Coronavirus Update as at March 20th 2020
Dear Parent/Carer,
Further to my recent letters, I am this writing this morning to confirm arrangements for the week commencing Monday March 23rd following our closure today to all students except those classed in government guidance as “children of keyworkers” or “most vulnerable”. Students have been a credit to the school as always in the last week and I appreciate your support in working with us also. I am very proud too of our staff who have worked tirelessly to ensure that we have remained open all week long and operated a full timetable.
Having carried out a thorough risk assessment and having looked carefully at staffing available to us, I can confirm that we will be open to the relevant groups between 8.45am and 1.30pm on Monday to Thursday next week and 8.45am and 12.15pm on Friday. The most recent government guidance we have received in the early hours of this morning defines “children of keyworkers” as being those of adults who work in Health and Social Care, Education and Childcare, Key Public Services, Local and National Government, Food and Other Necessary Goods, Public Safety and National Security, Transport, Utilities, Communications and Financial Services. Fuller detail is available at:
The same guidance defines “most vulnerable” students as those who have a social worker and those with Education, Health and Care Plans.
Students who do not fall into these groups must remain at home with appropriate care from Monday.
All students will have received physical work packs by the end of today (with any absent students due to receive them shortly via post or delivery at home), further detail will also follow from us regarding electronic work which is now available on the “Learning at Home” section of our website. We will also provide further clarity as soon as we receive it for students in Year 11 anxious to learn how they will receive the examination results they have worked so hard to achieve.
Our safeguarding commitment to our students (and their families) no longer attending school remains as strong as ever. Don’t forget that if you have any safeguarding queries during this unprecedented period of school closure, the e-mail addresses for the safeguarding team, which are monitored around the clock, every day, are below:
The Edge Safeguarding Team – [email protected]
Adam Smith (Designated Safeguarding Lead and Vice Principal) – [email protected]
A reminder too that you are also able to report any safeguarding concerns to the following:
Childrens’ Services 0121 303 1888
NSPCC 0808 800 5000
If any Edge students (particularly those leaving this year) need careers guidance or support whilst school is closed, please feel free to email the following people who will arrange for a Careers Adviser to contact you by email or phone. The adviser will then be able to provide careers guidance and
support either on line or via a phone conversation directly with you. Please be advised it will be best if you send the email to both of the following people: this will help ensure any emails are monitored. [email protected] ; [email protected] As always, from a school point of view, Assistant Principal Charlotte Poynton is available for school-based careers queries at [email protected]
For parents/carers of any students who are Pupil Premium and have any questions regarding the provision of free school meals, feel free to contact the safeguarding team, alternatively the following guidance may be useful:
I would again like to remind you all that anyone who has a high temperature (37.8 degrees and above) or a new, continuous cough, should stay at home. In line with government guidance, if staff or students become unwell on site with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature they will be sent home. In the interests of continuing to be open and transparent, a total of six members of staff and twenty-two students have now informed us that as a precautionary measure, they are self-isolating-no official cases of Coronavirus have been confirmed and we wish them all well.
Don’t forget too that in recent days, the government has introduced new guidance on whole household isolation in response to the outbreak:
- If you live with others and you or another member of the household have symptoms of coronavirus, then all household members must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill. It is likely that people living within a household will infect each other or be infected already. Staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community
- For anyone in the household who starts displaying symptoms, they need to stay at home for 7 days from when the symptoms appeared, regardless of what day they are on in the original 14-day isolation period.
For further detail on whole household isolation, please see the following website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance
Finally, a further reminder that I would also be grateful if you could all check that we have your most up to date contact details so that we can continue to communicate with you all quickly and effectively. Don’t forget that as always, alongside any paper copies of letters and mobile phone texts, we post all of our latest news on the following social media platforms:
www.twitter.com/edgenorthfield
www.facebook.com/edgeacademynorthfield
www.instagram.com/theedgeacademynorthfield
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCecMYPWTNC-DYEbioHbBFvA
If you have any further questions or anxieties regarding this letter, please feel free to contact me directly at [email protected].
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Wakefield
Principal