School Update 17 March 2020 (COVID 19)
We continue to navigate the school through the views announced by the government, their expert panels and the announcements from the World Health Organisation, as we strive to keep students, staff and the community calmly informed about the implications of the Coronavirus. We hope to maintain a sense of calm purpose with a focus that keeps the school open until instructed otherwise as we believe, for healthy children and adults, schools are good places to be and, the knock-on effect of school closures on parents should not be ignored.
Parents are, however, urged to make family decisions regarding the health and possible isolation of their children and to follow the necessary advice from Public Health England regarding treatment and actions to manage ill health; all people with flu-like symptoms - a fever above 37.8° or a persistent new cough – should stay at home. A useful link to the NHS online assessment is available here.
A further guiding principle for us is that all non-essential school activities have been postponed although we still intend for the Year 9 and Year 12 internal examinations to continue as scheduled.
The most significant decision taken today is to cancel all international school trips planned for the Summer Term: (Year 12 Liege, Year 12 Serre Chevalier, Year 12 Cern and all the Year 9 European trips (Naples, Barcelona, Paris, Cologne)). This is a sensible decision to take but like so many others, it is very upsetting to deviate away from such splendid educational opportunities. This decision on international trips will take us to the end of the Summer term. We will turn our attention to other trips before the end of the week. It is our resolve that Parents will not lose out financially and we intend to reimburse parents via Parentpay as soon as we can. We will liaise directly with the travel companies and Insurers once accounts have been settled.
The staff will remain positive, maintaining a calm learning environment, and in so doing, support those who may feel the added anxieties of these times. The school is also providing additional cleaning duties around the site and following specific advice on hygiene.
I will provide a further update before the end of this week refreshing previous advice given on the Public Examination season, as provisionally outlined in the 13 March update.
For now, please take careful note of the two key points mentioned above:
- The school website will provide updates and be our core information route as we respond to government advice;
- Parents should keep their children at home if there are health concerns.
W J Oakes
17 March 2020
