Dear Parents/Carers

Further to the SchoolComms message sent out earlier today I am writing to outline the rationale behind the decision taken this afternoon by the London Coronavirus Response Cell (LCRC), Public Health Ealing, the Local Authority and school leaders to keep St Ann’s closed until Monday 4th October.

  • Students attending St Ann’s are more vulnerable than other young people to serious illness as a result of contracting Covid-19 and we have a heightened duty of care to take appropriate and proportionate measures to reduce that risk.
  • An extended period of school closure will prevent close contact between and amongst the student and staff groups and will ‘nip transmission in the bud’ so that we don’t risk an out of control Covid outbreak.
  • It is extremely difficult to ascertain the infection status of the majority of St Ann’s students because they can not easily undergo PCR tests.
  • Before the school closure there was a growing number of students presenting with upper respiratory infections which could be the beginning of Covid-19. This group of young people and other asymptomatic students will now be at the end of any potential infectious period by the time they return to school on 04.10.21 again reducing the possibility of future transmission.
  • It was felt that it was in everyone’s best interests to have some certainty about when school would re-open rather than having to wait for a decision on a day by day basis.

During this period of closure school will review and re-introduce, initially for a two week period, some of the Covid secure measures adopted during the height of the pandemic such as bubbles and one way systems. In addition the health agencies will consider the feasibility of PCR testing of students in school (with parental permission) and the October ‘on site’ vaccination date for St Ann’s students aged 12 plus will be confirmed.

Once students return to school parents/carers will be reminded of their responsibility in ensuring that their young person does not attend school if they are presenting with any upper respiratory infections.

Finally St Ann’s Governors and I would like to take this opportunity to again apologise for the disruption that school closures inevitably cause to our young people’s education as well as to family life. However, we believe that by taking these actions now, we can mitigate against the worst case scenarios of Covid-19 infection and look forward to a more normal pattern of school attendance in the near future.

Please email adminmail@st-anns.ealing.sch.uk if you would like to raise any concerns relating to the current situation.

Yours sincerely

Gillian Carver

Headteacher

28.09.21