Dear Parent/Guardian,

I hope you are all well and looking forward to Christmas. I wrote to you all at the beginning of November to explain that due to the national lockdown and the rising transmission rate both in Southampton and nationally, as an extra precaution we would ask students to wear face coverings in lessons as well as communal areas.  I said we would review this measure every two weeks and at the end of the national lockdown.

  As the national lockdown is  coming to a close and we move back into a tiered system, we would like to inform all parents that for the safety of all students and staff we are going to continue with this additional measure and ask students to continue to wear their face coverings in communal areas and in lessons, apart from in Dance & Physical Education practical lessons. This excludes students and staff who are exempt from wearing a face covering due to medical reasons.

This will continue to be reviewed every two weeks but we intend to keep this measure in place until February half term.  There have been no positive cases for students or staff in 9 days now.  We want to try and make sure that everyone is safe leading into the Christmas holidays and to avoid any potential spread should we be informed of a positive case.  In addition, we anticipate that post-Christmas whilst we are still in winter, there may be a spike in the number of cases and nationally we may enter another lockdown.  So we feel it is better to be protected as best we can be than relax any measures.  I hope you understand our reasons.  We know it is challenging, but on behalf of the teachers, I would like to say that your son/daughter has coped with this additional measure very well and we truly appreciate the support.

In addition, teaching staff, apart from those that are exempt, will continue to wear either a face visor or face covering when teaching lessons. Due to the length of time students would be wearing a face covering, students will have the opportunity to take them off for 5 minutes during lessons at the discretion of the teacher.  We recommend that students continue to bring two reusable/washable face coverings per day in order to maintain hygiene and protection.  At break and lunchtimes, if students are outside and maintaining 2 metre social distancing they do not need to wear their face covering. This is due to increased ventilation and recommended social distancing.

Looking towards the end of term, just a gentle reminder that we have two INSET days on Thursday 17th December and Friday 18th December 2020 in order for the staff to move into the new state of the art science and technology block so that we are ready to begin teaching in it from Monday 4th January 2021.  Your son/daughter will receive a new timetable week commencing Monday 14th December as the school will have new rooms due to the completion of the new block.  Your son/daughter’s teachers and when they have each subject remain the same,  just the rooms change.

Finally may I wish you all well over the next few weeks and thank you for your support.  If you have any questions please ask.

Kind Regards

Mr. James Habberley
Headteacher