Message from Director of Education re COVID-19 04/01/21
Dear Headteacher/Principal,
I hope your first day of term went well which for many of you was a staff training day. I am writing to you with a couple of updates.
a) Please find attached a letter for parents/carers for your school website and/or to send on to parents concerning the use of community testing centres. You will note now that there are 6 testing centres which may well increase to 7 this week. The centres are also available for staff members to use as has been said previously.
b) For those schools setting up testing sites but who do not have non-porous floors, Sue Tripp (West Lea) has recommended the following link for protective plastic flooring Amazon.co.uk : Protective Carpet Cover . There may be other providers but this may be useful to you.
c) The teams invite for the Headteachers briefing on Wednesday from 1:30 to 2:30 has been sent out – public health will be in attendance to provide a local update and information testing and vaccinations. There will be an opportunity to ask questions about the new schooling arrangements for clarification as well as to consider key questions to take back to the DfE. I suggest that the later part of the meeting is devoted to secondary school issues and the preparations for testing (this for secondary schools the meeting may end at 2:45pm).
d) It would be advisable if you haven’t already done so, to revisit your school risk assessments. This would be because of the updated guidance from the DfE and the fact that London is now in Tier 4 which impacts on staff members who are CEV. In addition, there has been a change in the guidance for pregnant women in their third trimester (28 weeks +) which would indicate that in most circumstances they should not be in school.
e) Local authority staff will still continue to visit schools for essential visits. This would cover for example, relevant visits relating to SEND including the EHCP process or for other vulnerable pupils. Most other visits will be by necessity be virtual. School visits which do take place will of course follow individual school protocols and be with the agreement of the headteacher.
I hope the rest of the week goes well for you.
Best wishes
Peter Nathan
Director of Education
People Department
Enfield Council