“New year – a new chapter, new verse, or just the same old story? Ultimately, we write it. The choice is ours.” Alex Morritt, author of Poetry in a time of Pestilence.
When we think back to what life was like just 12 months ago, it such a joy to be writing this letter in my office at school and not from my study at home. Our wonderful staff across the school continue to deliver high quality face-to-face learning to all our pupils and we look forward to another extremely busy few weeks. Pupils in school have been tremendous, as always, and those children accessing remote learning from home have also demonstrated a fantastic attitude towards their education.
As we begin the term, we will continue to follow Government guidance, and good practice from last term, including recommending the wearing of a face covering indoors, encouraging regular handwashing and sanitising, ensuring good ventilation in classrooms and enhanced cleaning. Whole School assemblies will continue to be held online and all school events will continue to be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
A review of all current Covid-19 restrictions in England is due on Wednesday 26 January 2022. In the meantime, thank you for your continued support in helping us to minimise the risk of transmission in our school community.
Senior House – Home Testing
Thank you to pupils in Senior House for their cooperation with our on-site Covid-19 testing as we returned to school this week. It is vital that pupils resume testing twice weekly at home from this weekend, and continue to play a crucial role in the fight against Covid-19. Test results should be reported to NHS Test and Trace at www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result and you must continue to report your result to the school each time using the online form here, even if it is negative.
Self-isolation period reduced to 5 days
From Monday 17 January, people with Covid-19 in England can end their self-isolation after 5 full days, as long as they test negative on rapid lateral flow tests on two consecutive days. The first test must be taken no earlier than day 5 of the self-isolation period, and the second must be taken the following day.
It is crucial that people isolating wait until they have received 2 negative tests on 2 consecutive days to reduce the chance of still being infectious. For instance, if an individual is positive on day 5, then a negative test is required on both day 6 and day 7 to release from self-isolation, or positive on day 6, then a negative test is required on days 7 and 8, and so on until the end of day 10.
Those who leave self-isolation on or after day 6 are strongly advised to wear face coverings and limit close contact with other people in crowded or poorly ventilated spaces, work from home if they can do so and minimise contact with anyone who is at higher risk of severe illness if infected with Covid-19.
Self-isolation may continue in certain circumstances, such as for those who work with vulnerable people. A full list will be published at gov.uk/coronavirus in due course.
Parents and Friends
The first meeting of the new year for the Parents and Friends will take place next Thursday, 20 January from 5.15pm on Zoom. All parents are welcome to attend. You can join the meeting by clicking here. A separate email will be sent to parents with the agenda for the meeting.
Equestrian Success
Just before Christmas, Lucy E in Year 10 participated in her final show jumping competition of the year at Holmside Hall Equestrian Centre.
Points are added up at events throughout the year and Lucy was awarded ‘Show Jumper of the Year’ for 2021. Huge congratulations to Lucy on this tremendous achievement.
Junior House Open Day
We are very much looking forward to hosting our first Junior House Open Day on Saturday 29 January, from 10.00am-12.30pm. If you know anybody that may be interested in coming to look around our wonderful Early Years and Junior House settings, please do pass on the details to them. They can pre-book a space by clicking here.
