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Face Masks - Update

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Dear UCC families

The government announced yesterday that face masks are no longer recommended in classrooms across schools in England. Since the start of January our expectation has been that all students should be wearing them in classrooms unless medically exempt. This has had an impact and we have experienced far lower numbers of Covid cases since these expectations were introduced. However, as a result of the changing guidance, from today our approach will alter slightly, as detailed below:

  • We strongly recommend face masks are worn in classrooms to continue protecting the school community. However, we will now not directly challenge students if they do not wear them.
  • We still expect face masks to be worn in communal areas (dining room whilst not eating), corridors, and when moving between lessons, as this is still the government recommendation.
  • Face masks must be worn on school and public buses.

Unlike many schools, we have not yet had to send year groups home because of staff shortages, and if we are to continue providing face to face education for all year groups, we must maintain a strong level of protection for the staff in school. Today we have 7 teachers absent for Covid related issues, which is a total of 35 lessons to cover; we have ensured all of these lessons are being delivered by a qualified teacher or one of our cover supervisors, but our capacity is very stretched. Therefore, whilst the recommendation for face masks to be worn in classrooms has been removed from today, we are asking for support from our students to continue wearing them so that their education can continue uninterrupted and at a high standard. 

Yours faithfully 
Mr B Solly