Dear Parent/Carer,
By now you may well have heard that Fowey River Academy has finally succumbed to COVID. We’ve had a really good run of it up until now, with very little disruption to schooling other than the government’s official lockdown periods. Many other local schools have faired much worse.
Unfortunately, as things in the Fowey area have been escalating recently, with a number of local hospitality businesses closing and impacts on Fowey Primary and other venues, we have finally started to feel the impact.
Currently, our Year 7’s, Year 8’s and Year 10’s are being advised to self-isolate. This is following Public Health England advice. That is what we are bound to follow and we do not have any flexibility over that. It’s a rapidly evolving situation that changes every hour with further updates and track & trace contacts.
Assuming you have not had a positive PCR test or symptoms during self-isolation, students return dates will be as follows, please note, this could change depending on new information or further advice from Public Health, so please bear with us. These dates are based on the last known contact with someone who has had a positive PCR test. They can potentially change if someone else in the year group becomes positive and students had more recent close contact at school:
Year 7 return from self-isolation date – Tuesday 20th
Year 8 return from self-isolation – Tuesday 20th
Year 10 last day of self-isolation is now Thursday 22nd (due to a new case that was present in school on Monday 12th – just confirmed) – as Friday is an INSET day, sadly we will therefore not be seeing the majority of Year 10’s again this term. For the small number of students who were not in on Monday 12th (unless you were isolating due to symptoms or a positive test in which case follow the advice you have had from NHS Track & Trace) your return date remains unchanged, Tuesday 20th. But please contact the Year team as there will only be a small number of you in.
For advice on self-isolation where you do not live with the person who is positive but has been told to isolate by the school or Track & Trace, you can go here.
Please be reminded of the following:
Legal requirements for self-isolation
You could be fined if you do not stay at home and self-isolate following a positive test result for COVID-19, or if you are a contact of someone who has tested positive, and you are notified by NHS Test and Trace that you need to self-isolate. It is also an offence to knowingly provide false information about your close contacts to NHS Test and Trace. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in a fine of up to £10,000. These regulations will only apply in England.
Precautions
Both students and staff have been affected and we are doing all we can to continue to provide learning in school and a safe environment. However, with a number of senior staff off and several students testing positive, we now need to take other precautions.
So, we would advise that all students do the following:
- Wear masks at all times when indoors and on buses, only taking masks off when sat down in class
- Sanitise and wash hands regularly
- Continue to take Lateral Flow Tests wednesday and sunday and report results
- Inform us immediatly of any symptoms or if feeling generally unwell
Teachers will continue to teach from the front and will wear masks where social distancing cannot be maintained.
We totally understand the frustration that some of you will have with this situation. We share that frustration. We are so close to the rules changing. However, what we do know is that even with vaccines and precautions, this is still a nasty virus as many of those who have had it will confirm. So, we have a duty to try and protect all around us.
We are still confident of our systems in school and it appears that much of the contact has happened outside of school in the community.
Thank you for your support, it’s been a tough year for everyone, and as educators, this is the last thing we want.
Please continue to report COVID results to the NHS and via our email COVIDALERTS@fracademy.org and just ask if you’re unsure about anything.
Thank you.