Dear Families,

The Government has announced that we are moving out of the contain phase and into delay, in response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

The advice regarding schools at this stage is that they should remain open until advised otherwise by the Government. We therefore intend to remain open as normal, albeit with increased alertness to the basic steps we can take to help ourselves.

As per the current advice, the most important thing individuals can do to protect themselves remains washing their hands more often, for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water. Make sure you cough or sneeze into a tissue, put it in a bin and wash your hands.

The Government is asking anyone who shows certain symptoms to self-isolate for 7 days, regardless of whether they have travelled to affected areas. This means they advise people to stay at home and avoid all but essential contact with others for 7 days from the point of displaying mild symptoms, to slow the spread of infection.

The symptoms are:

• A high temperature (37.8 degrees and above)
• A new, continuous cough

You do not need to call NHS 111 to go into self-isolation. If your symptoms worsen during home isolation or are no better after 7 days, please contact NHS 111 online at 111.nhs.uk. If you have no internet access, you should call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.

If your child displays any symptoms as described above please keep them at home for 7 days. On the first day of absence please contact the school on 01625 610220.

The latest Government guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response

As a school we continue to follow all advice from the Department of Education and Public Health England. The advice is updated daily and we are actively monitoring this for any developments. At the time of writing, we have no recorded incidents of Covid-19 within our school.

Please be assured that we also have detailed planning in place in the event school closures are announced over the coming weeks. We are working on systems to allow students to complete work at home and in the event of any school closure announcements we will contact you by email, update our website and provide further details of work for students to complete.

We are aware that students who are preparing for examinations this Summer will be concerned about any changes. As things stand Ofqual (The Exams Regulator) are advising all candidates to prepare as normal but Headteachers are asking for urgent clarification see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-51835486.  I will of course pass on any additional information about examinations as soon as I receive it

I am conscious that some children may be alarmed by the situation that continues to develop. Please do reassure your child that we are taking all necessary steps within school and should they have any particular concerns or worries, they should approach their Year Teams in the first instance.

Should you have any further concerns on this issue please do email me at ebotwe@tytheringtonschool.co.uk

Many thanks for your help and understanding during these exceptional circumstances.

Kind regards
Mr Botwe
Headteacher