Covid-19 Update 17th March 2020
Yesterday evening the Prime Minister announced new measures and advice to the general public in relation to Covid-19. The following advice supersedes all previous advice given and should be read carefully.
If your child is well they should attend school.
However, if they present with any symptoms;
- A high temperature and/or
- A new continuous cough
then they should remain at home in isolation for 14 days.
In addition, if there is anyone in your household with any of the above symptoms then, all members of the household should also self-isolate for 14 days regardless of whether they have symptoms themselves.
Moreover, any child who presents these symptoms at school will be isolated and parents will be called immediately.
Families who are self-isolating and therefore have children absent from school, will not face fixed penalty notices. Their absence will be recorded as ‘exceptional circumstances’ on the attendance register and not as illness.
Also, the Government advised to stop non-essential contact with others and to stop all unnecessary travel. The Prime Minister also added that ‘We need people to start working from home where they possibly can. And you should avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues.’
These are wide ranging decisions that will affect all of us in some way. As a school we are making preparations to enable learning to continue for those families that are isolated from school. As a staff we are working together to facilitate remote tutoring/educational materials for pupils to access. We will provide further information as soon as possible.
I appreciate that there will be difficult and worrying times ahead for us all. We need to all work together to keep one another safe. As a school we have lines of communication between staff and to you at home, that will remain. If you need us, while our school is still open, please do not hesitate to phone or e-mail us.
We should still follow the advice on general hygiene and measures we can take to limit and delay the virus which are to:
- wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds,
- always wash your hands when you get home or into work,
- use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available,
- cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze,
- put used tissues in the bin straight away and wash your hands afterwards,
- try to avoid close contact with people who are unwell,
- not touch your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean,
As a school we are in regular communication with Public Health England and Department for Education over measures which we as a setting can take in response to the current situation and the situation remains that there is no requirement for school to do anything other than the measures detailed above.
At times such as this, misinformation and speculation can only serve to do more than harm than good, and we are notifying you to ensure that we all comply with government restrictions. I want to be open and transparent about measures we have and will continue to take based on expert advice.
At school we have taken sensible precautions, such as;
- Ensured we have enough hand wash for all pupils.
- Taught each pupil in assembly how to wash their hands properly and I would urge parents to repeat this at home.
- Double checked our critical incident plan to ensure it is fit for purpose.
- Distributed posters around the building to raise awareness and promote good hygiene.
- Put COVID-19 on the weekly staff meeting agenda to discuss updates and any relevant actions where needed.
- Cancelled all non-urgent visitors to school and cancelled teacher/staff courses.
- Cancelled all non-essential whole school activities
The advice continues to state that school should be open for business as usual. We are taking all the precautions possible. Pupils who are well should still attend school.
We thank you for your continued support.
Mrs R Downes Mrs H Harris
Chair of Governors Head Teacher