Further to this morning's message, here is an update from Head of School, Mr Birkbeck:

"Firstly, thank you to all parents/carers, students, and our staff for their excellent response to the difficult decision we made to partially close this morning. Understandably, a number of parents/carers and students have expressed concern about the level of staff absence. I can confirm that no Westfield staff or students have a confirmed cases of COVID 19, and that the levels of staff absence we are experiencing are as a consequence of yesterday's updated government advice which asked people in certain vulnerable groups, and people whose family members were exhibiting symptoms associated with Coronavirus, to self-isolate.

Having analysed the staff absences we have today, we now know that our staffing levels will not improve over the remainder of this week. We will therefore remain closed to students in Year 8 and Year 9 for the rest of this week. We will then review the situation. We will be contacting the parents/carers of Year 8 and 9 students who receive free school meals to inform them of arrangements for their children to still access this service whilst the school is closed to these year groups. 

Our teachers will be using the Homelearning function of the Weduc App to set work for students not in school. 

School will remain open to students in years 7, 10 and 11. 

Thank you once again for your understanding and support at this difficult time."