21st December 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

First week of term: Monday 4th – 8th January 2021 and testing in schools

I am sure that you are aware of the Government’s plan to roll out regular coronavirus testing for staff and students in schools next term. This news was sent to me officially last Friday and I am still waiting for further information about how this will actually happen and how staff will be trained.

With this in mind it is important that we make a plan for Lancaster that will ensure we keep everyone safe as we train staff for testing and roll out a test programme.

The national and local pictures regarding the spread of coronavirus and the new variant is changing rapidly and with regularity and it is very difficult to predict what January will look like. I feel it is important to make the safest plan and share it with all our families and staff today.

We will be open in first week, Tuesday 5th – Friday 8th January, but only for students whose parents are key workers and for students who are vulnerable. If you are a keyworker or the parent of a vulnerable student, please contact me to confirm that you would like your son / daughter to be in school between 5th and 8th January. The 4th January is a teacher training day. You can contact me by phone 07900 – 366710 or by email at head@lancaster.southend.sch.uk

Please do this by Tuesday 29th December. If I haven’t heard from you by the I will assume you will be keeping your son / daughter at home for that week.

I have made this decision because we know precious little about how testing will work in schools and because the tier 4 situation and the national picture seem challenging and unpredictable.

For those students who will be at home that week we will provide as much support as possible and this will be done by teachers, who will contact you via Microsoft Teams regularly and at least daily.

When I have more information about testing in schools I will send it out to parents.

Yours sincerely

Tom Jackson-Owens