30^th December 2020

IMPORTANT UPDATE ON RETURN TO SCHOOL IN JANUARY 2021

Dear parents and carers,

Following the announcement today from the Government about the current Covid situation, I write to confirm the arrangements for next week.  Monday 4^th January will be a training day for all staff with no students in school.  It is expected for the testing kits and PPE to arrive in school on Monday and we aim for all staff to be tested within the first few days.  With case rates rising across the country, there will now be a staggered return to allow time for students to be mass tested.  This will help find asymptomatic cases and break the chains of transmission, making it as safe as possible to return to face to face education.

From Tuesday 5^th until Friday 15^th January, only students whose parents or carers are critical workers and vulnerable children will be in school.  Thank you to those parents who have already informed us that you are a key worker and that your child will be in school.  For details of the critical workers list, please visit this website; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

If you are a critical worker and need your child to attend school next week, please email admin@blaconhigh.cheshire.sch.uk by 1.00pm on Monday 4^th January.  For vulnerable students, we will contact you on Monday to confirm arrangements for students to attend school.

During the second week, from Monday 11^th January, we will start our programme of testing students, starting with Year 11 and will aim for Year 11 to return that week; further details will be given next week.  All students should be in school from Monday 18^th January.  Until then, all students will have access to their lessons remotely via Google Classroom with live lessons wherever possible.  External exams scheduled to take place next week will go ahead and those students affected will be contacted on Monday to confirm when they are expected to be in school for both revision and to sit the exam.

I will write to you again next week with details of the testing programme we will be implementing in school.    If you have any queries, please email admin@blaconhigh.cheshire.sch.uk or call the office from Monday to Friday between 8am and 4pm.  I wish you all the best for the year ahead as we hope that 2021 will bring more settled times for us all.

Regards,

Mrs Rachel Hudson

Headteacher