9th December 2020
IMPORTANT COVID-19 Update at Newlands:
INSET DAY Friday 18th December 2020
Dear Parents & Carers
Thank you all for the amazing support you are continuing to give the Newlands community in these ongoing unprecedented times. It means so much that parents are thanking staff and feeding back on the measures we have put into place and recognising the continued hard work and dedication of our team.
Yesterday, the Department for Education gave permission for schools to move an INSET day to Friday 18th December and at Newlands, we have decided to take this opportunity. We are moving our INSET day that was planned for 22nd July 2021 and having it on Friday 18th December 2020 instead.
This means that the school will close a day earlier for all children and our last day will be Thursday 17th December next week.
I appreciate the short notice of this decision but hope that families will understand that we have only just received information from the government and could not plan any further ahead. (As a result, the last Breakfast club of the term will be Wednesday 16th December, to allow for deep cleaning).
Reporting COVID during the Christmas Holidays
The Government wrote to all headteachers to tell them that they would need to be ‘on call’ for the first 6 days of their Christmas holiday, in order to report any cases of COVID to the Department for Education and Public Health England.
Mrs Halsey, and myself will be on call throughout the first 6 days of our Christmas holidays in order to notify all members of our school community of a relevant, positive case.
If, during the first 6 days of the school holidays up to 23/12/20, your child has a temperature, new and persistent cough or loses their sense of taste or smell and has a positive COVID test result, please email the school office email: info@newlandsprimary.co.uk. Please do not phone, as school will be closed!
We will be monitoring the email account and I will be responsible for linking in to the DFE/PHE direct line. We will then be required to contact all families that your child may have had contact with via MMe and email in order to notify you of the potential COVID contact and the requirement to isolate.
We very much hope that we will not need to contact anyone but we have a duty to protect our community, should a positive case be confirmed.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Mrs Mellor