Covid 19
The government continues to manage the risk of serious illness from the spread of the virus.
Step 4 marked a new phase in the government’s response to the pandemic, moving away from stringent restrictions on everyone’s day-to-day lives, towards advising people on how to protect themselves and others, alongside targeted interventions to reduce risk.
As COVID-19 becomes a virus that we learn to live with, there is now an imperative to reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education - particularly given that the direct clinical risks to children are extremely low, and every adult has been offered a first vaccine and the opportunity for 2 doses by mid-September.
Our priority is to deliver face-to-face, high-quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health.
This document references the controls that Hartlip School will place in September 2021 to prioritise the maximum possible opportunity for children to receive face to face, high quality education to all pupils.
In the light of the current data, with cases, hospitalisations and deaths rising, the school intends to move cautiously. This acknowledges the fact that an outbreak at school for any individual testing positive, enforces a ten-day absence for any member of the school community. Ten days is a considerable period of lost learning. It could also leave the school short staffed. We must also bear in mind that not all staff are fully vaccinated. Recent data also reveals that fully vaccinated adults are testing positive and therefore a ten-day period of absence is enforced.
Hartlip School is passionate and driven to keep school open and accessible to all learners. We believe that the intended management measures will facilitate this to the best of our ability.
“Thank you for keeping our children safe with covid still looming (staggered times 😊)”
“Huge thanks to all the staff for continuing to provide an adaptable approach to overcome the issues faced by the covid pandemic and always with the safety of children at the heart of everything you do”