13 March 2020

Dear Parents/Carers,

I wanted to write to assure you that Greenwood Academies Trust is following the latest advice from Public Health England (PHE) and the Department for Education, to ensure the health and wellbeing of our pupils, staff and the wider school community which is, as always, our top priority.

We currently have no specific concerns about anyone within any of our Academy communities in relation to Coronavirus (COVID-19) and all Academies remain open as usual. We are of course being extra vigilant and encouraging pupils, parents and staff to continue taking additional precautions, including maintaining high levels of personal hygiene, regularly washing hands and following the Catch it, Bin it, Kill it advice when sneezing or coughing.

The Trust will continue to follow the latest government guidance and keep this under review. This includes providing hand sanitiser throughout our academies, advice posters displayed in communal areas and continuing to undertake additional regular cleaning of handrails, door handles and other contact points throughout the academies.

Should your child exhibit even mild signs of Covid-19, which have been defined as a new, continuous cough or high temperature, you should ensure they self-isolate for a period of 7 days. We would encourage you to closely monitor the health of your child(ren) and if they show any symptoms your child(ren) should be kept at home and not attend the Academy. You should then visit the NHS’s website for advice (https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19) and not attend your local GP Surgery or A&E. We would also ask that you notify your child’s Academy immediately, to allow to us to take any necessary steps. Our staff have been advised that they must follow the same self-isolation advice.

While there are no current concerns about anyone within our school community, the new, stricter self-isolation guidance could result in staff shortages and should this happen, we may need to consider temporarily closing the Academies. If this is the case, we will notify you of any closure in the usual way.

As a Trust we take our duty of care extremely seriously and we will keep you updated on any further developments should the need arise. If you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your child’s Academy.

Yours sincerely,

Wayne Norrie

Chief Executive, Greenwood Academies Trust