To parents who have children with underlying health issues,

This guidance is for everyone. It advises on social distancing measures we should all be taking to reduce social interaction between people in order to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19). It is intended for use in situations where people are living in their own homes, with or without additional support from friends, family and carers. If you live in a residential care setting guidance is available.

We are advising those who are at increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) to be particularly stringent in following social distancing measures.

This group includes those who are:

• aged 70 or older (regardless of medical conditions)
• under 70 with an underlying health condition listed below (ie anyone instructed to get a flu jab as an adult each year on medical grounds):
  • chronic (long-term) respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema or bronchitis
  • chronic heart disease, such as heart failure
  • chronic kidney disease
  • chronic liver disease, such as hepatitis
  • chronic neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), a learning disability or cerebral palsy
  • diabetes
  • problems with your spleen – for example, sickle cell disease or if you have had your spleen removed
  • a weakened immune system as the result of conditions such as HIV and AIDS, or medicines such as steroid tablets or chemotherapy
  • being seriously overweight (a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or above)
• those who are pregnant

Note: there are some clinical conditions which put people at even higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. If you are in this category, next week the NHS in England will directly contact you with advice the more stringent measures you should take in order to keep yourself and others safe. For now, you should rigorously follow the social distancing advice in full, outlined below.

People falling into this group are those who may be at particular risk due to complex health problems such as:

• people who have received an organ transplant and remain on ongoing immunosuppression medication
• people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radiotherapy
• people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia who are at any stage of treatment
• people with severe chest conditions such as cystic fibrosis or severe asthma (requiring hospital admissions or courses of steroid tablets)
• people with severe diseases of body systems, such as severe kidney disease (dialysis)

Thank you for your continued support in helping us to keep everyone safe including our children, parents, staff and governors.

17^th March 2020

Dear Parents/carers

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for your calmness and patience during the unprecedented times we are in.  I would also like to wish everyone good health and peace in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Further to the Government advice that we are receiving daily, I wanted to outline the actions that we are currently taking in school

• All children have been spoken to regarding the importance of regular handwashing
• Our cleaning staff have increased the level of disinfection cleaning to include door handles, door plates and handrails
• We have adopted a no handshake policy and all visitors and staff are expected to wash their hands or use sanitizer upon arrival to the school

Government Guidance can be accessed on the link below

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

The most common symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID 19) are

• A new continuous cough and /or
• High temperature (37.8 degrees and above).

If your child has either of the above symptoms, please keep them at home and do not leave the house for 7 days from when the symptoms started.  If their symptoms worsen during this time, you should call NHS 111 for further advice or if it is a medical emergency dial 999.

If you have self-isolated your child, on our school website, we have put together a list of websites that children can access at home to ensure they do not miss too much of their education.

Access to RM Unify is particularly important as they can get onto Purple Mash and save work to their own accounts using their school login details.  Please confirm with your child that they have their login details .

Once again, thank you for your continued support and we pray for ongoing health and safety for us all.

Yours sincerely,

C Finnegan (Mrs)

Head Teacher

Please be advised, as a precautionary measure, I would like to advise you on the latest changes in school

Due to current advice, the following non-essential school events have been cancelled/postponed: -

17^th March          HSA Craft evening – Cancelled.

18^th March          Y6 Confirmation meeting in school – Cancelled.

19^th March          Y3 whole school Mass – Children/staff only, no parents/carers to attend.

19^th March          YR Special Person assembly – cancelled.

20^th March          OLSK Science Fair – children/staff only, no parents/carers to attend.

25^th March          OLSK Dance Extravaganza – children/staff only, no parents/carers to attend.  We will reschedule this event for the parents at a later date

26^th March          Y2 Mass – children/staff only, no parents/carers to attend.

30^th March          KS1 Easter Bonnet parade – children /staff only, no parent/carers to attend.        

31^st March           Birmingham Science Fair – Cancelled

2^nd April                Y6 whole school Mass – children/staff only, no parents/carers to attend.

2^nd April                KS2 Passion Play – Children/staff only – no parents/carers to attend.                       

3^rd April                If we are still open on the last week of term, please note we will be finishing earlier than planned at 1:30.

All after school clubs will finish this Friday 20^th March 2020.

Today is the last swimming lesson for Years 2 & 3 until after Easter.

YR – stay and play cancelled until further notice.

Vicky from Brownies has advised that their club on a Thursday evening has been cancelled until further notice.

There will be no Stay and Play in Hatton House for under 4’s.

DPA Music Lessons – due to underlying medical condition with the teachers, the drumming and guitar lessons have been cancelled until after Easter.

If your child is away from school due to self-isolation their absence will be recorded as ‘Unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances’. This will not reflect on their general attendance record.

Dolce has advised us that they have removed the self-service salad bar.  The catering staff are now serving these items from the servery

In light of the recent updates from the Government & Public Health tonight, we have taken the decision to cancel the following events:

HSA event tomorrow for KS1

Y6 Confirmation Meeting on Wednesday 

Special Person Afternoon for YR 

Mass on Thursday & Golden Book on Friday are closed to parents & parishioners 

We will keep you updated about any further events! Thank you for your understanding and your support, as we aim to protect everyone in our school community! 🙏😊🙏

What is the school currently doing to reduce the chances of the virus getting into school?

• We are closely monitoring the local and national picture. 
• We are liaising closely with Dudley Local Authority who are liaising with the Department for Education and Public Health England. 
• We are teaching the children best hygiene practice and would encourage you to continue to discuss hygiene with your children. 
• We have increased the cleaning on key touch points (handles, buttons, rails etc.).
• Every classroom and communal areas are already cleaned daily. 
• We continue to use tissues for each class to ensure these can be offered out if a child has a cold, and we are reminding children to sneeze or blow their nose into a tissue and to wash their hands – “catch it, bin it, kill it!” 
• We are ensuring that children wash their hands thoroughly before mealtimes and when they have gone to the toilet. 
• We are monitoring any child or staff absence and are asking about any symptoms they may have and advising accordingly. 
• We are looking at how we can adapt any activities which have an increased potential of the spreading of virus e.g. food tasting, assemblies. 
• We are continuing to monitor the risk of any external trips or visits.

What will the school do if there is a confirmed case in school?

• We will immediately contact the local authority and take advice from them, Public Health England and the guidance in place at that time from the World Health Organisation. 
• Mrs Finnegan will liaise with the Chair of Governors to discuss the advice and decide whether we feel that is sufficient. We will then make a decision as to what needs to happen. 
• We will ensure we communicate as promptly as possible and keep parents well informed (the text system will be used to communicate).