Mask Wearing in School – Updated Guidance Posted on: 14 May 2021
As you will have heard in the press this week, in line with Step 3 of the national road map, face coverings will no longer be recommended for pupils in classrooms or communal areas in all schools and FE settings in England, with effect from Monday 17th May 2021. Face coverings will also no longer be recommended for staff in classrooms. The DFE published guidance is linked here which outlines the rationale for this, based on the current state of the pandemic.
I need to thank you all again, for your support with the wearing of face coverings this academic year and with the on-going LFD testing and reporting programme. Students have been excellent at adhering to current rules in both classrooms and around the school site. Combined with regular handwashing and sanitising between lessons, we have ensured that our school community is as safe as possible, and we have been able to continue deliver our curriculum throughout.
Both students and staff can continue to wear face coverings in a classroom setting if they choose to do so, though it will not be mandatory. However, in line with our risk assessment, we will require students and staff, unless exempt, to continue to wear face coverings when moving about in corridors, to avoid year group bubbles from intermixing unnecessarily during those short periods of time between lessons.
This cautious approach is necessary as there are still occasional cases within our community and we currently have a small number of students in Year 7 self-isolating as identified close contacts. As students have been routinised in this measure since September, we hope that continuing with this now should help mitigate any further cases.
Those students who use public and dedicated scholar’s transport must continue to wear a face covering when travelling to and from school.
Thank you once again for your support with this and I will be in contact in due course, if any further changes are announced. We will continue to review this decision in line with national and local public health advice.
Best Wishes
Mr J E Crowe
Principal
