We have sought advice from the Health Protection Agency today as we are seeing a rise in absences due to Respiratory Flu like Viruses and some cases of Noro Virus, over the last week. We have been informed that this is not a school issue, but it is a wider community issue. You may have already heard that many schools are affected.
One class in particular has been affected by the Respiratory Flu like Virus, with 9 children being absent in that class yesterday.
We have not been advised to close our school, but have been advised to ensure a very stringent deep clean is carried out over the coming weeks. Our Site Manager, Mr O’Dowd, and the cleaning team have a very good cleaning routine in school already, but this will be a priority focus. However, we cannot avoid the virus spreading as it is a community issue, and if families are sending children in whilst still unwell, then the virus will still spread.
All children in school today will be bringing their water bottle home for a deep clean. If your child is off school then please ensure they are well enough to return when they do. If your child has had sickness or diarrhoea then you must follow school policy and keep them off school for 48 hours following their last episode. YOU MUST RING SCHOOL IF YOUR CHILD IS ABSENT!
Most importantly we have been advised to stress to our families, that there is no need to panic, it is in the community and these are called Winter Bug Viruses as they occur every year around these winter months.
If your child currently has a low level of absence, and it is what we would classify as ‘persistent’, then we do require a doctors note from you to support the absence of your child. We will request this from you if your child’s absence is below 90%.
Due to the high numbers of schools affected in the community, the HPA have put some up to date information together. This has been given to the children today, and attached below.
School ILI_GI outbreak letter Consett Junior School 26.11.19
