Update - COVID-19

18th March 2020

Update – COVID -19

As you are probably aware, the government’s guidance on the coronavirus has changed from the ‘contain’ phase to one of delaying the spread of the virus.

We would like to reassure you that at St Wilfrid’s we are taking all of the necessary steps to protect our community and are continuing to follow official guidance from Public Health England and the government. We will use this information to update the information on our website.

Further directive from the government is that schools should remain open. This is something that we are striving to do but please be aware that should staff levels drop (due to isolation of households) making it unsafe for the children, then school may have to close for some classes or the whole school. I must stress this is the worst-case scenario.

The latest key measures from the government as of 16/03/2020 is the following

If you or anyone living in your home has any of the following symptoms -

A new persistent cough and/or

A high temperature

Then all people living there must remain at home for 14 days (self-isolate)

If your child is unwell or is self-isolating, report this as you would normally by phoning the school office

We would like to tell you that

Parents’ Evening will be postponed until further notice.

We are cancelling swimming for the remainder of this term.

We will continue with after school clubs this week and review this next week.

Arrangements for Mass are being reviewed.

In order to provide additional support

We continue to remind all children about handwashing and as soon as they come in, they are washing their hands.

All visitors and staff, if entering the building, are required to wash their hands.

‘Touch’ points such as handles, rails and tables are being cleaned thoroughly.

We continue to make preparations for continual education of the children if the schools are directed to close.

What we need you to do

If you have recently changed your contact details, please inform the school office as soon as possiblevia email or telephone.

Come and collect your child straight away, if we ask you to (we will contact you if they become ill with either a temperature or a new, persistent cough).

Check that your child has access to eSchools from home, and let us know if there are any issues (so we can make sure we are well prepared for remote learning if the school does need to close at some point)

As you are aware, the directives are issued daily and changes can occur rapidly, but we closely monitor these and react accordingly.

We know that people in our school community who are vulnerable are feeling anxious. Please continue to look out for them and pray for them in the coming weeks. Thank you for all your understanding, support and cooperation at this most difficult and unprecedented time.

Finally, please again note this is all just contingency and there are no current plans to close the school.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Baker/Headteacher Jacqui Fiorletta/Chair of Governors