Dear Families,

COVID-19 update

You will be aware that the government changed its COVID-19 guidance at the end of last week.  They have published advice on Living safely with respiratory infections, including COVID-19, and guidance for People with symptoms of a respiratory infection including COIVD-19.  Please follow these links and familiarise yourself with the guidance documents given that they describe some significant changes and provide many useful links. 

The government now recognises that symptoms of COVID-19, flu and common respiratory infections include:

• continuous cough
• high temperature, fever or chills
• loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell
• shortness of breath
• unexplained tiredness, lack of energy
• muscle aches or pains that are not due to exercise
• not wanting to eat or not feeling hungry
• headache that is unusual or longer lasting than usual
• sore throat, stuffy or runny nose
• diarrhoea, feeling sick or being sick

The advice for everyone who experiences these symptoms, regardless of whether or not you have a positive COVID-19 result, is now to try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until you are feeling better and you no longer have a high temperature (if you had one).   Adults with a positive COVID-19 result should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for at least 5 days as this is when they will be most infectious.  It is now advised that children isolate for 3 days.

Whilst relaxing COVID-19 restrictions, the government continues to warn that COVID-19, along with many other respiratory infections such as influenza (flu), can spread easily and cause serious illness in some people.  They identify that there are simple things that we can do to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and protect those at highest risk.  This includes:

• Getting vaccinated
• Letting fresh air in if meeting others indoors
• Practising good hygiene:
• Washing hands
• Covering coughs and sneezes
• Cleaning surroundings frequently
• Wearing a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces.

We ask that everyone continues to follow this advice in order to keep all members of our community, especially the most vulnerable as safe as possible.  

I will share our COVID-19 risk assessment and Outbreak Management Plan as soon as the Department for Education has updated their operational guidance materials.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Yours truly,

Alison Godfrey

Headteacher