COVID-19 - July 2022 Update
Until further notice we are asking young people, staff and volunteers to test the night before or morning of departure for their residential retreat / booking. This measure will help us to ensure that those attending are not knowingly carrying COVID 19 when they arrive and ensure we are protecting everyone. For school retreats, a full refund will be given for any individuals that cannot attend due to a positive COVID 19 test.
In the event of a young person feeling unwell or they are displaying any symptoms of COVID, permission and consent is to be sought from their parents / guardians to carry out a LFD test whilst on our premise.
It is essential that should the need arise for a young person to return home due to illness or a positive LFD test whilst on their trip arrangements have been made prior to arrival by the school / visiting group to accommodate this including the requirement for the whole party to leave before the end of their trip.
The Trust will continue to operate a procedure to review the Youth Ministry Provision with schools and churches across the Archdiocese and beyond in terms of cases of COVID-19 across the West Midlands. In particular with new variants of the virus, we are committed to keep our visiting groups, staff, and volunteers as safe as possible in these challenging times.
To protect all parties, the Trust reserves the right where data illustrates areas of concern to withdraw its Youth Ministry services. This may also mean on occasions we will be unable to welcome groups, schools, or parishes from those areas / hotspots to our residential centres in Alton. Day, residential visits, and programmes affected will be offered alternative dates at the first opportunity.
If your school or postcode/area is listed on the Government or local authority or council list or your community is invited for surge testing, or you have a rising number of cases in your MAC you need to contact us immediately if your booking is within six weeks.
We request that Schools are transparent in supplying us with numbers of positive cases and cases that are isolating within 10 days before you are due to visit.
On occasions, the Trust reserves the right to request a negative PCR tests for attendance to youth gatherings organised by KYT.
It is imperative that your staff and volunteers work with us in opening windows and doors (with exception of fire doors) to allow increased ventilation. To assist air quality, the bedrooms in our centres have air purifier systems in accordance with manufactured standards.
We are regularly reviewing information on local authority websites of our visiting groups. Our residential centres are based in North Staffordshire (ST10 4TT). We shall contact all groups and users if we become aware of local rising cases of COVID-19 in our area.
We are aware if your group cannot be accommodated it will be a huge disappointment and we sincerely apologise and will work with you to find a new date should this be necessary.
