A headteacher at a secondary school in Herefordshire is currently self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19.
Dr Rob Patterson (Executive Headteacher) at Wigmore Academy Trust explained to parents in a letter that he was self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19.
The letter sent to parents said:
You may have noticed that the letter regarding Covid-19 cases sent on Monday to the High School parents was from Mrs Steer, rather than I. Unfortunately, I too came down with Covid-19 last week (despite being double vaccinated) and am currently self-isolating at home and thankfully on the mend. I’m one of a small number of staff and an increasing number of students who have tested positive for coronavirus in recent days as cases increase both at Wigmore and other schools across Herefordshire and indeed the country. This was always likely to be the case as the government relaxed restrictions for schools and for wider society last summer and our role now is to manage this situation as best we can, whilst maintaining the highest quality education possible in the interim.
Today we have exceeded the threshold for cases laid out in the government’s contingency plan in Year 8. Therefore, in addition to the measures outlined by Mrs Steer on Monday, we will require all Year 8 students to wear face coverings in lessons from tomorrow and for a period of 10 days.
Furthermore, with cases increasing across the school and community it is no longer sensible to hold an in person Open Day and Evening at the High School and so sadly this will need to be cancelled again this year. It is a huge disappointment not to have been able to properly welcome parents back into their children’s school since I took over the leadership of Wigmore School last year and I look forward to a time when we can again open our doors properly later in the academic year. Myself and Mrs Steer will again be available online to meet parents of prospective High School students on Teams so do please encourage any interested parties to contact the school and we will arrange a meeting.
Thus far we have seen very few cases at Wigmore Primary School and we are hopeful that that will remain the case. We are expecting to hear soon from the NHS details of the roll-out of the vaccination programme for children 12 and over and will update you once we know any more. I anticipate writing to you again next week to update you on the number of cases in the school and so until then can I just wish a speedy recovery to everyone affected by Covid-19 at the moment and look forward to a time when we are beyond all of this.
Yours sincerely
Dr Rob Patterson
