24th February 20
Dear Parents
I write to update and reassure you about the precautions our school community is taking to guard against the Novel Coronavirus outbreak. This advice is a further update to that issued by the School on 10th February. The welfare and wellbeing of our whole school community remain our priority.
We are monitoring the situation and following the advice of Public Health England (PHE) and the NHS. The PHE website is an excellent source of reliable information and can be accessed here.
Since our last update, the government of Italy has introduced extraordinary measures that allow regions to implement civil protection measures in response to Coronavirus. This includes the isolation of 10 small towns in Lombardy and one in Veneto. The regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Piemonte and Emilia Romagna have implemented particular measures for seven days. We have been made aware today of some families that have recently returned from this region and we have subsequently needed to risk assess these cases individually.
Based on the current evidence from PHE there is no immediate cause for concern to schools in the UK. However, we are taking the following precautions to minimise risk:
In this highly dynamic situation, it is vitally important the school is made aware of any visits to and from affected areas in a reasonable time to allow us to make an assessment on a case by case basis.
A risk assessment will be undertaken on any pupil returning from a specific area affected by Coronavirus.
No pupil will be admitted to Prince’s Mead from any area affected by Coronavirus until the School has given permission and only once a risk assessment has been carried out.
Once the risk assessment has been carried out and the pupil returns, Matron will assess the child twice daily for any possible symptoms
We are accepting no pupil or visitor from China until the outbreak is contained.
All staff, particularly medical staff, have been briefed on the signs and symptoms of the Novel Coronavirus.
As the Easter break approaches our advice to those proposing to travel to any affected region specifically affected by a Coronavirus outbreak, as this is in line with the latest advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (which can be found here). Those who do may be asked to remain at home or with guardians for a period of time on their return in order to prevent the potential spread of the virus, as Prince’s Mead is not in a position to provide quarantine or isolation facilities for pupils returning from risk areas.
Please contact Mrs Mandy Oakley, our Matron (matron@princesmeadschool.org.
If you or your children have had close contact with anyone who has been in China, affected parts of Thailand and Italy or other affected areas in the past 2 weeks
If you or your children intend to travel to China, affected parts of Thailand or other areas between now and the end of the Easter holiday.
If you or your children are scheduled to have contact with anyone from the affected areas before the end of the term.
Please note, Matron is available throughout weekends and holidays via email.
The welfare and well being of our whole school community remains our priority and we will be offering support to anyone we know that has links to the affected areas during this time.
Please be reassured that we are assessing the situation for all overseas trips and will inform families of any changes that we make to these arrangements should this be the case.
Should the virus begin to spread within the UK, this guide will be updated in accordance with the Chief Medical Officers’ requirements.
We will continue to keep you informed as the situation changes.
Yours sincerely
Mr Peter Thacker
Headmaster