Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
Dear Parents/Carers,
I just wanted to write to you following our news this week regarding positive cases in school. I understand that this will be a worrying time for everyone in the school community and wanted to reassure you that we continue to work within our risk assessment, keeping all recommended restrictions in place to make the school sites as safe as is possible.
We had, of course, hoped to avoid any cases but, inevitably, with the rise in cases across Cornwall, we were always going to be at risk of this situation. Just to confirm that, as of this morning, we have three members of staff affected, two have had confirmed positive tests following PCR tests (those carried out at test stations and tested in a lab) and one has tested positive via the school ‘lateral flow’ test which needs to be confirmed via a PCR test. Of those three members of staff, one had clear potential symptoms which developed over the weekend and so followed the correct procedures by staying at home and getting tested. The other two staff did not have Covid symptoms and so their cases were only picked up through the schools testing programme. We will continue to keep you updated with any information.
I also wanted to explain the process we go through when we have a confirmed case. Once we have a confirmed positive case (or possible case via the lateral flow tests) we immediately seek advice from Public Health. If we need to close a bubble we will then isolate the bubble (so that the staff and pupils do not move to other areas in the school) and contact families to arrange for collection of the children. Staff within the bubble will stay until the pupils have been collected before leaving to isolate themselves (isolation period is currently 10 days from contact). Once all of the families directly affected by the class closure have been informed we will then send a text message to all staff and families to keep them updated of the situation.
Please feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss anything. Class teachers will also continue to contact you on a weekly basis.
Take good care.
Best wishes,
Caroline Jewell
Head Teacher
Dear Parent / Carers
The Special Partnership Trust Covid-19 update - 5th January 2021
I wanted to write to you to provide an honest overview of the current position of the Special Schools in Cornwall and what we are planning to do. These are unprecedented times - information and guidance changes almost daily. It is no surprise that we were taken aback by the Government announcement yesterday evening, as we had planned extensively over the New Year period in the hope of welcoming students back to school as usual this week. We are still gathering detailed information from the Department of Education and it is vital that we take time to plan and communicate effectively with pupils, parents and staff.
It is important to emphasise that we endeavour to ensure schools are as safe / Covid secure as possible but, with Covid cases now rising in Cornwall this inevitably impacts on safety. We need time to put measures in place and to plan our education offer whilst we review risk assessments, staff availability and those pupils who are clinically extremely vulnerable to ensure that we are able to support all pupils with either onsite or remote learning or a blended combination. We understand and support the fact that many parents will choose to keep children at home and ‘shield’ them during the lockdown period. The wellbeing of staff and pupils is our priority.
Curnow School will remain closed tomorrow (Wednesday 6th January). This is instead of the originally planned Inset on Friday 8th January. We will be continuing to work on setting up the testing process which will initially be in place for staff at our Secondary school site. Trust Schools will be providing support (remote/onsite/blended) for pupils from Thursday this week (7th January) and teachers will be in touch with families today.
I am very proud and grateful for the reaction and continued support of staff, parents and pupils at this time. This is a wonderful community and we are working together to develop flexible arrangements that will be put in place to make sure we can offer support to pupils and families.
School staff will remain in touch with you to explain the school offer, our plans and the way forward. If you have any concerns or questions please refer to the school website, contact your school or the Trust office and we will answer any questions or queries.
Yours faithfully
Guy Chappell
Executive Director
The Special Partnership Trust