Parent Update from Dr Eatough 17.03.20

I just wanted to update you on the position today. We are still operating our schools as instructed by the Government and our staff have been absolutely fantastic supporting us in doing that. We are experiencing staffing issues where staff are self-isolating because of the illness of a family member or because they have an underlying medical condition which places them in a highly vulnerable position.

Dear Parents/Carers

In addition, we are experiencing rising numbers of children and students being sent home feeling unwell or parents contacting us as they are self-isolating due to COVID-19 symptoms.

We have taken the decision this afternoon to close tomorrow (18.03.20) to YEAR 9 STUDENTS ONLY, AT CHARLTON, ERCALL WOOD ACADEMY AND HLC SECONDARY for the remainder of this week and we will decide on Friday, the position for next week. As I said in my previous communications, we want to keep Y6 and Y11 students in school for as long as possible. At this stage we believe we can remain open to all other Year groups, but we are constantly reviewing that position and will give you as much warning as possible from late afternoon/early evening on the day before. This information will be sent out by email/social media and our school websites, so please check these regularly.

Both our Primary Schools, HLC Primary and Wrekin View Primary will remain open tomorrow for all classes.

Queensway School will be making individual decisions as they have a very different school population and will contact parents directly.

We took significant action yesterday to prevent the spread of the virus, by stopping all trips/visits/fixtures and preventing any visitors into our schools, which has helped and we are maintaining high standards of cleanliness and hygiene as an absolute priority.

Staff are currently preparing work for home study when required and this information will be sent out to you through our normal communications systems.

As you are aware the Government is updating its guidance regularly and we are responding to this, the link for this information is https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Thank you for your continued support, in difficult and challenging times for your family; we will keep you updated as the week progresses.

Yours faithfully

Dr Gill Eatough

CEO LCT