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 St. Mary’s we’re taking all of the necessary steps to protect our community and are continuing to follow official guidance from the government and Liverpool City Council. I have also spoken to the Department for Education and Public Health England to ensure that we do everything that we need to do to keep our whole school community safe.

What’s the current situation?

• The school remains open – this is the current official guidance we’ve been given
• All school extra-curricular activities continue to run as normal if staff are in school
• Like many schools we are pulling out of all sporting competitions and will monitor this decision over the coming weeks
• 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

• We’ll keep you up to date with any changes to the current situation
• If your child is unwell, report this as you would normally by phoning the school office

What we’re doing to protect and support pupils and staff;

• We will contact you if any child complains of feeling unwell or displays any of the symptoms given above
• We are following cleaning guidelines for all areas of the school
• Children are taken to wash their hands throughout the day
• We have already held hand washing sessions with each class and have provided all our children with the knowledge on how they can try to keep themselves and others safe

What we need you to do

• If you’ve recently changed your contact details, please inform the school office as soon as possible
• 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 Young Minds 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)
• Inform ourselves and Public Health England if you have been in contact with anyone diagnosed with the Coronavirus or if anyone in your family is tested posit

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’ll:

• Send a message out through our text messaging service and we will post an announcement on our website and Twitter feed
• We will inform you as to when school will reopen via the same forms of communication posted above
• We will provide learning packs for all children and passwords to our online learning sites. We will add activities and links on the school website and will send information through our school Twitter feed

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.

Mr D Harrop

Headteacher