Letter from Director of Public Health

Dear Parent/Carer,

Thank you for all you have done to help reduce the number of people catching the Coronavirus and becoming seriously ill in our local area. The good news is the number of new cases has fallen enough for your child/children to be able to return to school.

We are writing to you to ask for your help in working with us to make this return to school a success. We know that as parents you will have felt the strain of your children not being at school. You may be worried about their wellbeing, their chances to grow and develop, losing out on their friendships and fun, or about them falling behind with their learning.

The steps that we have had to take together have been hard, but have saved lives, protected the people most at risk and helped our local health and care services to care for us when we need them. The success of our local vaccination programme is providing more protection to those at risk and we are working hard to reach everyone as quickly as we can.

We are not able to relax yet, we still need to be careful and keep the levels of infection as low as possible as we take this first step and begin to get children back to school. The Health Board, the local Council, voluntary and community organisations and Public Health Wales continue to work closely together to control the spread of the Coronavirus in our local communities, but we cannot succeed without your help and that of everyone who lives in our area.

Our Head teachers and all their staff have worked very hard to make our schools as safe as possible. When your child goes back to school we need you to continue to help to control the spread of the virus by following the advice below: 

• Don’t send your child to school if they are unwell even if you are not sure if it is Coronavirus 

• Don’t send your child to school if anyone in your household has booked a Coronavirus test

• If you need to use public transport or a taxi to take your child to school please do so safely, or consider walking or cycling where possible 

• Unless you have no choice, please do not share a lift to school with other families 

• If someone who uses the school bus service develops Coronavirus, TTP and the school will work together to identify the school transport contacts and if your child is identified as a contact then they will need to self-isolate 

• When you take your child to school and collect them always keep your distance from other parents and don’t stay around to chat 

• Don’t invite other children (or their parents/carers) to your home to play or stay, even outdoors and even if they are in the same bubble at school 

• Make sure that your child washes or sanitises their hands regularly, it may help to explain to them that this helps to prevent the spread of Coronavirus 

• If your child displays symptoms of Coronavirus, they will be sent home. You will need to arrange a test for them and ensure that they follow the self- isolation guidance 

• You should continue to work at home if at all possible.

Thank you for your help in keeping the virus in check and helping us to keep schools to stay open at this time. Yours faithfully,

Dr Sarah Aitken MBBS FFPH

Executive Director of Public Health and Strategic Partnerships

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board