Cherry Oak School
Working Together for Success
Cherry Oak School
Working Together for Success
Latest News
Check here for the latest updates and news
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Coronavirus Update 18 March 2020
Wed 18 Mar 2020The Government has announced its new COVID-19 Emergency Bill which will be published later this week. There will also be an important announcement by Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education, to the House of Commons at 5pm this evening.
In the meantime, to limit the spread of disease to our very vulnerable pupil population, I implore all parents to please keep children at home if they exhibit any signs of illness, but in regard to COVID-19: a new cough or an elevated temperature. If children present with either of these symptoms at school, you will be contacted and will need to collect your child from school as soon as possible and then keep them in isolation at home for a minimum of 7 days. We currently have about 20% of our pupils absent from school either self isolating because they are vulnerable owing to underlying conditions, or because they have symptoms. We are also experiencing a growing number of staff absent for a variety of reasons. However we are not aware of any confirmed cases of COVID-19 among pupils or staff.
We appreciate that this is a stressful and confusing time for everyone and ask that everyone follows government guidance in order to keep themselves and others safe and healthy.
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Coronavirus update 17 March 2020
Tue 17 Mar 2020Firstly I would like to thank you all for your continued support and understanding in these difficult times. We are certainly experiencing unprecedented times and are all having to make difficult decisions. Our priority first and foremost is the health and well-being of our children, their families and our staff.
The current advice from Public Health is that all schools should remain open. However, the situation is continually changing and schools must risk assess what measures they must take to stay open safely. We have not had any suspected or confirmed cases of coronavirus but we have a number of pupils and staff who are following official advice to self- isolate.
New guidance states to stay at home for 14 days if someone in your household has symptoms of COVI-19, however mild. If anyone develops symptoms at any time they must not leave the home for 7 days from when the symptoms started.
Due to the increasing number of staff absent from tomorrow (Wednesday 18th March) we will not be able to maintain appropriate staffing levels to keep all of our pupils safe without taking action. We have made the difficult decision to close 3 of our classes (Acorns, Bluebells and Fern) for the rest of the week (Wednesday 18th, Thursday 19th and Friday 20th March). We have made attempts today to speak directly to all of the families of children in these classes. There are a number of factors influencing which classes have been chosen including the vulnerability of pupils and the number of absent staff. We are concerned that as the week progresses we may have to close further classes. If the situation continues we will look to rotate the classes that are closed.
This is not an action that we have taken lightly. We have informed the Local Authority and the decision has been approved by our Chair of Governors, Clare Mills.
Following official advice, we are restricting the number of visitors into school. Therefore all parent meetings including EHCP meetings will be postponed until further notice. We will contact those with scheduled meetings to rearrange when we have clarity on when they can take place.
All indoor educational visits will be cancelled for the rest of the term including swimming, Harris House and Victoria School and College. However, at present we are planning to continue with outdoor-based trips to parks because of the limited contact involved. We will be risk assessing each of these trips individually as appropriate.
We will be updating our website and providing you with resources and links to use with your child if they are unable to attend school.
If your child is entitled to a free school meal and is in one of the classes that will be closing this week then please phone school directly if you would like to make arrangements to collect this.
If you are concerned about anything, please do not hesitate to contact school. Thank you again for your continued support and understanding.Warm Regards
Amy Findlay
Head of School
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New guidance for households with possible COVID-19 infection
Tue 17 Mar 2020New guidance to stay at home for 14 days if someone in your household has symptoms of COVID-19 is the focus of the next stage of a public awareness campaign launched by Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock today.
The new guidance will set out that individuals will still be asked to self-isolate for 7 days from the onset of COVID-19 symptoms but any individuals in the household will now be asked to self-isolate for 14 days from that moment as well.
If other members of your household develop symptoms, however mild, at any time during the 14 days, they must not leave the home for 7 days from when symptoms started.
The new phase of the campaign will build on the existing TV, radio, online, digital and billboard adverts currently visible all over the country. These reinforce the importance of washing your hands more often and for 20 seconds, and ask people to self-isolate for 7 days if they develop a high temperature or a new continuous cough, however mild.
Government has taken the further measure of asking whole households to isolate because it is likely that people living with others will infect each other or be infected already. Staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community.
The Prime Minister also today set out a number of social distancing measures to reduce the risk of infection from the spread of coronavirus. For those who remain well, are under 70 or do not have an underlying health condition, they are advised to limit their social contact where possible, including using less public transport, working at home and considering not going to pubs, restaurants, theatres and bars.
For those who are over 70, have an underlying health condition or are pregnant, they are strongly advised against these activities and to significantly limit face-to-face interaction with friends and family if possible.
The government’s public awareness campaign offers clear, practical advice so people can play their part in preventing and slowing the spread of the virus.
The most important thing individuals can do to protect themselves remains washing their hands more often, for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water. Make sure you cough or sneeze into a tissue, put it in a bin and wash your hands.
The awareness campaign also reiterates the importance of seeking help online by visiting NHS.UK/coronavirus to check your symptoms and follow the medical advice, rather than visiting your GP. It also urges people with any symptoms to avoid contact with older and more vulnerable people.
Only if symptoms become worse should people use the NHS 111 service. To ensure the phone service is readily available to those who need it, where possible people should use the 111 website rather than calling.
Earlier this month, the Prime Minister published a ‘battle plan’ for tackling the disease in the UK, which sets out plans for a range of scenarios. Last week, the Prime Minister confirmed the UK has moved into the second stage of this plan, the ‘delay’ phase.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:
Coronavirus is the biggest public health crisis we have faced in a generation, and we will do whatever is necessary to protect our elderly and most vulnerable people and keep the public safe.
This is an unprecedented situation and it’s so important for each of us to rally together and do our bit to protect ourselves and each other, as well as our NHS, from this disease.
Washing hands regularly for 20 seconds or more remains the single most important thing each of us can do, but we now also need to ask everyone in a household to stay at home if anyone in their home shows symptoms.
Combating this virus will require a huge national effort. We must do all we can to save lives, protect the NHS and keep the most vulnerable people in our society safe.
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Coronavirus update 16 March 2020
Mon 16 Mar 2020No change to guidance today. In fact we are slightly ahead of the recommendations!
What you need to know:
- staff, young people and children should stay at home if they are unwell with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature to avoid spreading infection to others. Otherwise they should attend education or work as normal
- if staff, young people or children become unwell on site with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature they should be sent home
- clean and disinfect regularly touched objects and surfaces more often than usual using your standard cleaning products
- supervise young children to ensure they wash their hands for 20 seconds more often than usual with soap and water or hand sanitiser and catch coughs and sneezes in tissues
The updated guidance can be found here:
Current advice remains in place: no education or children’s social care setting should close in response to a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case unless advised to do so by Public Health England.
The Chief Medical Officer has advised that the impact of closing schools on both children’s education and on the workforce would be substantial, but the benefit to public health may not be. Decisions on future advice to education or children’s social care settings will be taken based on the latest and best scientific evidence, which at this stage suggests children are a lower risk group
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Coronavirus - what the school is doing, what families need to do
Sat 14 Mar 2020Federation of Cherry Oak School and Victoria School
Coronavirus update and school plan
14 March 2020
Dear Parents/Carers,
As you’re probably aware, the government’s guidance on the coronavirus has changed from the ‘contain’ phase to one of delaying the spread of the virus. We’re getting in touch to let you know what we’re doing in light of this, and what we expect from all of you, to help make sure our school community keeps safe and calm.
We’d like to reassure you that at both Cherry Oak and Victoria Schools, we’re taking all of the necessary steps to protect our community and are continuing to follow official guidance from the government (Public Health England and the Department for Education) and Birmingham City Council.
What’s the current situation?
- The school remains open – this is the current official guidance we’ve been given. If too many staff become ill, thus preventing us from safely caring for pupils, we may have to close the schools.
- All school functions continue to run as normal, including After School Club (Cherry Oak) and Club Vic (Victoria).
- Pupils should attend unless they feel unwell – if your child has any of the following symptoms they should remain at home for 7 days:
- a new, continuous cough and/or
- a temperature
- If your child is unwell, report this as you would normally by phoning the school office and leaving a message or speaking to administrative staff, as soon as possible after 8am.
- If your child is particularly vulnerable owing to an underlying health condition and you choose to keep them at home for this reason, please advise the school. Their absence will be recorded as being due to “exceptional circumstances”.
- At this point, all planned trips are going ahead and scheduled examinations will run as planned.
- (Government has advised schools to cancel overseas trips “for the foreseeable future”. Victoria’s planned Year 10 trip to Florida in September is still on as we are hopeful that the Coronavirus pandemic will be over by then. However, as with all of this information, the situation is changing daily, so our plans also need to remain flexible.)
- We’ll keep you up to date with any changes to the current situation
What we’re doing to protect and support pupils and staff
- Any child who presents with a continuous cough or high temperature at school will be sent home for 7 days of isolation in accordance with advice from Public Health England.
- If your child has these symptoms, please do not send them into school until 7 days have passed and the symptoms have gone away. If symptoms worsen during the 7 days or are still present at the end of the 7 days, you should ring NHS 111 or go online at NHS 111 for advice.
- No staff have presented with symptoms but if they do, they will also be required to self-isolate.
- If any child, member of staff or visitor to the schools is confirmed with CIVID-19, we will report this to Birmingham City Council and Public Health England. We will follow their advice in regard to school closure and/or additional cleaning or other precautions. We will inform you if there are any confirmed cases of COVID-19
- All teachers have been provided with extra resources about teaching proper hand-washing. Staff will be closely supervising children’s handwashing and will give extra opportunities for handwashing throughout the day. Supplies of soap, hand sanitizer, paper towels, tissues and personal protective equipment such as disposable gloves and aprons are available.
- Educational resources and lesson/assembly plans about Coronavirus have been made available to teachers.
- Extra time and additional sanitizing products have been purchased to enable cleaners to ensure a thorough clean of all “touch points” eg: door handles, taps, light switches, hand rails, etc on a daily basis. If anyone in the school community contracts COVID-19, the impacted area/s will be deep cleaned. A deep clean will be carried out during the Easter holidays.
What we need you to do
- If you’ve recently changed your contact details, please inform the school office as soon as possible via email or phone:
- Cherry Oak – info@cherryoak.bham.sch.uk ph: 0121 464 2037
- Victoria - info@victoria.bham.sch.uk ph: 0121 476 9478
- Please complete and send back to the school, the forms authorizing our website to send yu messages via the App, and download the App to your device. You will then receive messages telling you when there is new information on the website. The website will be the main source of education. Until most people are signed up to the App, we will continue to send text messages to alert you to important information. Please check the website regularly.
- Cherry Oak – www.cherryoak.bham.sch.uk
- Victoria – www.victoria.bham.sch.uk
- Talk to your children about the coronavirus. It’s a scary time and we should make sure children feel supported. BBC Newsround has regular updates for younger children and YoungMinds has practical steps older children can take to help with anxiety
- Come and collect your child straight away, if we ask you to (we’ll contact you if they become ill with either a temperature or a new, continuous cough)
What happens if the school has to close?
We’ll only close if we’re either officially advised to do so or we don’t have enough staff to run the school.
In either case, we will advise you via Text/Website if/when the school is to close and why. When we are ready to re-open we will again advise by text/website. In the meantime, please check the website regularly for new information.
Teachers / Key Stage Managers will send home appropriate work/activities/websites that will outline learning activities that can be done at home. We appreciate that some parents and carers may also be trying to work from home and that access to the community may be severely restricted, so please take these as helpful suggestions rather than requirements of activities that must be completed.
Please keep in mind that we’re only sending out this information to help the school community prepare. There are currently no plans to close.
If you have any questions
Please consult the:
- School office, if you have any questions about our response to this issue
- NHS, if you want to know more about the symptoms of coronavirus. If you think you or your child may have the symptoms, use NHS 111 online if at all possible before calling 111
- Department for Education’s coronavirus helpline: 0800 046 8687, if you have any questions about the government’s response to coronavirus in relation to schools
- Government’s travel advice, if you want to know whether any upcoming trip or holiday you’re taking abroad should go ahead
It’s a tricky time and we know you’re worried about the impact this might have on our community. It’s important we keep each other safe and talk about these events to help with any anxiety.
Thank you for your continued support.
Julie Fardell
Executive Head Teacher
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Coronavirus Update 13 March 2020
Fri 13 Mar 2020As we get updated information about CoronaVirus, I will share it with you via this website. Please register for the App (information was sent home in school bags on 12.03.2020) so that we can keep you updated when information on the website changes.
Latest advice from DfE is that if pupils are absent because of fears around their vulnerability to Coronavirus, even though they do not have symptoms, the attendance register will be marked as "absent due to exceptional circumstances".
The new advice is that anyone who has a high temperature (above 37.8 degrees and a NEW continuous cough, should self-isolate for 7 days. There is no need to call NHS 111 unless symptoms worsen or you are no better after 7 days. This advice applies to everyone: children, families, staff and members of the public.
If your child develops these symptoms, please keep them at home for 7 days and advise the school. If your child develops these symptoms at school, you will be asked to collect them and keep them at home for 7 days.
There have been NO confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the school.
We will inform families if there is a case of confirmed COVID-19.
The most highly recommended strategy continues to be rigorous handwashing. (Please see the end of this news item.)
Julie Fardell - Executive Head Teacher
Government Advice as of 13 March 2020
Yesterday, the Government announced that we are moving from the Contain phase of the coronavirus action plan and into the Delay phase, in response to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Full details of each stage in the government action plan can be found here:
To support the delay of the spread of the virus, the Department for Health and Social Care has asked anyone who shows certain symptoms to stay at home for 7 days, regardless of whether they have travelled to affected areas. This means people should stay at home and avoid all but essential contact with others for 7 days from the point of displaying mild symptoms, to slow the spread of infection.
The symptoms are:
- A high temperature (37.8 degrees and above)
- A new, continuous cough
You do not need to call NHS 111 to stay at home. If your symptoms worsen during your stay at home period or are no better after 7 days contact NHS 111 online at 111.nhs.uk. If you have no internet access, you should call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.
Current advice remains in place: no education or children’s social care setting should close in response to a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case unless advised to do so by Public Health England.
The Chief Medical Officer has advised that the impact of closing schools on both children’s education and on the workforce will be substantial, but the benefit to public health may not be. Decisions on future advice to schools will be taken based on the latest and best scientific evidence, which at this stage suggests children are a lower risk group.
Handwashing advice
The most important thing individuals can do to protect themselves is to wash their hands more often, for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water. Public Health England recommends that 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:
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Coronavirus - A Message rom the Chair of Governors
Thu 12 Mar 2020Dear Parents and Carers,
Due to the current situation regarding the Corvid-19 or Corona Virus I felt it appropriate as Chair of Governors, to give you some reassurance about the safety and well being of your children at Cherry Oak and Victoria Schools.
I have been in regular contact with Julie Fardell, our Executive Principal, and am satisfied that all guidance from the Department of Health is being stringently followed. Staff have been given extra briefings on hygiene and handwashing and on how to ensure our young people are kept safe.
As a parent and grandparent I am aware of the anxiety many of you will be feeling, particularly if your child has underlying health issues and in those cases you should seek the advice of your health professionals. If your child is generally well then you must send them into school as normal and trust us, as you do every other day, to do our very best to keep them safe, happy and educated.
The schools will continue to monitor the advice from the Government Agencies, act accordingly and keep you informed through the normal information channels.
I think the main message is to minimise panic and keep life as normal as possible for our children whilst being extra attentive to hygiene and minimising risk wherever we can.
Yours,
Clare Mills
Chair of Federation Board of Governors.
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Information regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Wed 11 Mar 2020The situation regarding Coronavirus is rapidly changing.
At present, schools are to remain open.
Pupils should only be kept away from school if:
- they have been diagnosed or are being tested for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) *Please notify the school*
- they have been advised by their doctor to be absent from school because they are especially vulnerable
- they have travelled to one of the at-risk countries/areas listed on the Public Health England website, within the past 14 days
- they have been in direct contact with someone who has been diagnosed with Coronavirus.
Until/unless government advice changes, other pupil absences from school relating to Coronavirus will be recorded as unauthorised absence. Please phone the school for further information if you are unsure.
We will keep updating this information as new information becomes available.
Did you know that the best defence against the spread of disease, including COVID-19 is rigorous handwashing?
At school, we are teaching the children the correct handwashing technique, closely supervising handwashing and providing multiple opportunities each day for handwashing.
You can find the correct handwashing technique here.
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/best-way-to-wash-your-hands/
Information: DfE COVID-19 (Coronavirus) helpline
The Department for Education has launched a new helpline to answer questions about COVID-19 related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline as follows:
Phone: 0800 046 8687
Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)
The latest guidance for education settings is available on GOV.UK.--
Warm regards,
Julie Fardell
Executive Head Teacher
You may find the slideshow below useful to use at home when preparing to and washing hands.
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