Dear Parents and Carers
I had sincerely hoped that Covid would no longer be a topic for these messages, but unfortunately here we are again. Along with the rest of the country, we have seen quite a sudden and marked increase in confirmed cases of Covid and, even to our untrained eye, we can see that this variant is faster to spread. We can also see that very few people with it have the symptoms we have all been told to look out for. This is particularly the case with students, who seem to suffer headaches, sore throats and runny noses more than anything else.
We have had around a dozen cases over the last fortnight, which has led to approximately 400 students being isolated. We don’t isolate whole year group bubbles here, so all those isolating have been identified as within 2 metres for the required time. Given the circumstances, I would like to thank all parents for their patience and understanding with all of this disruption. We share your frustration at the current set of rules, which are so hard on our kids, and we share your worries about yet more missed learning and more time spent alone at home.
In amongst the flurry of new guidance for schools, delivered with the razor sharp strategic intentions and dynamism we have become used to, we found out this week that we have to rebuild our testing centre and test every student twice at the start of next term. We could do without this disruption. As ever, the Department for Education assumption is that our parents will flock to volunteer for this task. Of course, the fact that all restrictions will be gone; that everybody will be back to work and back to their lives; and that the Department of Health has predicted 100,000 cases per day by then, mostly among the young, hasn’t dented this assumption. Please form an orderly queue!
We have been told to keep a testing centre on site, pending a review at the end of September, implying that there may be more disruption. It is very unclear what will happen from September if a child tests positive. We know we will no longer have to send contacts home; but what, if anything, replaces this remains a little vague. We will, of course, do as we are directed, but I would ask that you hold onto some of the NHS kits that are freely available at the moment and do tests at home the day before school starts. It will stop any potential positives coming into school. Even with our testing centre, contacts are possible. And despite the mixed messages from the DfE, we do trust our parents and kids to do the right thing, as has been the case for the last 18 months.
Our country has to start treating learning time as sacred, to make it our collective number one priority and stop compromising it. No amount of add-ons, summer schools, longer days, etc will make any difference unless the core learning entitlement of every child in this country is protected at all costs. I see tinkering and soundbites instead of strategy and clear thinking. They need a clean bit of paper with: ‘every child in class with their teacher every day’ written in the middle and they should adjust everything else to make that happen. Once that is done, they can look at what can be added on. At Myton, we have a new Improvement Plan to launch in September, new behaviour and reward systems, clear staff development training plans, work to do on uniform, an extra-curricular menu which we are really proud of, work on social development, and implementation plans we are itching to get on with. And come hell or high water, we won’t be knocked off our tracks next year.
With best wishes
Andy Perry – Head Teacher
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