Friday 18th December

Update about End of Term Arrangements 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Yesterday the Government announced plans for the end of term and the run-up to Christmas for schools and Trusts across the country. It represented a small change of direction and offered some clarification about expectations. Given that the end of term is so close, I wanted to give you as much notice as possible about the change, in order to give you time to make arrangements if you need to.

The Government has suggested that all schools across the country should make Thursday, 17th December, the last day of term for learners in order to reduce the risk of infection before the Christmas break and to bring forward the need for schools and Trusts to track and trace following positive Covid-19 test results at the start of the holiday. Both of these concessions are welcomed despite being relatively minor adjustments. I apologise for any inconvenience this is going to cause but it means that the last day of term will now be Thursday, 17th December, instead of Friday, 18th December, which will become a training day for staff instead.

This decision has been approved for all schools in The Olympus Academy Trust by the Board of Trustees. I know that some families have been worried about the prospect of children having to self-isolate over the Christmas period and it would be wrong to suggest that this might not happen. However, we have seen a significant reduction in the number of positive Covid-19 cases in the last week and expect to see numbers continue to reduce further between now and next Thursday.

The Government has set an expectation that schools should be informed by staff, parents and carers of any positive test results from the end of term until Wednesday, 23rd December, so that we can follow up and inform anyone who is a close contact that they need to self-isolate.

We will provide further details in the next few days about how that will happen and obviously hope that we will not need to be in touch. Thank you for your understanding and continued support at this challenging time. A full Trust update will be provided next week before the end of term.

With very best wishes,

Dave Baker

Chief Executive Officer The Olympus Academy Trust