Dear Parents and students,
Last night's government announcement about Covid 19
As you know the city of Leicester is now entering a period of further restrictions and as a result from tomorrow afternoon on-site lessons for Year 10 and I2 will cease. This situation also affects also ten other catholic schools in our multi-academy trust and there is a letter from Mr Lockyer about this.
The school will continue to operate a service for children of key workers and those in vulnerable groups until Friday 10th July.
Obviously this is a disappointment to those students in Year 10 and Year 12 who were due to attend classes later this week and next week. We are in the process of arranging online sessions for them with the teachers/ subjects they will have missed. This will be via MS teams; the students concerned will receive an invite via their school email. This is in addition to the various on-line activities already scheduled for the coming week in all year groups.
Feedback from recent tests will be available from next Monday, 6 July, and will be emailed to students' school email accounts.
Should students want further advice about the work they are intending to complete during the summer holiday, they have until Wednesday 8th July to contact their teachers via email. Teachers will be taking holiday from 10 July, the end of term.
Celebration of Achievement for this year will be a pod cast on the school website available from this Friday and award winners will have their certificates and prizes posted out to them.
Bishop Patrick is celebrating a Schools' Mass for the whole diocese, Monday 6 July at 10.30am on the NDCYS youtube channel: YouTube.com/ndcyslive. Please make every effort to attend.
The new term will begin from the week of I st September (NB this is a change to the published dates). At present we are awaiting the guidance from the government about the way we will operate then, so please expect that there will be more information in the final weeks of August, and do check the school website.
Yours sincerely
Marius Carney
Principal, English Martyrs' Catholic School
Dear Parents and Carers
Leicester lockdown measures
I hope you are well. Following the statement by the Health Secretary to Parliament last night, I am writing to you because you have one or more children attending one of our schools within the area which remains under lockdown measures. Throughout the COVID-19 situation, we have rigorously stuck to the guidance issued by the Department for Education, and we will continue to do so. In doing so up to this point, we have seen all of our schools remain open for the children of key workers and more vulnerable pupils and, since 1 June, we have experienced a safe and positive wider opening for pupils in different year groups. We remain absolutely focused on the principles of our risk assessments, with the health and safety of all of our young people and staff as our highest priority.
In line with government guidance, the school that your child/children attend/s will be closing to all but the children of key workers and more vulnerable pupils from the end of the day tomorrow (Wednesday 1 July). This will remain the case until the end of the school year.
The increased measures will also have some effect in terms of the beginning of next term, largely because of the limited time and context in which we must now plan. As a result of this, the only pupils that may be attending our schools during the last week of August will be the new Year 12s at either English Martyrs' or St Paul's for their interviews, if they have not happened already by that time. There will be no other pupils on our primary or secondary school sites within the affected area until Tuesday 1 September at the earliest. We will ensure that information is shared with you as quickly as possible about the reopening of schools next term. Please keep a close eye on your school's website and also our Trust website (www.aquinas-cmat.org) for updates throughout the summer.
For pupils who receive Free School Meals, parents will be provided with a voucher for each child to cover the seven weeks of summer holiday school closure (to last until 1 September). Your school is currently arranging this.
As you will know, the government is running a 'test and trace' scheme to help reduce the spread of the virus. Should your child test positive between now and Sunday 26 July please call 07934 582009, clearly stating -
Your child's name
Their date of birth
The school they attend and where it is (we have four pairs of schools with the same name within our Trust)
The date upon which they first showed symptoms, and the date they tested positive.
This information will mean that we can support the NHS test and trace procedure. Please note that this phone number is a 'straight to answerphone' number and should only be used for reporting positive tests. For any other issues, please use the normal channels of communication with your school until the end of term (Friday 10 July), or the Trust if needed during the school holidays.
Clearly, all members of the Trust Executive Team and our staff across the schools share in your sadness that the term is coming to an early end for pupils, especially given the amount of school time they have already missed. I want to assure you that we have been planning for some time, not only for the safe reopening of our schools to all pupils next term, but also the intricate nature of our 'recovery work' to ensure that all young people are brought back up to speed with their learning as quickly as possible.
Finally, thank you for all of your messages of support and gratitude that have poured into our schools in recent weeks. Our staff have been working incredibly hard for your children and I know that this recognition has been a tremendous boost to their morale. We are blessed to have such a caring parental community across our schools.
In this strangest of years, I wish you the best summer that can be and we look forward to welcoming your child/children back next term.
With best wishes
Neil Lockyer
Chief Executive Officer, St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Multi-Academy Trust