Dear Parents and Carers,

I just wanted to update you on the fact that yesterday we were contacted by a parent whose child had had to go to hospital for an unrelated injury and, while there, tested positive for Covid. 

The person concerned was an older student who had last attended College for a face-to-face session on Thursday 25th June. The teacher concerned, who maintained social distancing throughout the lesson by teaching from the front, and students, whose entry was managed by a member of staff to keep them 2m apart and sat at desks 2m apart, have all been contacted and asked not to attend College today as a precaution. It is our understanding that the student presented as asymptomatic and so there are no reports of, for example, coughing, which would have led to their removal from the session.

The student also came into College on Tuesday 30th June for a socially distanced 1:1 session with a member of staff. These meetings take place in a large ventilated classroom with individual students allocated clean desks for each meeting. The member of staff has also been contacted and asked to not attend College until we receive further advice. For 1:1 meetings students are collected by staff from different entrances depending on the year group and walked off site at the end of the meeting. As the student was the last 1:1 meeting of the day no other students in the 1:1 sessions on that day will have been affected.

The Year 10 sessions, Year 12 sessions, Key Stage 3 and Year 10 1:1 sessions and Keyworker/Priority student sessions all take place in different areas of the College with students not allowed to go from one area to the other. Therefore, there was no opportunity for this student, while in College, to mix with other students apart from those who he was taught with who, as I say, have all now been contacted.

As soon as we were made aware of the test result we contacted Public Health England. 

Depending on the circumstances of when the infectious period was, we may then be advised that no action is required if they have not been onsite during the infectious period or alternatively children may have to remain at home and isolated. We are currently waiting for advice for Public Health England and have been advised that this could take up to 48 hours. While we await that advice and, at the risk of being overcautious, we have contacted all the students in the same class and anyone else who we think might have had any indirect contact with the student as a precaution to ask them to remain at home for now.

To further reassure you, given the range of measures put in place to help keep students safe, transmission within school is far less likely than when out and about within the community, for instance, when using shops, parks, skatepark or the beach. 

For students we have:

• staggered starts, 
• regular handwashing, 
• supervised staggered breaks and lunches, 
• one way systems, 
• areas for different groups to socialise, 
• regular cleaning of equipment such as chairs, tables, PE kit, keyboards between each student use, 
• well ventilated rooms, 
• small student groups which we keep as consistent as we possibly can given the numbers of keyworker children varies daily
• Year 10 and 12 teaching groups are by invite only so that groupings can be managed
• students are supervised by staff between lessons to maintain social distancing as far as possible. 
• staff and students are briefed each day at the start of the sessions to remind them about the importance of the safety measures in place

If you have any worries or concerns please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Regards,

Andrew Davis - Principal