Management Information Sheet
Correspondence from Norfolk County Council 1/12/2021
Dear Colleague
As you will have seen from both the national press and the updates from the DfE, there have been recent updates to guidance for schools and settings. We thought it might be both timely and helpful to share a letter with you, which you might like to send to parents. The letter is attached to this email.
Furthermore, we had already prepared some guidance on 'Winter Preparedness' and it is now opportune to share this with you also. We will include both of these in the MI Sheet on Friday alongside any further updates. Should the situation require, we will re-instate our COVID alerts.
Please remember that guidance has recently been issued on:
Managing COVID-19 in Education (MI 221/21).
Onsite Testing (one test at school, one at home) in Secondary Schools - Email from DfE on 26/11/2021, updated guidance documents.
Updated Schools COVID-19 Operational Guidance:
- Updated advice on Tracing close contacts and isolation to reflect the change in measures for close contacts of suspected or confirmed Omicron cases
- Updated advice on Face coverings to reflect the change in measures - they are now recommended in communal areas in all schools for adults and for pupils from year 7 onwards
- Updated information in the Other considerations section on vaccination of under 18 year olds
- An updated Travel and quarantine section to reflect that pupils arriving from abroad will need to isolate and test on arrival
- An updated Educational visits section to advise you consider whether to go ahead with any planned international educational visits
For Norfolk, this will mean that face coverings for year 7 and above are a requirement on School Transport unless the child or young person is exempt.
Please use our Health and Safety Guidance to support your decision making.
We hope the attached letter to parents provides a helpful explanation about the individual nature of the decisions taken at school level.
Regards
Chris Snudden
Director of Learning and Inclusion
Norfolk County Council Children's Services