Dear Parents/Carers,

Please read this to update yourselves on the current position of the DfE and Public Health England who are the two agencies whose advice we take in managing the response to the Covid 19 Coronavirus outbreak. We have updated our advice to you with the Government agency advice as of 12th March 2020, the most recent advice.

The government has moved onto the 'delay' phase of its plan to tackle coronavirus. The immediate implications for schools are:

• School Trips: Schools are now being advised not to go ahead with international trips for pupils
• Self-isolation measures: Anyone with a new persistent cough or high temperature is now advised to self-isolate for 7 days contacting NHS 111 Online and dialling 111

There have been no changes to the following:

• School Closures: As part of their official guidance, the DfE is still advising schools to stay open, unless our local health protection team advises us to close
• Affected Countries: No further updates to the government’s list of category 1 and category 2 countries and areas today
• Exams: Ofqual is still saying we should prepare for summer exams as usual
• Inspections: Ofsted has said it is carrying on with inspections as normal but will take our circumstances into account

Here is more detailed advice which is helpful for you to read to address specific concerns you have.

Our Facilities Management and cleaning teams have responded very well, putting in place their hygiene routines and following their management and Public Health England advice.

We have not been instructed to close schools, but if we are instructed to close individual schools or schools universally we will let you know formally our arrangements to provide education remotely.

• We will advise people of the need to close schools through the usual means, ParentMail, email and our website.

Communication with Children

• We will continue to use posters, Tutorial and teaching sessions to communicate our advice to pupils
• We know the most important advice to keep pupils safe is hygiene advice
• Pupils are responding well and cooperating, taking extra care with their personal hygiene

Events in Schools and Local Visits

• We will not organise any new trips or visits
• We have increased the cleaning routines for all sites and take advice before proceeding with any calendared event
• We will continue to run events in schools as they are calendared taking advice for each eventuality
• We apologise in advance if the advice changes and we have to make cancellation decisions at a late stage
• In line with current hygiene advice, we will not shake hands or use physical greetings
• We will continue to run trips and visits next week, taking advice as part of the usual process of  risk assessment for each trip, that is till Friday 20th March.
• We have cancelled all tips and visits after 20^th March

Planned Trips Abroad

• We have postponed all trips abroad in line with our insurance liabilities
• We will get in touch with our travel insurance provider on your behalf

Examinations

• Our examination contingency plans continues to follow the advice from Ofqual
• For now, Ofqual says we should prepare for summer exams as usual, but will update its guidance if there are any specific arrangements we should put in place

We will continue to use the Website and ParentMail to communicate with parents. We know that 98% of all parents have access to ParentMail or the APP. We have arrangements to contact parents if we know they do not have access to ParentMail.

The Department for Education (DfE) has set up a coronavirus helpline: 0800 046 8687. It should be able to answer any further questions you might have.

The Schools and the Federation have business continuity plans which we are working through. These plans deal with all the eventualities that flow from a global pandemic alert such as this.

Please use this link to follow the latest public health guidance:

• Coronavirus (COVID-19): what you need to do (gov.uk)

We do not wish to cause any unnecessary concerns in sending this communication.

We are monitoring any developments to the situation and will provide updates regularly.