17th March 2020

Coronavirus – Change to Government Advice

Dear Parents/Carers,

As you are aware the Coronavirus situation is rapidly changing and the government are giving additional advice every day. The latest Government Advice is as follows:

Pupils must stay at home if they have either:

     A high temperature – they feel hot to touch on their chest or back

     A new, continuous cough – this means they have started coughing repeatedly

     You do not need to contact 111 to tell them they are staying at home, but you must keep                them at home for 7 days

     If anyone you live with has either of these symptoms, the entire household should stay at              home for 14 days from the day the first person got symptoms

     If you live with someone who is 70 or over, has a long-term condition, is pregnant or has a            weakened immune system, try to find somewhere else for them to stay for 14 days

     If you have to stay at home together, try to keep away from each other as much as possible.

The Government has pointed out that some people may be more vulnerable than others and may be at an increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus due to underlying health conditions. The government advises that these people should be particularly stringent in following social distancing. These underlying conditions are listed at the end of this letter. If your child has one of these underlying health conditions please consider this advice.

Please be aware there are no confirmed cases of Coronavirus in our school, but that these stronger selfisolation and social distancing arrangements present increased challenges in staffing the school effectively. Whilst there are no current plans to close, if it became operationally impossible to provide appropriate staffing levels then this is something that may happen, with the support of the Local Authority.

Please contact the school in the usual way to report your child’s absence and the reason for this. Thank you for your continued support.

With regards

Mrs A Hall

Headteacher

From Guidance on social distancing for everyone in the UK: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerablepeople/guidance-on-social-distancing-for-everyone-in-the-uk-and-protecting-older-people-and-vulnerableadults

We are advising those who are at increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) to be particularly stringent in following social distancing measures. This group includes those who are:

     aged 70 or older (regardless of medical conditions)

     under 70 with an underlying health condition listed below (ie anyone instructed to get a flu              jab as an adult each year on medical grounds):

         chronic (long-term) respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary                disease (COPD), emphysema or bronchitis

         chronic heart disease, such as heart failure

         chronic kidney disease

         chronic liver disease, such as hepatitis

         chronic neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease,                    multiple sclerosis (MS), a learning disability or cerebral palsy

         diabetes

         problems with your spleen – for example, sickle cell disease or if you have had your                      spleen removed

         a weakened immune system as the result of conditions such as HIV and AIDS, or                          medicines such as steroid tablets or chemotherapy

         being seriously overweight (a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or above)

         those who are pregnant

Note: there are some clinical conditions which put people at even higher risk of severe illness from COVID19. If you are in this category, next week the NHS in England will directly contact you with advice the more stringent measures you should take in order to keep yourself and others safe. For now, you should rigorously follow the social distancing advice in full, outlined below.

People falling into this group are those who may be at particular risk due to complex health problems such as:

     people who have received an organ transplant and remain on ongoing immunosuppression          medication

     people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radiotherapy

     people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia who are at any stage            of treatment

     people with severe chest conditions such as cystic fibrosis or severe asthma (requiring                  hospital admissions or courses of steroid tablets)

     people with severe diseases of body systems, such as severe kidney disease (dialysis)