The School Office will be closed to visitors and not accepting phone calls from today, Thursday 26th March, until further notice.
The office email will be monitored during the hours of 8:30am – 4:15pm Monday to Friday and office staff will endeavor to answer or forward your queries in a timely manner with the information available to us.
Please email: admin@bartonclough.trafford.sch.uk
We will continue to send regular updates via Teachers 2 Parents, the school website, Barton Clough’s Facebook page and Twitter.
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, with the staff and resources we have available to us. Please do all you can to provide childcare at home as continuing to self distance is vital to the fight against Covid-19.
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.
CORONAVIRUS: UPDATE
Following the Secretary of State for Education announcement yesterday that all schools will close on Friday afternoon and will remain closed until further notice.
In his address he said:
Fighting Coronavirus and protecting the vulnerable and our NHS are the Government’s top priorities right now. That’s why we are asking schools, nurseries and colleges to close – except for vulnerable children and the children of key workers.
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 more information to be published 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 telephone the school office or email admin@bartonclough.trafford.sch.uk. We’ll be in touch again as soon as we are sure who this does apply to.
We expect that the numbers of children in school will be very small and this will help to minimise the health risk to those children, the staff and their families.
Important Information
The scientific advise shows that schools are safe for a small number of children to continue attending but it is essential that most children stay away to help slow the spread. The schools have been asked to remain open to help ensure that the NHS and essential supply services can continue to meet the increasing demands of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Therefore, if one parent is a key worker, the government will expect the other parent to have their child at home.
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.
GOVERNMENT ACTION PLAN
On Monday 16th March 2020, the Prime Minister confirmed that the government’s response to COVID-19 was still in the ‘delay’ phase – the second phase in the government’s coronavirus action plan. However, the Prime Minister has said more “drastic action” was needed as the UK approaches “the fast growth part of the upward curve” in the number of cases.
People in at-risk groups will be asked within days to stay home for 12 weeks. More than 1,500 people have tested positive for the virus in the UK – but the actual number of cases is estimated to be between 35,000 and 50,000.
Chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty said the group of people who should take “particular care to minimise their social contact” were:
- People over the age of 70
- Other adults who would normally be advised to have the flu vaccine (such as those with chronic diseases)
- Pregnant women
The key new government measures are:
- Everyone should avoid gatherings and crowded places, such as pubs, clubs and theatres
- Everyone should work from home if they can
- All “unnecessary” visits to friends and relatives in care homes should cease
- People should only use the NHS “where we really need to” – and can reduce the burden on workers by getting advice on the NHS website where possible
- By next weekend, those with the most serious health conditions must be “largely shielded from social contact for around 12 weeks”
- If one person in any household has a persistent cough or fever, everyone living there must stay at home for 14 days
- Those people should, if possible, avoid leaving the house “even to buy food or essentials” – but they may leave the house “for exercise and, in that case, at a safe distance from others”
- Schools will not be closed for the moment, but staff/ parents/carers should adhere to the Governments self isolation guidelines:
Please do not send your child/children into school if they or anyone in their household have a temperature of 37.8 or above. Children and siblings should remain at home for 14 days.
Please do not send your child/children into school if they or anyone in their household have a persistent cough or develop a new cough. Children and siblings should remain at home for 14 days.
Please be aware, If your child develops any of the above symptoms during the school day, you will be contacted and asked to collect your child and their siblings from school and remain at home for 14 days.
The coronavirus action plan was launched on Tuesday 3rd March. This document sets out what we have done to tackle coronavirus (COVID-19), and what it plans to do next, depending upon the course the current coronavirus outbreak takes.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan
Advice from Public Health England continues to be for education and children’s social care settings to remain open, unless advised otherwise. ‘We are continually reviewing how best to support all educational settings and the impact of any measures will be considered carefully before being implemented’.
DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION CORONAVIRUS HELPLINE
The Department for Education Coronavirus Helpline is now available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline as follows:
Phone: 0800 046 8687
Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)
THE IMPORTANCE OF HYGIENE
Personal hygiene is the most important way we can tackle COVID-19, especially washing hands more; and the catch it, bin it, kill it strategy for those with coughs and sneezes.
Wash your hands more often for 20 seconds with soap and hot water
In addition to handwashing before eating, and after coughing and sneezing, everyone should also wash hands after using toilets and travelling on public transport.
Watch this short NHS film for guidance:
Teach young children how to wash their hands with the NHS handwashing song:
WHERE TO FIND THE LATEST INFORMATION
Updates on COVID-19:
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
Guidance for educational settings:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19
Travel advice for those travelling and living overseas:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus
Educational resources
https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/101-coronavirus-/resourceshttps://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/schools
Latest Department for Education information:
https://twitter.com/educationgovukhttps://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk/
Barton Clough is a one form entry school in Stretford with 195 pupils on roll.
At Barton Clough we nurture positive relationships. It is at the heart of all we do. We are committed to teaching the skills and knowledge each child needs to flourish and succeed, with enthusiasm, energy and hope. We value children as individuals and encourage our pupils to have a go and try new things. We aim to build confidence in our pupils and develop a ‘can do’ attitude so that children learn from mistakes and aren’t afraid to get things wrong.