Here’s an update for everyone to let you know about the steps that we’ve taken at school to minimise the risk of transmission of coronavirus at Mellers.  I get regular emails from the government and from Public Health England, advising us what we should be doing in school and in the community, and informing us about the virus.  The main things that you need to know are:

• The symptoms are a cough, with difficulty breathing, and a fever
• The incubation period is 2-14 days
• The virus causes the more severe symptoms in people with weakened immune systems eg older people and those with long term conditions like diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease
• Very few cases have been reported in children, they are less likely to be affected by the virus

To prevent the spread of infection, the advice is:

• Wash hands regularly with soap and water (this is by far the best way to prevent infection, much more effective than alcohol sanitiser) for 20 seconds. The advice for pupils is to wash your hands before leaving home in the morning, when you get to school, after using the toilet, after break, before eating, before leaving school
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the bin
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
• If you have any of the symptoms and have travelled to any of the high-risk areas, stay at home

At school we have taken the advice of Public Health England and:

• Our school cleaners have done a deep clean of the school, and will continue to do so.
• We are in the process of hiring an additional cleaner to disinfect surfaces that people would come into contact with (door handles, taps, surfaces, toilets etc) each day whilst the children are in school.
• We have covered the subject of handwashing and preventing spread of the infection in whole school assemblies
• Teachers are encouraging the children to hand wash regularly, for at least 20 seconds
• We checked where our families had travelled to over the half term holiday, and are continuing to check; any pupils that have visited any of the high-risk areas would have to be in quarantine at home for 14 days

If you are worried that you have any symptoms of coronavirus, you MUST NOT go to the GP, pharmacy or hospital.  You must go home and call 111.

As I said earlier, we are taking our advice from Public Health England, and will keep all of our parents and carers fully informed of any actions that we are taking.  We are working hard to make sure that we are reducing the risk of the infection at Mellers.

Mellers will NOT close unless we are advised to do so by Public Health England.

Please don’t hesitate to speak to a member of the Mellers team if you would like more information.