North Wales secondary school asks children to work from home due to Covid spike - North Wales Live

Summary

A North Wales secondary school has asked some children to work from home due to a rise in Covid cases. Ysgol Aberconwy is telling students to work from home for certain days this week due to illness and a lack of cover.

In a letter to parents, headteacher Ian Gerrard said the school was currently seeing the number of people unwell due to Covid-19 rising which is having an impact on staff and students at the school. As a result the school is taking additional measures to mitigate the impact of its reduced staffing levels.

A North Wales secondary school has asked some children to work from home due to a rise in Covid cases. Ysgol Aberconwy is telling students to work from home for certain days this week due to illness and a lack of cover.

In a letter to parents, headteacher Ian Gerrard said the school was currently seeing the number of people unwell due to Covid-19 rising which is having an impact on staff and students at the school. As a result the school is taking additional measures to mitigate the impact of its reduced staffing levels.

Mr Gerrard said: "As a result of the high level of staff absence due to the virus, and the lack of availability of cover staff nationally, we have taken the regrettable decision to ask some students to work from home for certain days this week. "Accordingly, at this stage, we are asking all year 9 students to stay at home on Tuesday 5th July all year 8 students to stay at home on Wednesday 6th Jul [and] all year 7 students to stay at home on Thursday 7th July.

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"All other students will continue with their learning in school unless informed otherwise, with school transport and all other provision running as normal. During the days at home indicated above, lessons will continue at the normal time over TEAMs, or if staff are unwell, work will be available as an ‘assignment’ also on TEAMs, so please encourage your child to log onto Office 365 at the normal times to collect work and interact with their teachers.

"If your child normally receives free school meals, we will arrange for the cost of school meals to be paid directly to you for any days when your child is asked not to attend." Mr Gerrard said he wanted to reassure parents that the school had exhausted all other available options and the school would make every effort to keep this, and any future, disruption to a minimum.

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Accordingly, he asked parents to support the school in this by ensuring that pupils be alert for new symptoms. The headteacher has asked that parents keep an eye out for communication from the school as they will be writing again, regarding any further disruptions.

He added: "Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience that this will cause, and be assured that we will only ask children to stay at home as a last resort. As such, please assume that your child will be in school on all other days during this week, unless you hear from us further."

It comes as Covid cases have risen sharply across Wales in recent weeks, with Wales' chief medical officer Sir Frank Atherton yesterday asking people to wear masks in crowded indoor settings. He said people should also get vaccinated, wear masks in health settings and take a lateral flow test if they have symptoms.

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