COVID-19 UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2021
In line with government advice and guidance, life at Cheetwood is returning back to some form of normality at long last.
As a precaution, however, some safety measures in school are still in place.
The drop off and pick up procedures are still the same, although there is now no requirement to socially distance. The pupils still have playtimes and dinner times in their class bubbles, as this worked really well for us and pupils also told us they preferred just to be with their own class.
We are not having whole school activities yet, so for example, assemblies take place on a daily basis within individual classrooms. We are maintaining good ventilation around school and robust hand hygiene for pupils and staff.
Although we are gradually getting used to living with the virus, it is still very much at large across the country (and world) so I want to avoid, at all costs, any disruption to the education of Cheetwood pupils. It is sensible therefore, to keep in place some of the protective measures (as described above) so that we give ourselves a fighting chance at the start of the school year and the risk of the virus spreading around school is minimised.
I have had to complete a risk assessment outlining all of the measures in place in school to reduce the risk of the virus spreading and what the school would do if cases of infection began to rise. A copy of the risk assessment and outbreak management plan can be found at the end of this information.
Since the middle of August self isolation rules have changed. I won’t be sending home full bubbles of pupils to self-isolate if we get a positive case in the school. NHS Test and Trace will identify who the close contacts are (not the school anymore) and it generally won’t be pupils in the same class, it will most likely only be family members living or staying in the same household.
However, it still remains the same that if your child displays any of the virus symptoms (temperature, continuous cough, loss of taste and/or smell) please contact the school immediately to inform us. You will then be asked to get your child tested with a PCR test and keep them at home until the result comes back, at which point, please contact us again for further advice.
Please be advised if your child displays certain ‘wider symptoms’, it is also possible we may ask for them to get a PCR test. This is based on advice from Manchester Public Health, but we will deal with this on a case by case basis.
It has been a pleasure to welcome everybody back to school at the start of this new school year. I very much hope we do not experience disruption to the same level that we did last year, which will give all Cheetwood pupils the opportunity
to make up for lost learning and achieve the very best outcomes possible.
MRS OXTON
HEADTEACHER
