Acorn Education Trust Coronavirus Update

To parents and guardians,

You will have seen press coverage of concerns over the Coronavirus in Northern Italy and you will also have seen that several schools in England have closed, or closed sections of their schools, because pupils have travelled to Italy over half term. I am writing now because the Government updated their guidance yesterday and I thought I should update you, as it may be that we have families in the school community who have recently returned from the affected areas.  

The advice from the Government can be found in full here.  I think the most important aspects are reproduced here (from www.gov.uk).

 If you have travelled back to the UK from:

• Iran
• specific lockdown areas in northern Italy as designated by the Government of Italy
• ‘special care zones’ in South Korea as designated by the Government of the Republic of South Korea
• Hubei province (returned in the past 14 days)

You should immediately:

• stay indoors and avoid contact with other people as you would with the flu
• call NHS 111 to inform them of your recent travel to the area
• Please follow this advice even if you do not have symptoms of the virus.

 Lockdown areas in northern Italy are:

• in Lombardy: Codogno, Castiglione d’Adda, Casalpusterlengo, Fombio, Maleo, Somaglia, Bertonico, Terranova dei Passerini, Castelgerundo and San Fiorano
• in Veneto: Vo’ Euganeo

 Special care zones in South Korea:

• Daegu
• Cheongdo​
   

 Travellers from other parts of China and other specified areas

 This advice applies to travellers who have returned to the UK from the following areas:

• Cambodia
• China
• Hong Kong
• Japan
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Macau
• Myanmar
• Republic of Korea
• Singapore
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

If you have returned to the UK from any of these areas in the last 14 days and develop symptoms of cough or fever or shortness of breath, you should immediately:

• stay indoors and avoid contact with other people as you would with the flu
• call NHS 111 to inform them of your recent travel to the country

Please follow this advice even if your symptoms are minor. If you do not have any symptoms there is no need to self-isolate or call the NHS. The school continues to receive regular updates and will pass these on accordingly. 

For the time-being, only members of families who are showing symptoms need to take any action. 

Similarly, in the way that we normally operate, the School Nurse/staff/teachers will continue to help pupils at school who may present with any symptoms to follow appropriate guidelines. We always send pupils home if they present with elevated temperatures, for example, and we will continue to do so where appropriate. I am sure families will understand that we will extend this practice to pupils presenting with flu-like symptoms, especially if they have travelled recently to any of the affected areas. We recognise that there are likely to be a number of coughs and colds that are nothing more than the regular round of winter illnesses but parental support will be much appreciated.

Students/The children, teachers and families are all reminded that individuals’ personal hygiene will play a very important part in preventing the possible transmission of any virus, including Covid-19. Regular and thorough handwashing and use of hand sanitisers are all recommended, in addition to adopting the “Catch it - kill it - bin it!” approach.

If you are concerned over the health of a family member, you should not go to your GP or Hospital but should call 111.

Sara Edwards

Acorn Education Trust CEO