Dear Parents and Carers, 

Happy New Year, I hope you have had a restful break. 

I am writing to provide an update on our COVID control measures. We plan to reopen college tomorrow, for all year groups, as detailed in my letter at the end of last term. However, you will be aware from the national press of some additional changes brought in by the central government during the Christmas break.  

Face coverings 

The Government is temporarily recommending that face coverings are worn in classrooms and teaching spaces for students in year 7 or above, in light of the Omicron variant surge. This is in addition to the previous guidance to wear face coverings in communal spaces. All students and staff will need to attend college in the morning with a facemask (plain in design). This of course doesn’t include staff and students who are exempt from wearing face coverings and if your child is exempt, this must be communicated to Pastoral Teams so that exemption passes can be provided; email addresses for these teams are available here. The advice on face coverings in classrooms will be in place until  26th January, when Plan B regulations are currently scheduled to expire, at which point this guidance will be reviewed.

Lateral Flow Testing – in College 

The Government has asked all schools to conduct one LFD Test with pupils who have parental/carer consent on site during the first days back, testing will take place on site tomorrow. If you have not already given consent for your child to have a lateral flow test in school and wish to do so, the link for this is here.  We will immediately notify you if your child has a positive result. Negative results may take a few days to register on the NHS website, so please do not be concerned if you do not receive confirmation of a negative test tomorrow. 

Lateral Flow Testing – at Home 

The Government has again asked us to continue to ask all pupils (and staff) to twice-weekly test using Lateral Flow Devices at home. At the moment, we are expecting to be able to supply these to pupils this week. I would also urge you to test students at home today too – results of at home LFD tests should be reported here

Changes to the self-isolation period

 Since Wednesday 22 December, the 10-day self-isolation period for people who record a positive PCR test result for COVID-19 has been reduced to 7 days in most circumstances, unless you cannot test for any reason. 

Individuals, including pupils, may now take LFD tests on day 6 and day 7 of their self-isolation period. Those who receive two negative test results are no longer required to complete 10 full days of self-isolation. The first test must be taken no earlier than day 6 of the self-isolation period and tests must be taken 24 hours apart. If both these test results are negative, and the person does not have a high temperature, they may end their self-isolation after the second negative test result and return to school from day 8. These results should be reported to school  here. Anyone who is unable to take the LFD tests will need to complete the full 10 day self isolation period. 

Face to Face and Remote Learning 

We will be doing all that we can to keep the College open and lessons running as normal for all students. Due to the anticipated staff absence this may mean students being taught in larger classes or independent work being set online to be completed whilst students are in College. If year group closures become unavoidable I will communicate this with you in a timely fashion. Year group closures will be largely avoided if we all test regularly, follow the isolation guidance and take up the national offer of vaccination where appropriate. 

Thank you in advance for your support 

Yours sincerely, 

Mr K Maddocks 

Headteacher

 

Calendar Events 

To further support our communication strategy at the College I want to draw your attention to the events that are planned to take place during the next half term.

Date Event 
Tuesday 4th January 2022 Start of Spring Term: School reopens to all pupils
Monday 10th January 2022 Year 11 revision parents event 6.00pm – 7.00pm
Thursday 13th January 2022 Year 10 School Cloud Parents evening 3.30pm – 6.45pm
Wednesday 19th January 2022 Online parents information evening for Mental Health and Wellbeing
Thursday 27th January 2022 Year 9 School Cloud Parents evening 3.30pm – 6.45pm
Tuesday 1st February 2022

Wednesday 2nd February 2022

College show at the Floral Pavilion
Tuesday 8th February 2022

Wednesday 9th February 2022

Year 10 RSE day
Friday 18th February 2022 School Closed for Staff Training
Monday 21st – 25th February 2022 February Half Term – School Closed

 

Further Dates can be found here. https://stmaryswallasey.com/holidays-key-dates/ 

 

Pastoral Team Contact Details

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected] – Will be monitored by our SEND team and should be used for specific SEND emails.