Bradford Parkside School partially closed after two members of staff catch coronavirus

Parkside School in Cullingworth sent a letter to parents explaining that two members of staff have tested positive for Covid-19.

Several other staff have also been asked to self-isolate, so there will be three year groups who are being asked not to come into school.

The school plans to reopen to all year groups from Wednesday, September 23.

The letter said: "Unfortunately, we have been informed that there has been a positive COVID-19 test from 2 members of our staff. As you may know from the national track and trace programme, people are being asked to self-isolate for 14 days if they are a contact of a person who has tested positive.

"As a result, we have a number of staff who have been asked to self-isolate. As a school, we need to have sufficient staffing to keep students safe and therefore I have had no choice but to make the decision to undertake a partial closure for some year groups.

"On Monday 14th September – Tuesday 22nd September, Y7, Y11, Y12 and Y13 should come to school as normal. Y8, 9 and 10 will need to stay at home.

"All being well, we will reopen to all year groups on Wednesday 23rd September. If we are able to, we will open to Y8 students earlier than this, depending on how things run at the beginning of next week, it is therefore essential that you keep a close eye on parent mail for further communications. During this period of time, Y11 will remain in school during lunch time and will not be permitted to go to the village, this is to ensure that we can provide adequate staffing to supervise them.

"Due to the staggered way in which students returned last week, we are confident that no students meet the ‘contact’ characteristics shown at the bottom of this letter. As a result, neither they nor you need to self-isolate or take a test. However, can I ask you please to remain vigilant to the symptoms of COVID-19 and should they arise it is essential that you then contact school (and do not send your child in if they are due in) and also arrange a COVID-19 test. The symptoms to look out for are:

A new continuous cough

A fever (high temperature over 38°C using a thermometer)

A complete loss of change of taste or smell

"When students were in school last week, one of the first things we did with them was to log them onto Microsoft Teams. This was introduced at the very end of last year as a significantly improved system of ensuring students can work remotely.

"Students will be provided with work on teams which will include opportunities to watch a video of staff explaining the learning or PowerPoints of staff narrating the work. They will also be able to upload work for feedback. During every timetabled lesson, your child’s class teacher will be available on the Microsoft Teams chat function to answer any additional questions they have."