Dear all,

First of all, I hope that you and your families have had a good holiday and a Happy New Year.

You may have read in the papers that students will now be asked to wear masks in lessons. As always, it is a shame that the DfE chose to leak this to the press before letting Headteachers know!

At Holmleigh Park, our policy has always been to follow government recommendations relating to COVID-19. As such, when we return, students will be asked to wear face coverings during lessons as well as while moving in corridors. They will be able to take them off when outside and when eating/drinking.

I appreciate that some people find face masks inconvenient, but last time around students just shrugged and carried on with impressive stoicism, so I have every confidence they will do the same again this time. Hopefully this measure will only be temporary - it is due to be reconsidered in three weeks.

If your child is exempt, please email [email protected] so we can issue them with a lanyard (or if they would prefer not to wear one, a card which can be kept in a pocket).

With cases at a record high, it's also important that we continue prioritising other measures:

• If possible, please do send your child in to school on Tuesday / Wednesday to take a lateral flow test. The full details, including timings for each year group can be found here.

• We will also be reissuing home testing kits as soon as our next batch have been delivered, so that students can continue to test twice a week at home.

• We will be continuing to prioritise ventilation in classrooms. Temperatures look set to drop later this month, so please do encourage students to wear vests, T shirts etc to allow them to keep warm. We also still have a large stock of school jumpers which students can borrow.

Finally, thank you for your patience and support. I look forward to seeing your children return on either Wednesday (Years 10-13) or Thursday (Years 7-9). This is to free up staff to run our testing centre. Further details of our staggered return can be found here.

Best wishes,

Mr Farmbrough

Headteacher