Covid Vaccinations Letter to Parents

September 2021

Dear Parents/Carers

As recently announced by the Government, all children aged 12 to 15 years are being offered a first dose of the vaccine as part of the school-based COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Like all school-based vaccination programmes, the vaccines will be administered by healthcare staff in the School Age Immunisation Service (SAIS) team, working closely with the school and following the usual approach to school-based immunisation.

Local SAIS providers have been asked to work with schools to plan for the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations for 12 to 15 year olds.

The SAIS will be the primary provider of the vaccination programme for healthy 12 to 15 year olds and will be legally responsible for the delivery of the vaccine.

The SAIS provider will be contractually responsible for the service, as they are for other school vaccination programmes.

Consent

Consent will be sought by the SAIS provider from the parent or person with parental responsibility, in the same way as for any other school vaccination programme.

A consent form and information leaflet provided by the SAIS team will be used to seek consent. A contact number for the SAIS team will also be provided in case of any queries.

Consent forms should be returned to school by the deadline agreed with the SAIS team. The consent forms will be collected from the school by the SAIS team. This process may happen electronically in some areas. SAIS teams will supply paper versions for families who cannot access the digital or email versions. All schools’ immunisation services are compliant with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Schools are not responsible for securing parental or child consent, nor for discussing any concerns about whether or not to consent. This is the role of registered nurses in the SAIS, who have extensive experience and expertise and are professionally accountable for their decisions.

Legal accountability for offering COVID-19 vaccines to children and young people sits with the SAIS and not with the school.

The role of schools, which will be familiar from other vaccination programmes, will be only:

to provide information to the SAIS provider on which children on roll are eligible for the vaccine

to share the information leaflet, consent form and invitation letter supplied by the SAIS team with parents/carers and children

to provide the space within school, and the time away from the timetable, to enable vaccinations to take place

Resources for parents and young people

Anyone wishing to find out more about the Government’s vaccination programme are directed to two of their resources that have been published: COVID-19 vaccination programme for young people: guidance for parents) and COVID-19 vaccination: resources for children and young people.

Yours faithfully

I Smith-Childs

Ian Smith-Childs

Headteacher

The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership, a charitable company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales.

Registered Office: The Arthur Terry School, Kittoe Road, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, B74 4RZ

Tel: 0121 323 1134

CEO Richard Gill CBE NPQH, NLE, FRSA

Company Number 07730920.

The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership is committed to keeping our students safe, both in school and the wider community. As part of our safeguarding arrangements, we have a two-way information sharing agreement in place with the local police authority. The agreement is compliant with Crime & Disorder Act 1998 (s.115) and Data Protection Act 1998(s.29.3; s.35.2.), and focuses on preventing young people from becoming involved or further involved in crime and anti-social behaviour as a victim or offender.

If you have any queries about the partnership policy, please contact Mrs S Bailey, ATLP Safeguarding Lead.