Dear Parents/ Carers,

It is with deep regret that I feel that we must close school for the 4 remaining days of this half term.

Larch class is closed because of a positive staff test;

The office bubble is still closed because of a positive staff test;

Chestnut bubble must close with immediate effect because of a child’s positive test - the child has been isolating for 9 days and has just tested positive but I think it still poses a risk for transmission of the virus;

Cherry class must close because of a member of staff testing positive after being contacted by track and trace on Thursday;

Other staff are isolating and we don’t want people to cross any bubbles at this time to support staffing in other bubbles;

We are also awaiting test results for a number of children in other bubbles;

I have discussed this at length with Mrs Clifford and the Chair of Governors and we feel that in order to maintain your confidence in the school we should act now to create a ‘circuit breaker’ period where further deep cleans can be carried out and we can examine all procedures and practices to see if there are any further actions we can take to minimize transmission.

Unfortunately, it appears that at least 3 of the cases have originated from beyond school so it is very difficult to prevent all cases coming into school. We may also have had children with the virus who have been asymptomatic and so didn’t know they were ill.

As the government tightens up socializing rules again, I would ask you all to be vigilant about where and who your family mixes with, as I am asking staff to be strict with themselves so that we can come back together after half term.

We do not make this decision lightly as we are extremely concerned at breaking the children’s learning rhythm again, but hopefully with this week and the half term we will create a ‘breaker’. Information about learning will be posted on Purple Mash and class pages on the website from tomorrow.

We know this will create enormous inconvenience for many parents and apologize for that but on balance we feel that we must put the safety of children, staff and the community first. Please stay safe.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs Lockwood and Mrs Clifford