Covid-19 Update and End of Term Preparations

Dear Parents / Carers

I wanted to take the opportunity to update families on how we will be managing the ongoing risks of Covid-19 during the Christmas break. This includes our response to the Department for Education announcement earlier this week permitting schools to make Friday 18th December an INSET day.

In-line with The Grange Academy (our linked Junior School) we have agreed not to amend our term dates for this academic year, including the scheduled INSET and occasional days. We will still finish the term on 18th December, when children should be collected at the earlier finish times. As a reminder these are;

Nursery – NO LUNCH CLUB ON THIS DAY Morning – 10:30am / Afternoon – 2:00pm

Reception Collection 1:30pm

Year One Collection 1:40pm

Year Two Collection 1:50pm

Track and Trace

We will be undertaking track and trace responsibilities for the school community up until 2pm on Christmas Eve. If your child tests positive for Covid-19 please let us know via email to the school office at admin@northfields.herts.sch.uk. This will allow us to undertake our track and trace activities to identify close contacts for the last two days of term.

If your child is identified as a close contact, you will receive the necessary communication via email. The email for reporting positive tests is admin@northfields.herts.sch.uk. Please DO NOT use any other school email address as these will not be checked over the Christmas break.

To ensure these arrangements work effectively, so everyone can enjoy a happy and healthy Christmas break, we ask families to adhere to the following:

· Seek tests via testing centres where possible to avoid test result delays. Test centre results are normally delivered within 24 hours of the test being administered

· Notify school if children display Covid-19 symptoms and self-isolate until the result is received

· Continue to follow social distancing guidelines to minimise the risk of infection within school and the wider community.

Travelling Abroad

Families travelling abroad during the Christmas break should consider necessary quarantine guidance for returning to the UK. If the quarantine period prevents your child from being able to return to school on 5th January 2021, please contact the school office to discuss. As always we urge families to be honest with us so we can effectively manage our child protection processes and the risk of Covid-19 within the school community.