Dear Parent or Carer,

Numbers of pupils with Covid symptoms is going up across our county’s schools. Thank you for your effort and support in tackling COVID-19 infections during what has been another challenging academic year. We are writing to you now, because we need your ongoing support as we head in to the final weeks of the school term.

Thankfully, the number of Gloucestershire residents becoming seriously ill from Covid is now much lower, but as we start to mix more, the number of infections is rising sharply, particularly in our county’s schools. Schools continue to do all they can to keep Covid out of the classroom. The health and wellbeing, education and safety of pupils are always their top priority. This sometimes means that they have to make difficult decisions.

All schools receive regular updates from the Department of Education (DfE) which include guidance and advice on how to run events safely. Many end of term events are planned over the coming weeks and schools have reviewed their risk assessments to include these activities, such as sports days and leavers’ events. It is important to remember that the risk assessment process will vary from school to school and will be dependent on a number of factors such as whether a school is currently experiencing an outbreak, case rates in their community, on-site facilities, the size and layout of the school site and whether they have sufficient staff to safely manage events involving large numbers of spectators/audiences. This may mean that some schools will have to make the difficult decision to postpone or cancel events, or exclude spectators, to make sure the events can run in the safest possible way. Whilst we understand that it is disappointing and frustrating when an event has to be cancelled or is not open to parents and carers, we urge you to support your school in the decisions that they make.

Schools do a fantastic job, under challenging circumstances, to ensure that they remain open until the end of term so that your children can attend and continue their learning. For the latest guidance on what you can do to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, please see attached document.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Scott & Chris Spencer Executive Director & Director of Children’s Services of Adult Social Care and Public Health