Coronovirus - update 2 (12 March 2020)
Today, the government has published guidance to self-isolate for people with confirmed or possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection.
The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of a continuous cough and/or high temperature.
If you have symptoms of coronavirus infection (COVID-19), however mild, stay at home and do not leave your house for 7 days from when your symptoms started.
If your child displays these symptoms at home, please do not send him/her to school. Equally, if we notice your child is displaying these symptoms, we will ask you to collect your child from school – they wouldn’t be well enough to be in school, and may spread the virus.
We’ll continue to follow the government advice and update you.
Coronovirus - update (12 March 2020)
We’re all aware of current concerns about coronavirus. We believe the right actions to take as a school are those that match the government’s advice based on scientific and medical evidence. We will continue to follow this. You’ll be aware that we’ve been communicating with you frequently about this. The Department for Education emails daily to schools with any new advice or other updates. Today’s email is below, in full.
This is your daily email to keep you updated on the government’s response to COVID-19 (coronavirus).
Government coronavirus action plan
The government coronavirus action plan sets out what the UK has done to tackle coronavirus (COVID-19), and what we plan to do next.
The situation is constantly reviewed and action informed by expert science and advice, guided by the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Adviser.
The action plan can be found here.
Action plan recap
The action plan sets out a four-phased approach in response to coronavirus – Contain, Delay, Mitigate, and Research, based on the latest scientific evidence.
The current emphasis is on the Contain and Research phases, however planning for Delay and Mitigation is already in train.
As part of the Contain phase, we have been providing advice to educational settings in England. We also launched a DfE helpline to manage the flow of increasing queries, from providers parents and young people.
How to wash your hands properly
Wash your hands more often for 20 seconds with soap and hot water.
Watch this short NHS film for guidance.
Teach young children how to wash their hands with the NHS handwashing song.
Public Health England recommends that in addition to handwashing before eating, and after coughing and sneezing, everyone should also wash hands after using toilets and travelling on public transport.
Department for Education coronavirus helpline
The Department for Education coronavirus helpline is available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline as follows:
- Phone: 0800 046 8687
- Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)
Please note, we are currently experiencing high volumes of calls and apologise for any wait that you may experience. Your call will join a queue and we will answer as soon as possible.
If you work in a school, please have your unique reference number (URN or UKPRN) available when calling the helpline.
Where to find the latest information
- Updates on COVID-19
- Guidance for educational settings
- Guidance for social or community care and residential settings
- Travel advice for those travelling and living overseas
Educational resources
- https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/101-coronavirus-/resources
- https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/schools
Latest Department for Education information
Finally, to reassure you, it’s worth remembering this, from the World Health Organization: ‘Illness due to COVID-19 infection is generally mild, especially for children and young adults.’
Collective Worship
On Wednesday, Year 3 and 4 led our collective worship based around our Christian value of Forgiveness.
They opened collective worship with our welcome to worship “God is with us” as we lit the candle.
We heard a story about Omar and Freddie. Omar accidentally broke Freddie’s airplane. Poor Freddie was sad so he purposely kicked Omar’s football into the road and it got run over by a lorry. The boys fell out but missed spending time with each other so eventually forgave each other.
Year 3 and 4 taught us that forgiving helps friends to be friendly again and forgiving others makes us happier.
We closed collective worship with a song chosen by year 3 and 4, saying the Lord’s prayer and our blessing.
Coronavirus - update
We’re closely following the advice coming from the Department for Education about coronavirus.
They’ve set up a helpline to answer questions about COVID-19 related to education – we’ve called the helpline a couple of times and been reassured that what we’re doing in school matches their advice. You can contact the helpline, too:
- Phone: 0800 046 8687
- Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
- Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)
The advice remains that no school should close in response to a suspected (or confirmed) COVID-19 case unless directed to do so by Public Health England. This would only be the case if a child or staff member tested positive to the virus. (If a parent were to test positive, we’d ask the child to stay at home to self-isolate. This is the advice from the government.)
The government is not advising schools to cancel or postpone any events, whether this be swimming sessions, school trips, concerts or PTA events. As before, we’ll continue to follow government advice.
Everyone knows that personal hygiene is the most important way we can tackle COVID-19. We’ve done lots in school to promote this message – please do the same at home. For example, make sure your child coughs or sneezes into a tissue, or into their elbow sleeve (the ‘vampire method’, which we’ve promoted for many years).
Training days, 2020-21
We know many of you like to plan well in advance and that sorting out our school dates helps with this.
The training days for 2020-21 are all confirmed:
- Friday 23 October
- Monday 04 January
- Friday 14 May (This is the day after the Year 6 SATs – a welcome day off to celebrate their hard work!)
- Monday 26 July
- Tuesday 27 July
Open sessions
Our school is proud of the open sessions we have throughout the year that allow you to learn more about how to support your child. We want to continue with these as much as we can, whilst also paying due regard to government advice about coronavirus.
If there are sessions scheduled, please assume these are still happening. This includes and open session such as a Relax and Read or Stay and Play session in Early Years.
If you have any symptoms of the virus, you should not attend.
If you’ve been advised to self-isolate, you should not attend.
Obviously, it’s always your choice as to whether you attend these sorts of events. If you do attend, all we ask is that you follow as much of the advice about good hygiene as you can: wash your hands if this is available (come in early to do this), or use a hand sanitiser; also, make sure you cough or sneeze into a tissue.
More information from the NHS about the virus, including its symptoms, can be found here:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
How many children have been asked to change or undress in a video chat?
You might be surprised and concerned to read it’s almost 1 in 10 children.
A survey of 40,000 children found that nearly 1 in 10 pupils who video chat with people they haven’t met have been asked to change or undress, and more than 1 in 20 pupils who livestream have been asked to change or undress.
Parents and professionals are often aware of issues around teens being coerced or tricked into getting undressed or revealing themselves online. (Read more about this.)
However, what do we need to say to the youngest pupils, and why?
For young primary pupils, check out this video, song and poster to help communicate the message of never getting undressed in front of a phone, iPad or computer.
A common tactic of sexual predators is to trick young children into getting changed or undressed on camera by playing a ‘game’ or issuing a ‘challenge’, for example, to see how fast they can get changed into different clothes or into a swimming costume. This might happen over video chat or a livestreaming app; videos are often taken and then circulated. Children often don’t even know this has happened.
Research has shown that 98% of publicly available livestreamed child sexual abuse images involved children aged 13 and under; 28% were aged 10 and under.
World Book Day 2020
This week, we’ve been celebrating World Book Day by sharing stories for ten minutes each day. Yesterday, lots of children brought in their favourite book to share with the class. Foundation had a great time dressing up as a favourite book character, whilst KS1 and KS2 visited Scholes Primary School to watch a Hobgoblin performance of Wind in the Willows.
Sports Relief
Sports Relief is on Friday 13 March 2020. To recognise this, each class will be taking part in a sporting challenge.
Foundation: dance challenge
Y1-4: skipping challenge
Y5/6: netball shooting challenge
Children are invited to come to school in a sports kit. Voluntary donations for Sports Relief are welcomed.
Reading for pleasure, for life
Today is World Book Day – it’s a great time to celebrate the powers of reading. We all agree that reading is important, but do you realise just how many great benefits regular reading for pleasure has?
The Reading Agency outlines the powerful impact reading can have for your child, for you and for society.
The benefits of reading for pleasure for your child (and you!):
- Reading for pleasure is more important for children’s cognitive development – their brain power – than their parents’ level of education.
- Reading for pleasure is a more powerful factor in life achievement than socio-economic background.
- 16-year-olds who choose to read books for pleasure outside of school are more likely to secure managerial or professional jobs in later life.
- Having books in the home is associated with both reading enjoyment and confidence. Of children who report having fewer than 10 books in their homes, 42% say they do not like reading and only 32% say they are ‘very confident’ readers. For children who report having over 200 books at home, only 12% say they do not like reading and 73% consider themselves ‘very confident’ readers.
- Children who read books often at age 10, and more than once a week at age 16, gain higher results in maths, vocabulary and spelling tests at age 16 than those who read less regularly.
- Reading extensively and for pleasure at home can increase literacy skills at a greater rate than through formal lessons at school.
- Incomes are higher in countries where more adults reach the highest levels of literacy proficiency and fewer adults are at the lowest levels of literacy.
- An online poll reveals that regular readers for pleasure report fewer feelings of stress and depression than non-readers, and stronger feelings of relaxation from reading than from watching television or engaging with technology intensive activities.
- Studies have shown that those who read for pleasure have higher levels of self-esteem and a greater ability to cope with difficult situations.
- Reading for pleasure is associated with better sleeping patterns.
- Adults who read for just 30 minutes a week are 20% more likely to report greater life satisfaction.
We’re often asked how you can support your child more at home. We think one of the best ways to help is to make sure you build into the daily routine some time for reading. For many families, this is a bedtime story every night just before lights out.
Happy reading!