Dear Parent/Carer
I hope that you and your family are well and enjoying the summer break. I would like to inform you that all Year 7 students will be starting their new term with us on Monday, 6 September at 8.30. Students will have some settling-in time with their form tutor and Year Group Team before teaching begins, to allow them to become familiar with their new surroundings and school systems.
As you will be aware Public Health England (PHE) has asked that all secondary school children take part in asymptomatic COVID-19 testing at the start of term. Testing is voluntary but strongly recommended as it is the most effective way to reduce the risk of transmission and support the continuation of face-to-face education. The government will continue to review the future need for testing in light of any changes to the public health situation and the prevalence of the COVID-19 virus within our local community.
Testing will involve your child undertaking two supervised lateral flow device tests at school. The first will be on Monday 6 September, with the second test on Thursday 9 September, followed by regular testing at home.
If you would like your child to take part then please complete the consent form using the link below by 4pm on Thursday, 2 September.
This consent form will ask you about any current symptoms, if you agree to take your child home should they test positive and if you agree to arrange a confirmatory PCR test. Further information can be found in the FAQs document below. Please also read the privacy notice below explaining how we process the data collected for testing purposes.
After your child has completed a test, the result will be uploaded to NHS test and trace on the same day and you will be sent a text message informing you of the result. School will also receive a confirmation email. As we are testing in school, we will be able to contact you immediately in the event of a positive result and advise you on what to do next.
As stated in the current PHE guidance, please may I ask that you do not send your child to school if they are displaying any COVID-19 symptoms and contact us straight away.
If you have any further queries please contact office@workingtonacademy.org.
Yours faithfully,
Des Bird
Headteacher
