Happy New Year! We hope that you found time for fun and relaxation over the holidays.
As we prepare for the start of the spring term during the ongoing global pandemic, we are writing now regarding the resumption date – Monday 10th January 2022.
We remain committed to our plans for in-person teaching and learning and do not anticipate significant changes to School operations or activities in the coming term, given the mitigations already in place.
However, the risk level has been raised to ‘high’ due to the COVID-19 outbreak among students and staff members at the BIS campus before the holidays. Therefore, we must remain vigilant and follow the policies and protocols shown to limit the impacts of the virus.
The best way to lessen the effects of COVID-19 on our School and our community is to protect yourself, your family, and your friends every day by following the recommended precautions, including wearing masks, testing when necessary, and getting fully vaccinated, including a booster, if you are able to do so.
To keep our community as safe as possible, we are reintroducing several protective measures. I ask all parents to understand the reasons for these and support them wherever possible. These will be as follows:
– All staff will wear protective face coverings throughout the school day.
– Children to undertake a PCR test within 72 hours before returning to school. More details in the previous letters.
– Parents and guardians to wear face masks when they drop off and collect their children from outside the Reception area (please avoid going inside the school building, unless necessary).
– Parents retain reasonable distance between themselves and other parents and leave the site promptly once they have collected their child.
– Classrooms are set out in ‘face forward’ seating arrangements.
– No after school clubs during the first week of a new term.
With everyone’s steadfast commitment, we are confident we will have a successful spring term, with our pupils continuing to receive the high-quality education they both expect and deserve.
This feels like a letter filled with messages of doom and gloom, but please be reassured that we plan to return to school with a positive mindset, full of exciting learning and social opportunities for the children, and we are very much looking forward to seeing them all again next week. If we all continue to work together as effectively as we have been so far, we will get through this.
