COVID update from Deputy Head

As you may be aware, the UK Prime Minister announced a new national lockdown earlier today, scheduled to begin on Thursday 5th November. He also emphasised the principle of keeping all young people in education and therefore intends to keep all nurseries, schools and universities open.

I wanted to keep parents, staff and pupils informed about the School’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic:

• The School will open tomorrow evening as planned for boarders, and lessons will start on Monday morning for all pupils.
• We will continue to provide remote learning for any pupils prevented from attendance at School by COVID travel restrictions or isolation requirements.
• We continue to work hard on developing our remote learning pedagogy and provision.
• There are no changes to term dates, although we will keep them under review.
• We will issue updates each week throughout the second half of term, on Fridays (6th , 13th , 20th, 27th November, and 4th December) unless further government announcements necessitate urgent changes to that routine.
• Specific information about isolation arrangements for the start of the Spring Term will be issued as soon as we have clarity about the policy of the UK and other governments.

Tomorrow, Sunday 1st November, as we welcome pupils and staff back from their Half Term break, we must have a renewed focus on COVID precautions and measures in order to keep the School fully operational. In addition to our specific measures, all members of the community must

• maintain prescribed distancing whenever possible, even within their groupings (and maximise social distancing in all encounters)
• use protective face coverings whenever required
• follow good practice in hygiene, especially hand hygiene by frequent hand washing

and, more generally, to be alert to ways in which they can minimise transmission of the virus. Staff will be speaking to all pupils in their groups about these matters in the first few days of next week. Your support will be greatly appreciated in this. As always, please do not send back your child if they are unwell.

Finally, it is worth noting some of the specifics of the Prime Minister’s address:

• First, his strong encouragement of all parents to continue to send their children to School. We know how important it is to maintain social relationships, with adults as well as children.
• Second, widespread scientific optimism about our capacity to overcome the virus in the medium and long term. We will continue to keep all our measures under active review throughout the rest of the year, and we will respond appropriately, in a timely manner to future developments.

Despite the strangeness of these times, we all look forward to seeing everybody back and busy with the myriad activities that create such a vibrant community at King Edward’s.

With warmest good wishes to you all,

Yours sincerely,
David Corran