Tuesday, 6th July
This afternoon, Gavin Williamson announced that school bubbles and face masks will be scrapped from Monday 16th August.
- Those under the age of 18 will no longer be required to isolate and, instead, students and schools will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace where necessary.
- Isolation will be replaced by daily testing.
Mr Williamson stated:
The current system is causing disruption to children’s education and the nation owes a debt of gratitude to parents, pupils and teachers. England is moving into a new phase of managing COVID and it would not be acceptable for children to face greater restrictions.
Currently, there appears to be no plan to vaccinate children in the UK though this may change during the course of the summer. Rising case numbers are a cause for concern but the link between case numbers and hospitalisation has been massively weakened. Here at Rossall, we will continue to monitor the situation very carefully and we will continue to take those decisions which we believe best support the health and wellbeing of all within our community. On occasions this may go beyond the limitations of government guidance. We are determined for life to return to normal as soon as possible but we are also mindful of our responsibility to look after all members of our community. Consequently, we will continue to do everything within our power to minimise risk and maximise educational opportunity. This approach has served us extremely well throughout the pandemic.
It is regrettable that Gavin Williamson was not able to elaborate upon plans for next summer’s GCSE and A Level examinations though he intimated that it was the government’s intention to return to public examinations whilst putting in place some measures to mitigate against lost learning time.
During the course of the summer, we will keep you updated with any developments related to COVID and/or public examinations. If you do have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us. In the meantime, we wish everyone a peaceful and relaxing summer. We should celebrate the wonderful progress that has been made as a result of the vaccination programme but it is important that we remain cautious and measured in our approach.
Kindest regards,
Jeremy Quartermain
