POSITION STATEMENT

SET 4 in the Road Map out of Covid-19 Restrictions

Our academies and their communities have seen great challenges, as in the wider community, this year, as a result of the pandemic.

As we progress to the removal of key restrictions via Step 4 on the governments road map we will be prioritising the safety of all of our community as well as embracing a return to the kind of education and experiences that our staff and students deserve in order for them to thrive in our academies. We will continue to review and update our Risk Assessments in relation to managing COVID-19.

Restrictions as they are will remain in place until the end of term. From 22.7.21 our students attending summer school will no longer be restricted to bubbles, will not need to wear face coverings or maintain social distancing. During the summer we will be encouraging staff and students attending activities on site to continue to take Lateral Flow Device (LFD) tests at home – we have plenty of kits to provide staff and students with these.

When we return to school in September we shall see a number of further relaxations of current restrictions. Students will no longer be restricted to year group bubbles or to specific areas of the school – other than under normal arrangements for site management. Face coverings and social distancing will not longer be required to be observed, other than if a staff member or student prefers to maintain these measures.

We will still be asking everyone to maintain good hand washing and the use of hand sanitizer. We will be promoting good respiratory hygiene by asking everyone to follow ‘Catch-it, Bin-it, Kill-it’ protocols and our classrooms will be provided with tissues and special bins for these to be disposed in. We will be maintaining good ventilation and regular cleaning of high touch areas through the day.

We will no longer be providing LFDs in September for students to test at home but will be making arrangements to offer all students and staff 2 LFD tests, 3 to 5 days apart, on their return in September, so that we can identify any asymptomatic cases following greater social mixing during the summer break.

Our academies will no longer be asked to Track and Trace this will be undertaken by the NHS.

We do ask that if you are planning to travel abroad this summer that you check carefully all restrictions and adhere to quarantine measures as required. We really do not want our students or staff missing any days at the start of the new term.

From 16.8.21 the rules on isolation are also likely to change. Students identified as having been in close contact with a confirmed case will not have to self-isolate, but may be asked to take a PCR test to confirm the need not to isolate. We are still waiting the full guidance on this and will update our community as we have further guidance. Staff who have had both vaccinations will also not need to isolate under the same expectations as those set out above. Staff who have not had both vaccinations by then will still need to isolate.

Please be assured that we follow all guidance from DfE and NHS very carefully to make our academies as safe as possible. Should there be an outbreak in one of our academies or local area from September we shall continue to work closely with Staffordshire Public Health Team and may have to step back up to some restrictions for a time, but we will do this only if absolutely necessary, for the shortest period of time needed and with the smallest amount of people needed and always at the direction on guidance of our local Public Health Team.

We will keep all members of our community updated with information on managing the pandemic and its wider implications, such as examination arrangements, as we have firm guidance and information to share