Dear Parents and Carers,

The reason for this letter is because I want to try and keep in contact with you on a regular basis. I would like to thank you all in having the confidence to send your children back to school. I know it has been hard, in particular these past two weeks as children are developing their usual coughs and colds. We do have to remember that the children and even ourselves as adults have not built up our immunities like we would have done in previous years. Due to this we have had a number of children with symptoms but those that did manage to get tested were negative and I suppose we have all been overly cautious with good reason.

Good news though, Haringey has opened a new testing site at the Irish Centre, Pretoria Road N17 8DX. You still need to book it through the government website but it is hoped that soon you will be able to just drop in. The aim is for the site to take non-appointment walk-ins, but at present they are appointment only.

I would like to share these next few items with you. I do receive a weekly update from the local authority and Public Health Haringey.

• The rate of positive cases has increased from 24 cases per 100,000 last week to 31.8 cases per 100,000 this week in Haringey.
• This increase is in line with the London trend. Currently 4.1% of the tests carried out in Haringey are positive.
• Cases are still relatively low compared to the peak earlier this year, but it is imperative that we continue to protect our community (HANDS, SPACE, FACE) and prevent further cases.
• UPDATED: Coughing as a symptom of COVID-19    A new continuous cough is one of the symptoms of COVID-19. The cough associated with COVID-19 is often a dry cough, meaning there would most likely be no mucus or phlegm present in the throat. A cough is common with a cold, so child sent home due to coughing, should have been coughing repeatedly for more than an hour (or had three or more coughing episodes over 24 hours – which are prolonged periods of coughing) as per the guidance.
• UPDATED: Shielding for vulnerable groups   The Government paused shielding on the 1^st August 2020 due to the low community transmission at the time. Despite London now being an ‘area of concern’ the Government is advising that any vulnerable groups do not need to shield at present. This advice may change if cases continue to rise and more local restrictions are put into place. We will update you all once this advice changes.

Can I remind you all that only one adult per family should be in the playground. We are trying very hard to get the children to stay safe and we would hope adults would help us too.

Finally, 2B parents will be receiving an email detailing a chat with Ms Begum. This is to discuss how your child has settled into school before she goes off on maternity leave.

Stay safe.

Yours sincerely,

Emma Murray

Head Teacher