Coronavirus update 18th March
Thank you to all our school community for your actions and support during these difficult times. We continue to await a clear directive from central government with regards school closures. At this stage, schools are still open, however, part of our contingency planning includes for partial closures which I wanted to outline below – see Partial Closure.
Please ensure that if you need medical advice or have medical queries then these must be directed to NHS 111 or NHS online service. Our staff are amazing, however, we are not trained medical practitioners and so cannot advise on medical matters. See Signs and Symptoms of COVID-19 below.
Partial Closure
We are constantly reviewing staff and pupil absence. Please remember that if your child is being self-isolated then this must be for 14 days. If a child has been reported as self-isolating then returns to school within the 14 days the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.
As part of our staff review, we work to ensure that staff:pupil ratios are safe and effective. While we have not been directed by central government to close, it may be that we need to carry out a partial closure due to staff absence. If this should occur, we will alert parents via the website, school Twitter @PlantationPS and text message.
A partial closure means that a part of school is closed while the rest of the school remains open. This may be that a particular year group or year groups are closed and children sent home.
Any such decision is not taken lightly and would only be made in the best interests of the safety and welfare of pupils and staff.
Home Learning Packs
We have spoken about Home Learning Packs being prepared in the event of a national directive for schools to close. We are competing the copying of these packs today and will have them ready to go out to families if and when an announcement is made by central government to close schools. For those parents who already have children at home, staff will post electronic copies of the work on their Class Blogs and advertise links on the class Twitter feeds once they go out to all other children . We will print enough packs for every child. If your child is already off school then we are happy to send a pack home with a friend or relative – again, these packs will only be sent home in the event of a school closure.
Signs and Symptoms of COVID-19
The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are:
- new continuous cough and/or
- high temperature
For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild infection.
Generally, these infections can cause more severe symptoms in people with weakened immune systems, older people, and those with long-term conditions like diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease. There is no evidence that children are more affected than other age groups – and it is important to remember that very few cases have been reported in children so far.
Any queries, please call NHS 111 or access their online service https://111.nhs.uk
Residential Trips (Robinwood 1-3 April) and Conwy (29 April – 1 May)
At present both of the trips are scheduled to still take place. We have written directly to parents with children attending these trips to give you information on the steps and measures that the Centres have put in place to keep our children and staff safe during their stay. We continue to liaise with both Centres given the ever-changing national picture and will update you should the situation change.
Self-isolation
If you or a family member present with these symptoms the advice of health professionals is that the whole household is to self-isolate for 14 days. This may be a situation where just one person at home has the symptoms above, but the whole household must self isolate.
Absence reporting
If your child has the above symptoms and/or is being kept off school due to isolation measures, then this must still be reported to school via the normal channels. If it is a case of absence due to isolation, we do not require daily updates. All other circumstances for absence should follow normal routines of notification to school.
Updates and information
We will continue to provide updates on this issue through our school website and Twitter account @PlantationPS – we will not be sending letters home as information can quickly change and letters become inaccurate.
Please note that all News Flash reports are available on our News section:
https://www.plantationprimary.com/newsitems
Thank you for your continued support and your understanding in this matter. As always, please access the following websites for the most recent advice and guidance from Public Health England and GOV.UK:
https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/23/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/
And
https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response