School Letter Information regarding Corona Virus

12/02/2020

Corona virus

Dear Parents/carers, staff and pupils,

We are writing to update and reassure you about the precautions we are taking, in light of the highly publicised Corona Virus.

Our academy, along with all others in the Cabot Learning Federation, are following the advice from Public Health England.

• Your child(ren) should attend school as normal.

– Unless you have recently returned from Wuhan or Hubei Province or you have returned from elsewhere in china and have symptoms. If so please see advise under Travel below.

• Follow normal hygiene rules

– Wash hands properly and regularly

– “Catch it, Bin it, kill it” – Coughing and/or sneezing into a tissues before throwing it away and washing hands.

– We continue to promote this through assemblies, classroom teachers and posters.

• We continue to ensure good cleaning practices

• We are committed to keeping staff, pupils and parents/carers updated with advice from government.

We continue to monitor the situation and will keep everyone informed if there is any changes in advice. Please be assured that there is no immediate cause for concern and your child is safe to attend school as usual.

Travel

We recognise that some families or children may be planning to travel to China during the forthcoming holiday period. If so, please refer to the Foreign Office’s latest travel advice

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice

If pupils travel back from mainland China the current advice as at 11/02/2020 is:

• If arriving from Wuhan or Hubei Province that you stay at home for 14 days and self-isolate.Contact 111 should you have any symptoms and follow their advice. Please advise the academy as soon as possible.

• Arriving from elsewhere in China and you have symptoms; avoid public places, and contact 111. Please advise the academy as soon as possible.

• Arriving from elsewhere in China and you are symptom-free and remain symptom-free- no further action.

This advice can be found

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-information-forthe-public

Racist behaviours

This week, Local Authorities, along with Avon and Somerset Constabulary, have been notified that pupils of Chinese heritage have been shunned, bullied and subject to peer on peer harm. BBC radio also reported incidents of racism relating to school children that led to isolation and distress to them and their families.

Every major disease outbreak brings with it an accompanying element of fear and alarm. When links are made to particular groups or communities, there is potential for racist sentiment to build in our schools and settings. Please support us by challenging such behaviours if they emerge at home. We take a zero tolerance approach to any racist incidents and we continue to monitor this closely.

I can reassure you that we are not aware of any incidents in the academy however if you have any concerns please contact the academy.

I have included further background information and links to government and world health websites below.

Yours faithfully
Jon Angell,
Principal, City Academy

Background and latest advice

A new infection has been detected in Wuhan, China, a new strain of coronavirus. As a group, coronaviruses are common across the world. Typical symptoms of coronavirus include fever and a cough that may progress to a severe pneumonia causing shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

Based on the World Health Organization’s declaration that this is a public health emergency of international concern, the UK Chief Medical Officers have raised the risk to the public from low to moderate. This permits the government to plan for all eventualities. The risk to individuals in the UK has not changed at this stage.

Furthermore, In order to introduce and strengthen legal powers to keep individuals in isolation where required corona virus has been declared as an imminent threat to public health. As of the 11th February there are 8 persons in the UK identified and confirmed as having the virus, and several persons under quarantine after returning on government organised evacuation flights from Wuhan.

All advice at this time is precautionary and based around standard hygiene practices at this time of year.

We ask parents and staff to make the principal aware, if any families have travelled to or from or had relatives/ friends visiting them recently from China, particularly the Hubei province, and the city of Wuhan.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

World Health Organisation, within here you will find a useful section of frequently asked questions and myth busters around the corona virus.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-information-for-the-public

Public Health England.