having to be sent away to a laboratory.  It is the intention that this system of testing will also be used for any student or colleague who is identified as a close contact of someone who is identified as being positive.  NHS Test and Trace are in the process of compiling information and training material about how these tests work and how they will be administered.  I will in due course make these available to you once it has been possible to gain further clarification from the DfE. 

However, at present I am not able to confirm with you whether or when we as a school will be able to commence the process of mass testing.  In principle I believe this to be a very helpful step to identifying just how widespread the virus is, particularly the much-discussed new strain that appears to be spreading in London and the South East.  However, the situation at present is as follows:

  • The test kits and associated PPE are yet to be distributed.
  • The training resources for those administering the tests are yet to be circulated.
  • There has been no firm confirmation of the level of funding available for schools to administer the tests.
  • Details of any additional "feet on the floor" provided to schools to administer the tests seem to indicate that there will not be any help forthcoming.  The Army will not be attending Highams Park School in person, their support is remote and online.

As you are aware, Highams Park was one of the first schools to cooperate with NHS test and trace to run a mass testing site in the week before Christmas.  That process utilised our Sports Hall and was administered by seven NHS staff, supported by my senior colleagues.  This team were able to complete some 400+ tests on a day when the school was closed to all year groups.  You will understand the complexities of trying to plan for the whole school to be tested twice within seven days, staff being tested on an ongoing weekly basis, and any close contacts of positive cases tested daily for the following seven days!  Although there are very obvious benefits of this advertised testing regime being put in place, and the staff at Highams Park will do all we can to deliver it, I am not at present able to share with you any details of precisely when and how or even if this will be implemented.

I appreciate that the following is a huge request, but it would be wonderful to be able to raise a team of volunteers from the parent and school community to be able to help administer the tests.  Any volunteers would join our skeleton school staff made up from our Admin and Senior staff who we have managed to release from some of their normal day to day tasks.  To state the blindingly obvious a team of 20 testers will be able to progress through many more tests in a day than a team of 5 testers.  I appreciate any volunteer will need more information and as soon as that is available, I will share this with any team of volunteers that emerges.  Whilst continuing to carefully reflect carefully on the safety measures required to deliver the process correctly.

If you would be willing and available to contribute to the mass testing programme at Highams Park School, please follow the link below to submit your details and we will be in touch as soon as possible to develop plans accordingly.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/78XNNR6

School Coronavirus Testing - Parent Volunteer Form

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

www.surveymonkey.co.uk

Yours sincerely

Phil Grundy

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