Coronavirus Update!
Coronavirus update 16 March 2020
Dear Parents
AssalamuAlaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh
We write to update you on the current situation regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19). The Government updated its advice on measures that need to be taken yesterday (15/3/20) and we ask parents to read the following information carefully:
Symptoms
If anyone has flu-like symptoms, a high temperature or a continuous or new cough then they need to stay at home and self-isolate for 7 days. The following link gives details of this advice https://www.gov.uk/government/
Therefore, if your child displays any of these symptoms then please follow this advice. If in doubt there is an NHS 111 online assessment tool which might be useful and can be accessed using the following link https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19
Handwashing
Washing hands frequently remains the most important thing we can do to stop the virus from spreading. We will continue to remind all students across the school of the importance of this. Please do continue to re-enforce this message at home.
School Trips & Other Events
The government has advised that school trips abroad should not go ahead which has not affected our schools. All our other school trips and events have been cancelled at the moment. We will continue to monitor the situation and follow government advice and we will update you if things change.
Preparatory School will be cancelling all the following events:
- – All School Trips
- – Any Visiting Speaker events
- – Any Planned workshops
- – Sports Day
- – With regards to internal events, where parents are invited to the school, we will endeavour to continue with these events, but will not invite parents i.e. Student achievement assemblies, end of year awards, Quraan day and Arabic day. The school will be cancelling end of term assessments, school reports and parents evening. We will reschedule as and when appropriate.
Potential School Closure
The government had decided that schools will remain open at this time but things could change going forward. The advice to students and families at Al-Khair remains the same as previously given in our newsletter letter last week:
· Approach to work setting – use of the school’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and email system
If the school closes, work will be set for all students across the school using the VLE. This will be done according to your child’s normal timetable for both classwork and homework. Work for each subject will be uploaded to the VLE and will follow your child’s school timetable. Each day, students should check the VLE for the work set. In addition, parents should also check their email accounts every day for communication from the School. Please could you ensure that you are able to access SIMs parent app and that your child can access the SMHW from home.
· Public examinations (Applicable only for Secondary Schools)
We are very aware that this is a particularly worrying time for students in year 11 who are preparing for their GCSEs and we are following Ofqual’s advice which is to continue to prepare for exams and other assessments as normal: we would like to reassure you that we will do everything we can to support these students.
Easter/End of term holidays travel arrangements
We are aware that families may have made arrangements to travel overseas during the upcoming break. If this is your intention, please be aware that measures could well be in place before your child returns to school after the break, should your travel destination become classed as an affected area. Dependent on how the virus spreads during this time, and in accordance with advice from the government, they may need to undergo a period of self-isolation (the current recommendation is a 14-day gestation period) before returning to school; this is, of course, a particular risk to year 11 students who have upcoming public exams. Please check the Foreign Office advice regarding your travels.
We continue to be very grateful to parents, students and staff for remaining calm during this situation and we will continue to monitor everything closely, follow government advice and be in contact with you and update you as necessary.
Yours sincerely,
Ms Aisha Chaudhry & Almas Iqbal
Headteachers
Al-Khair Preparatory and Secondary Schools