URGENT RESPONSE REQUIRED REGARDING SCHOOL CLOSURES

• By markward
• 20 March, 2020
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20 March 09:00

URGENT RESPONSE REQUIRED REGARDING SCHOOL CLOSURES

Dear Parents and carers,

As you will be aware, schools, colleges and childcare settings will close today, for the foreseeable future to the majority of pupils.  At Waterside this causes us great sadness, but we understand that it is a necessary and vital step in order to ensure we limit the spread of the virus and protect the Waterside community, by limiting social contact.

Despite this, schools will remain open to a small proportion of children, should parents have no other option for childcare and we have been awaiting a list from the government as to who these might be.

We are now able to share this list with parents.  Please see below:

Health and social care

This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare

This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.

Key public services

This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies.

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).

Public safety and national security

This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.

The government does however remind parents that:

……….the most recent scientific advice on how to further limit the spread of COVID-19 is clear. If children can stay safely at home, they should, to limit the chance of the virus spreading.

That is why the government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible, and asked schools to remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend.

It is important to underline that schools, colleges and other educational establishments remain safe places for children. But the fewer children making the journey to school, and the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and infect vulnerable individuals in wider society.

I apologise for the length of this email, but felt it important that parents had all the correct information in order to help them make the important decision as to whether their child should come in to school on Monday.

If having read the above, you believe yourself to be a ‘key worker’ and you would like your child to attend school next week, then we require some quick action.

Please either phone school on 023 80 842143  or email via ParentMail or to e.moakes@waterside.hants.sch.uk by 2pm today.  This will allow me to put a skeleton staff together for Monday.

If your child is currently ill and/or in a period of self-isolation they must not return Monday, but please still inform us of your intention and of their start date.  These arrangements are for the next two weeks initially.

These are challenging times, but I am immensely proud of the children and my staff, who are working tirelessly to ensure the school is able to run smoothly.

Please ensure contact has been made by 2pm.

Many thanks,

Emma Moakes

Headteacher

Update 17 March

• By markward
• 17 March, 2020
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In the Government’s Stay at Home Guidance, the following advice is clear:

If you live with others and you or one of them have symptoms of coronavirus, then all household members must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days.

The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill.

It is likely that people living within a household will infect each other or be infected already.

Staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

We ask that you check official guidance to identify your personal circumstances and make the decisions based on that guidance.

It is clear if we all take the correct steps now we can make a difference to others.

Schools have not been instructed to close. We will do all that we can to continue to provide an education for our children. However, should staff absences become unmanageable, we would look to implement class or whole school closures. This is a last resort.

This week teachers will be preparing resources to support your child learning at home, should schools be made to close.

Further updates will follow.

New guidance for households with possible COVID-19 infection

• By markward
• 17 March, 2020
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Please see:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-guidance-for-households-with-possible-covid-19-infection

Coronavirus update17 March

• By markward
• 17 March, 2020
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Things are changing very rapidly here in the UK but we will kep parents informed by parent mail of any changes that may affect us as a school and a school community.

ADVICE FROM THE NHS

Stay at home if you have coronavirus symptoms

Stay at home if you have either:

• a high temperature – you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
• a new, continuous cough – this means you’ve started coughing repeatedly

Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.

You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you’re staying at home.

Testing for coronavirus is not needed if you’re staying at home.

For further information see:

https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response

Winning House for Summer Term

• By markward
• 16 July, 2019
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Congratulations to Water House, who were awarded the most house points over the course of the term.

All children in Water House can come to school in non-school uniform this THURSDAY as their reward.