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Coronavirus Update

Wed 18 Mar 2020

Coronavirus Update

18.3.2020

With lots of questions and uncertainty I wanted to outline what we have been doing in school and our contingency plan in the event of any school closure in light of coronavirus (COVID-19) and the increase in the number of confirmed cases in the UK.

Our first priority is the health and wellbeing of our whole school community and I want you to know that we and our partners at the Severn Academies Educational Trust are taking every precaution and following the advice from the Department for Education (DfE) and Public Health England (PHE).

· if you live alone and you have symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), however mild, stay at home for 7 days from when your symptoms started

· if you live with others and you or another member of the household have symptoms of coronavirus, then all household members must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill. It is likely that people living within a household will infect each other or be infected already. Staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

· for anyone in the household who starts displaying symptoms, they need to stay at home for 7 days from when the symptoms appeared, regardless of what day they are on in the original 14-day isolation period.

The symptoms are:

A high temperature (37.8 degrees and above)

A new, continuous cough

I can confirm that currently we have 3 members of staff and 24 pupils self-isolating as a precautionary measure. Some families are following the advice to self isolate due to family members falling into the high risk categories. We advise that each family assesses their own circumstances but we remain open for pupils that are not displaying any symptoms listed above.

However, if we are required to close our school, we will take the necessary steps to ensure you are informed of the closure and that the effect on pupils’ education is limited with the distribution of work packs and/or links to online materials that can be used. Texts messages with direction to our school website will be sent out before Friday.

In the event that we do close the school, you will be informed via text message and advised on how long we expect the closure to last. Please check that you have provided us with your most up-to-date contact details to ensure you receive all updates and any correspondence regarding a closure. If you need to provide us with new details, please contact the school office on 01562 850268.

As a matter of course, we have been encouraging a higher level of handwashing and monitoring coughs and sneezes, ensuring all pupils follow the NHS catch it, bin it, kill it advice.

On arrival all pupils wash their hands and use the hand sanitizers we have across the school.

In addition to this, our cleaning regimes have been upgraded accordingly.

We ask that parents limit the need to enter the school and only use the office area if needed. Communication to school can be made via email office@wolverleysebright.worcs.sch.uk

Should you want to find out more information you can find links to all the latest advice and guidance on the Worcestershire County Council website at:

http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/coronavirus

In addition, the Department for Education have launched a helpline, to answer questions about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) related to education:

Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline as follows:

Phone: 0800 046 8687

Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk

Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)

As an important part of our school community, I would ask that you repeat the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ message at home and encourage thorough handwashing to help discourage the spread of infection. Also to look out for each other and support our most vulnerable at this time.

If you think your child may have been exposed to or has coronavirus, please contact the school on 01562 850268 at the earliest opportunity.

I reiterate, the latest position as being, there are no confirmed cases at Wolverley Sebright. I will continue to keep you updated on the latest advice and, to let you know if there is any change in the current situation at school.

Yours faithfully,

Shelley Reeves-Walters

Headteacher

After School Clubs

Tue 17 Mar 2020

All after school clubs from Wednesday 18th March have been cancelled until further notice. Many thanks

Coronavirus Update

Tue 17 Mar 2020

Latest Information – Please Read

New advice issued last night https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance key points:

Guidance is intended for:

People with symptoms that may be caused by coronavirus, and do not require hospital treatment, who must remain at home until they are well
Those living in households with someone who shows symptoms that may be caused by coronavirus.

The main messages are:

if you live alone and you have symptoms of coronavirus illness (COVID-19), however mild, stay at home for 7 days from when your symptoms started. (See ending isolation section for more information)

if you live with others and you or one of them have symptoms of coronavirus, then all household members must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill
it is likely that people living within a household will infect each other or be infected already. Staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community
for anyone in the household who starts displaying symptoms, they need to stay at home for 7 days from when the symptoms appeared, regardless of what day they are on in the original 14-day isolation period. (See ending isolation section for more information)
if you can, move any vulnerable individuals (such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions) out of your home, to stay with friends or family for the duration of the home isolation period
if you cannot move vulnerable people out of your home, stay away from them as much as possible
if you have coronavirus symptoms:

do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital
you do not need to contact 111 to tell them you’re staying at home
testing for coronavirus is not needed if you’re staying at home

plan ahead and ask others for help to ensure that you can successfully stay at home and consider what can be done for vulnerable people in the household
ask your employer, friends and family to help you to get the things you need to stay at home
wash your hands regularly for 20 seconds, each time using soap and water, or use hand sanitiser
if you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms at home, or your condition gets worse, or your symptoms do not get better after 7 days, then use the NHS 111 online coronavirus service. If you do not have internet access, call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999

It is clear from messages coming out over the weekend that everyone needs to work together to get through this pandemic, we all have a duty to be responsible, to react to advice and direction given as well as to support each other.

Quicksticks hockey tournament winners!

Mon 16 Mar 2020 A Churchard

Congratulations to our Yr3/4 Quicksticks team who represented our school at the Wyre Forest Sainsburys School Games tournament on Friday. They played really well and won the small schools event. They now go forward to play the level 3 competition at the Winter Olympics event held in Bromsgrove at the end of March.

Year 3 Bell boating

Mon 16 Mar 2020 A Churchard

Woodpeckers enjoyed their final session of bell boating on Friday. We paddled further than we had before and even had a go at turning the boats around which was very successful. The session became a little competitive which was great, both crews working well as a team.

Well done Woodpeckers, more sessions next year!

Coronavirus Update

Sun 15 Mar 2020

Coronavirus Update

15.3.2020

The NHS is now advising people whose symptoms include a high temperature or a continuous cough to 'stay at home' for seven days. This advice applies to us all and equally to all of our staff.

The most recent advice from the NHS stipulates that people are to stay at home for seven days if they have a ‘high temperature or a new and continuous cough’.

Where a high temperature is generally regarded to be 38C or over, the definition of a ‘continuous cough’ appears to be open to interpretation.

There are various descriptions of what is a 'continuous cough' - a repeated cough, a cough that won’t go away, a constant clearing of the throat or half a day spent coughing.

We ask that if any pupils are staying at home then school is contacted as soon as possible. Our staff will update class pages on our website and can arrange for work to be emailed home. Our package for remote learning is ready for each year group.

The advice is not to send your children to school if they are unwell, wait until they are better before sending them back to School.

I will continue to update as soon as I receive further information in regard to how we can support our families and pupils.

Government announces move from Contain to Delay phase

Fri 13 Mar 2020

Government announces move from Contain to Delay phase

Yesterday, the Government announced that we are moving from the Contain phase of the coronavirus action plan and into the Delay phase, in response to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Full details of each stage in the government action plan can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan

To support the delay of the spread of the virus, the Department for Health and Social Care has asked anyone who shows certain symptoms to stay at home for 7 days, regardless of whether they have travelled to affected areas.

This means people should stay at home and avoid all but essential contact with others for 7 days from the point of displaying mild symptoms, to slow the spread of infection.

The symptoms are:

A high temperature (37.8 degrees and above)
A new, continuous cough

You do not need to call NHS 111 to stay at home. If your symptoms worsen during your stay at home period or are no better after 7 days contact NHS 111 online at 111.nhs.uk. If you have no internet access, you should call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.

Current advice remains in place: no education or children’s social care setting should close in response to a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case unless advised to do so by Public Health England.

The Chief Medical Officer has advised that the impact of closing schools on both children’s education and on the workforce will be substantial, but the benefit to public health may not be. Decisions on future advice to schools will be taken based on the latest and best scientific evidence, which at this stage suggests children are a lower risk group.

Coronavirus Update 12th March 2020

Thu 12 Mar 2020

Coronavirus

As you can imagine the topic of Coronavirus has been a key feature at several meetings I have attended recently. At present the guidance continues to be - follow expert advice from the daily updates we receive from the Department of Education. This shapes how schools should operate and manage day to day. Information is shared with staff each day however we will also prepare for every scenario.

Daily routines include:

Staff continue to remind / model with children good hygiene rules.
Pupils are encouraged to follow the advice issued when washing hands.
Hand sanitisers are in place within school for regular use.
Maintaining clean working areas - keeping work stations and classrooms clean and tidy is the responsibility of everyone. Pupils are encouraged to look after all areas they work in.

If school closures were to take place we will plan for our children. Remote learning will be available. How that will look is under review but staff are exploring learning platforms pupils/parents can access from home. Also alternative methods and resources that pupils could take home/ use/ access in this event will be made available if the need arises.

We are currently working on an overview that we will share with pupils/parents IF enforced closures take place. This will include expectations and suggestions.

In the meantime we continue to follow all expert advice from Public Health and Departure of Education and we will continue to share with our pupils and parents any updates we receive.

If you have any questions please see me or Mrs Churchard.

Mrs Reeves-Walters