3 November 2021

Dear Parent/Carer,

Some of you will be aware that the rates of Covid are once again rising in Leicester.

The next few days will see many of you celebrating Diwali or Bonfire Night with your family and friends. Covid restricted City events are going ahead on Belgrave Road and Abbey Park which is great news.

We hope you enjoy the celebrations but to reduce the risk of transmission we would encourage every member of your family to take an LFD test before attending an event and to wear face coverings in crowded places (both inside and out). Please do remember not to go out or have people round the house if anyone within the house has any symptoms, however minor.

We would like all primary, secondary and college age children to take an LFD test on Sunday evening before returning to school or college on Monday 8 November. This will help identify any cases that may have occurred during the festivities. Please support your child to do this test. You can get LFD kits for your primary age children at Belgrave or Highfields neighbourhood centres or Victoria Park. You can also collect kits from your local pharmacy but will need to register online to do this. Full details, including ordering kits online, can be found at: leicester.gov.uk/rapidtests. Older children can get kits from their school or college.

Keeping rates of Covid transmission as low as possible will help make sure that children can continue to attend school. You and your children can help with this by staying off school if they are unwell and getting a test if they have Covid symptoms. Secondary age students can help by doing their routine twice weekly testing and those who are age 12 and over can have their Covid vaccination. For 12 to 15year olds the vaccination teams visit the school so it’s easier for your child to get vaccinated when you give consent. You can also take your 12 to 15year old to a vaccination centre. Older young people can also go to one of the vaccination centres. Full details can be found at: leicestercityccg.nhs.uk/my-health/coronavirus-advice/coronavirusvaccine/.

The NHS is also offering all school-age children flu vaccinations. This will start to be delivered by the School Age Immunisation Service (SAIS) in our schools from next week. You will be asked to complete the SAIS consent forms. The flu vaccination can be given as a nasal spray or as an injection. Thank you for all the support you have given to the work to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in Leicester.

Yours sincerely,

Ivan Browne                                 Martin Samuels

Director of Public Health              Strategic Director Social Care 

and Sports Services                     and Education