You will be aware that all secondary schools are expected to host nursing teams in order to deliver the COVID-19 vaccination.

For Welling School our vaccination day is Thursday 14 October. The school will be open as normal and when students are not having their vaccination, they will be in lessons as normal. The plan is to vaccinate students one year group at a time.

I would like to confirm that Welling School staff are not directly involved in the administration of the vaccination. This is being carried out by trained medical practitioners. Our role is to provide a suitable venue which will be our Sports Hall and help supervise students.

Attached is a letter from the vaccination team. There is a link to an electronic consent form that parent/carers must fill out if they want their child to have the vaccination. On the day a child will not be able to choose to have the vaccination if their parent/carers have not given consent.

The age range for the vaccination is very strict. A child will need to be 12 years old on or before Thursday 14 October and they must still be 15 years old on Thursday 14 October. This means that if your child will be 11 or 16 they are not eligible to have their vaccination as part of this programme. Other community arrangements are in place for students who are 16 years or older. There will also be community arrangements for students that turn 12 after Thursday 14 October.

The school is not in a position to advise about the vaccination. The NHS have asked that the following information is shared with all parent/carers:

Local NHS services are running a number of online Q&A sessions for parents and carers on the Covid 19 vaccine. These Facebook or Instagram Live sessions are an opportunity to ask any questions you have and have them answered by a clinical expert.

• Monday 4 October, 6.30pm Facebook Live
• Wednesday 6 October, 6.30pm Instagram Live

Like the ‘NHS South East London CCG’ page on Facebook or follow ‘Our Healthier SEL’ on Instagram and you will be notified when the sessions start. You will also be able to watch the videos afterwards. If you don’t have a Facebook or Instagram account you should still be able to watch the sessions through the above links.

Also included with this letter are two leaflets about the COVID-19 vaccination and what to expect after the COVID-19 vaccination.

I sincerely hope that parent/carers have all the information required. Please make a note of Thursday 14 October as at the moment we have not been given another date for eligible students to have their Covid 19 vaccination.

With very best wishes,

Yours faithfully,

Mr R Pett

HEADTEACHER