7 October 2021

Good afternoon,

At Roselyn House School and The RHISE Service, we know how important it is for you to be able to send your child to school.

We are continuing to take a number of measures to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus, including:

· Encouraging all staff to test regularly, to minimise the risk of our teachers giving your child or other children Covid;

· Ensuring our staff and children practice good hygiene;

· Making sure our spaces are well ventilated;

· Wearing face coverings on transport and around school where appropriate

· and; encouraging all members of our community to isolate and book a PCR test should they develop symptoms of the virus.

We are also asking all parents/carers to continue to encourage your children to test regularly and to report each result.

Up to one in three people who have COVID-19 can spread the virus without knowing. This is because they have no symptoms.

We are therefore continuing to ask you all to encourage your child to complete a LFD Home Test on Mondays and Thursdays, to help us to keep school open for your child.

This letter has gone out to all parents/carers of children at Roselyn House School and The RHISE Service asking you to regularly encourage your children to test and to report each result when your child is picked up for transport or by telephone/ email.

Your child is able to collect home test kits from their Group Lead and bring them home with them every few weeks. Please ask your child if they have received these and help them to take the test and report their results.

The tests will come with guidance in multiple languages on how to take the test. You can also see this useful video to show you how to take the test - tests usually take a few minutes to do and you get the results in 30 minutes. Then all you need to do is to report the result to school and: NHS Test and Trace: https://www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result

Financial support is available if your child tests positive and you need to self-isolate

If you are unable to work due to your child having, or displaying symptoms of, COVID-19, you may be entitled to a one-off payment of £500 through the NHS Test and Trace Support Payment scheme if you are required to stay at home and self-isolate.

You will be eligible if you live in England and meet all the following criteria:

· you have been asked to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, including by the NHS COVID-19 app

· you are employed or self-employed

· you cannot work from home and will lose income as a result

· You are claiming at least one of the following benefits:

· Universal Credit

· Working Tax Credits

· Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

· Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

· Income Support

· Pension Credit or Housing Benefit

By encouraging your child to test on Mondays and Thursdays you will help us to reduce transmission of Coronavirus, keep them in school and keep Roselyn House School and The RHISE Service fully open to minimise disruption to their education and to you and your household. It may also reduce the need for those who have mixed closely to complete PCR tests.

Please contact your child’s Group Lead or, our COVID Co-ordinator, Mrs R Smith if you have any questions or concerns about home testing.

Thank you for your support.

Miss Damerall

Headteacher

Roselyn House School/ The RHISE Service