Monday 08 June 2020
Dear Parents and Carers,
Update on wider reopening- now postponed
I am sure you will be as uncertain as we all are in the current times, with the differing news and information that we are getting each day.
I am writing to keep you informed of the latest information that we have had today as head teachers from the Director of Public Health in charge of the whole of Lancashire County’s health.
He has stated today that it will still be unsafe for schools to open to a wider number of students as originally planned for Monday the 15th of June 2020.
He is reviewing the information next Monday again (so on the 15th of June 2020), so we will know if we can open to year 10's the following Monday the 22nd of June 2020.
He states that 2 of the 5 tests set out for safer, wider opening of schools have not been met in Lancashire and he is still concerned about the ‘R’ number and the lack of reduction in new daily cases.
I am sure this may be frustrating for you and the students, but I am also sure that you would want the correct advice and regulations to be followed by our school.
Below is a message from the Chief Executive of Lancashire County Council that all head teachers have just received.
Message from Edwina Grant OBE
Executive Director Education and Children’s Services
I am writing to let you know that our Director of Public Health has reviewed his guidance that schools should not welcome more pupils and has determined that it should not change.
That means Dr Sakthi Karunanithi is advising that you should continue to delay reopening to Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils, along with the scheduled plans for year 10 pupils in secondary schools. It is still the case that he believes two of the five government tests are not being met in the county.
Although the number of new cases has decreased, Lancashire and the North West has a high number of cases compared to many other regions in the country.
Similarly, although the weekly death count in Lancashire is showing a downward trend, a consistent decline is not being seen in all areas, and in recent weeks we have seen an increase. It has also been widely reported that the R value for the North West is above 1. Locally, all partners are working closely in the development of our local response to support Test and Trace.
Although some progress has been made, more work needs to be done to properly embed local expertise into the national NHS Test and Trace system.
Lancashire people have worked so hard throughout the pandemic in keeping the virus at bay. With various national lock down measures lifting, we need to remain vigilant in following social distancing rules to help prevent the infection spreading.
I am sure that once we have more information to share with you then you will be the first to know, in the meantime, we will continue with the on line learning which can be accessed via our website on https://www.oswaldtwistle.org/home-learning.
We will continue with the Key worker calls to students and staff, and any other help we can reasonably give.
Stay safe, and take care
Anne Kyle
Head Teacher