This Academic Year 2021-22

The Secretary of State for Health has issued new Covid guidance, which applies from 1st April 2022:

• adults with the symptoms of a respiratory infection, and who have a high temperature or feel unwell, should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until they feel well enough to resume normal activities and they no longer have a high temperature
• children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with other people. They can go back to school, college or childcare when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough to attend
• adults with a positive COVID-19 test result should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days, which is when they are most infectious. For children and young people aged 18 and under, the advice will be 3 days

Last Academic Year 2020-21

What to do if anyone in your household has Covid-19 symptoms - a persistent cough, a temperature or a change or loss of the sense of smell and taste.

• The adult or child with symptoms should get a test. This can be booked here: https://self-referral.test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/antigen/name or by calling 119 if you don't have internet access.
• Talk to us at school if you are having difficulty booking or attending a test as we may be able to help you.
• The adult or child with symptoms should isolate for 10 days from the start of the symptoms. They may then return to school or work if they are well.
• Let us know at school as soon as you start isolating and as soon as you get the test results.
• The others in the household should isolate for 14 days from when the person with symptoms.
• If anyone isolating develops symptoms during the 14 day period, they should get tested and isolate for a further 10 days from the start of the symptoms,regardless of where they were in their 14 day isolation period.
• Let us know at school straight away if anyone else tests positive.

 

Children aged under three years of age should not wear face coverings or masks

·       Wearing face coverings/masks is not compulsory in any public setting for children aged 3-11

·       We advise adults and children over the age of 11 years to wear face masks in enclosed public spaces where it is difficult to socially distance. This may help prevent transmission of virus to someone else if you are infected but do not yet have symptoms

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staying-safe-outside-your-home/staying-safe-outside-your-home#face-coverings

 

Update  23rd March 2020

The single most important action we can all take, in fighting coronavirus, is to stay at home in order to protect the NHS and save lives.

As from Monday 23^rd March there are 75 cases of confirmed Coronavirus Cases in Derbyshire, 82 cases in Sheffield, 41 cases in Staffordshire and 60 cases in Nottinghamshire.  These are cases that are so severe that the patient has been admitted to hospital.  There will be many more cases where people experience milder symptoms, who are not admitted to hospital.  To reduce the spread of this virus we must ALL follow the guidelines below.  The sooner this virus is under control the sooner schools can open.

 

When we reduce our day-to-day contact with other people, we will reduce the spread of the infection. That is why the government is now (23 March 2020) introducing three new measures.

1. Requiring people to stay at home, except for very limited purposes

2. Closing non-essential shops and community spaces

3. Stopping all gatherings of more than two people in public

Every citizen must comply with these new measures. The relevant authorities, including the police, will be given the powers to enforce them – including through fines and dispersing gatherings.

These measures are effective immediately. The Government will look again at these measures in three weeks, and relax them if the evidence shows this is possible.

 

1. STAYING AT HOME

You should only leave the house for one of four reasons.

● Shopping for basic necessities, for example food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as

possible.

● One form of exercise a day, for example a run, walk, or cycle - alone or with members of your

household.

● Any medical need, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person.

1

● Travelling to and from work, but only where this absolutely cannot be done from home.

These four reasons are exceptions - even when doing these activities, you should be minimising time spent outside of the home and ensuring you are 2 metres apart from anyone outside of your household.

These measures must be followed by everyone. Separate advice is available for individuals or households who are isolating, and for the most vulnerable who need to be shielded.

If you work in a critical sector outlined in this guidance, or your child has been identified as vulnerable, you can continue to take your children to school.

2. CLOSING NON-ESSENTIAL SHOPS AND PUBLIC SPACES

Last week, the Government ordered certain businesses - including pubs, cinemas and theatres - to close.

The Government is now extending this requirement to a further set of businesses and other venues,

including:

● all non-essential retail stores - this will include clothing and electronics stores; hair, beauty and nail

salons; and outdoor and indoor markets, excluding food markets.

1 Where applicable, this includes moving children under 18 between their parents’ homes.

● libraries, community centres, and youth centres.

● indoor and outdoor leisure facilities such as bowling alleys, arcades and soft play facilities.

● communal places within parks, such as playgrounds, sports courts and outdoor gyms.

● places of worship, except for funerals attended by immediate families.

● hotels, hostels, bed and breakfasts, campsites, caravan parks, and boarding houses for commercial/leisure use (excluding permanent residents and key workers).

More detailed information can be found here, including a full list of those businesses and other venues that must close. Businesses and other venues not on this list may remain open.

 

3. STOPPING PUBLIC GATHERINGS

To make sure people are staying at home and apart from each other, the Government is also stopping all public gatherings of more than two people.

There are only two exceptions to this rule:

● where the gathering is of a group of people who live together - this means that a parent can, for

example, take their children to the shops if there is no option to leave them at home.

● where the gathering is essential for work purposes - but workers should be trying to minimise all meetings and other gatherings in the workplace.

In addition, the Government is stopping social events, including weddings, baptisms and other religious ceremonies. This will exclude funerals, which can be attended by immediate family.

The Government will therefore be ensuring the police and other relevant authorities have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings where people do not comply.

They will initially last for the three weeks from 23 March, at which point the Government will look at them again and relax them if the evidence shows this is possible.

School Closure

I am sure that you have all heard the announcement yesterday from the Education Secretary and I’m now writing to let you know that we have been instructed to close the school to almost all children after this Friday until further notice.

As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers (e.g. NHS staff, police, others in frontline services) and children with certain needs.

We are waiting for the government to publish more information on what this means, but it would help us in the meantime if you could let us know if you think your child may fall into one of these categories. Please call the office or email us –info@woodbridge.derbyshire.sch.uk We’ll be in touch again as soon as we are sure who this does apply to.

All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday onwards.

Please note that this is a national closure – as you may have heard in the news – so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We’ll re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this is by our usual App message.

What we’ll continue doing while your child is at home

There will be daily home learning on your child’s class page on the website in a folder called ‘Home Learning’. It is important that your child stays in routine and completes this work every day. Further details are in a separate letter and on the website in the Coronavirus tab of the Parents Menu.

 

If your child usually receives free school meals we will also be in touch with more information about how we will continue to provide this, with support from a scheme that the government has just announced.

This is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience with as we deal with this ever-changing situation. We understand that this latest news will have an impact on you and your family and it’s far from ideal, but we’ll continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops.

What to do if someone in your family becomes ill.

The latest Government advice issued on 16th March 2020 is that anyone who has a new and persistent cough or a temperature should self-isolate at home for fourteen days. All family members of the affected person should also self-isolate for fourteen days.

The following advice is from the Derbyshire website:

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.

If anyone's symptoms become so bad that they can not sit and watch television or carry out any normal activities, you should call 111.

If after 7 days they are not showing any signs of improvement, and you  have not already sought medical advice, you should contact NHS 111.

In addition, the government has asked that everyone stop non-essential contact with others and to stop all unnecessary travel. In addition we should avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues.The advice about avoiding all unnecessary social contact, is particularly important for people over 70, for pregnant women and for those with some health conditions.

It goes without saying, we should all only use the NHS when we really need to. And please go online rather than ringing NHS 111.

 

DfE COVID-19 (Coronavirus) helpline

The Department for Education has launched a new helpline to answer questions about COVID-19 related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline as follows:
Phone: 0800 046 8687
Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)

 

There is soap in all the children's wash basins at school and they will be reminded to use it and to wash their hands carefully at regular times. Hand gel is also available in every corridor.

Teach your children to catch their coughs and sneezes in a tissue, put it in the bin straight away and was their hands immediately with soap or hand gel if they are not near a sink. Teach them to sneeze into their elbow if they don't have a tissue rather than their hands. The virus will not live as long on soft surfaces.

All frequently touched surfaces are being cleaned half way through the school day and extra cleaning hours are taking place at the end of the day.

Financial support for people affected by COVID-19 

Information taken from the website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/support-for-those-affected-by-covid-19/support-for-those-affected-by-covid-19

 

• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) will now be available for eligible individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 or those who are unable to work because they are self-isolating in line with Government advice. This is in addition to the change announced by the Prime Minister that SSP will be payable from day 1 instead of day 4 for affected individuals.
• People who are advised to self-isolate for COVID-19 will soon be able to obtain an alternative to the fit note to cover this by contacting NHS 111, rather than visiting a doctor. This can be used by employees where their employers require evidence. Further details will be confirmed shortly.

• Those who are not eligible for SSP, for example the self-employed or people earning below the Lower Earnings Limit of £118 per week, can now more easily make a claim for Universal Credit or Contributory Employment and Support Allowance:

  • for the duration of the outbreak, the requirements of the Universal Credit Minimum Income Floor will be temporarily relaxed for those who have COVID-19 or are self-isolating according to government advice, ensuring self-employed claimants will receive support
  • people will be able to claim Universal Credit and access advance payments upfront without the current requirement to attend a jobcentre if they are advised to self-isolate
  • contributory Employment and Support Allowance will be payable, at a rate of £73.10 a week if you are over 25, for eligible people affected by COVID-19 or self-isolating in line with advice from Day 1 of sickness, rather than Day 8.

The government has announced a new £500 million Hardship Fund so Local Authorities can support economically vulnerable people and households. The government expects most of this funding to be used to provide more council tax relief, either through existing Local Council Tax Support schemes, or through similar measures. MHCLG will set out more detail on this funding, including allocations, shortly.