COVID-19
This is a place to find news and updates about COVID-19 and implications for our schools.
What to do if your child develops COVID-19 symptoms
- High temperature
- New continuous cough
- Loss of or changes to the sense of taste or smell
- You and your family must stay at home and self-isolate. Don’t send your child to school.
- Organise a COVID-19 test by calling 119 or order online at https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test
- Contact your child’s school to let them know that your child has symptoms – either telephone the school office by telephone in school hours or out of hours email the following address:
Blaby Stokes: covidquestions@bsp.learnat.uk
Church Langton: covidquestions@clp.learnat.uk
Great Bowden: covidquestions@gba.learnat.uk
Husbands Bosworth: covidquestions@hbs.learnat.uk
Lubenham: covidquestions@las.learnat.uk
Market Harborough: covidquestions@mha.learnat.uk
Meadowdale: covidquestions@mdw.learnat.uk
Red Hill Field: covidquestions@rhf.learnat.uk
Ridgeway: covidquestions@rpa.learnat.uk
St Andrew's: covidquestions@sta.learnat.uk
South Kilworth: covidquestions@sta.learnat.uk
- POSITIVE TEST RESULT –
- Contact the school immediately either telephone the school office in school hours or out of hours email the above address for your school.
- Your child must self-isolate for 10 days from the onset of symptoms and the rest of the household must self-isolate for 14 days – follow the guidance below.
- The school will contact the Local Health Prevention Team who will work with the headteacher to risk assess the situation and decide which adults and children have been in close contact with the confirmed case. These adults and children need to self-isolate for 14 days and will be contacted as soon as possible by email and text message. If they remain well, only the child or adult who has been in close contact with the confirmed case needs to isolate - the rest of the household don't need to unless the child or adult goes on to develop symptoms.
- All other families with children at the school will be informed of the confirmed case in a separate email. These children can continue to attend school as normal.
- To protect the confidentiality of the adult or child we will not share any information about their class, year group or any other identifiable information with the wider community. We will also not share information on our school websites or social media pages. Everyone who needs to be informed will be informed.
- Contact the school immediately either telephone the school office in school hours or out of hours email the above address for your school.
- NEGATIVE TEST RESULT –
Your child can return to school if they feel well enough to do so and the rest of the family can stop self-isolating.
For more information
Government guidance on what to do if a member of your household has COVID-19 symptoms: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection
See the PHE LHPT Action Card below for details of the procedures that schools have been asked to follow.
Government Information
Official Advice
Government Coronavirus News and Guidance
Mental Well-being While Staying At Home
Mental Health and Wellbeing for Adults
Mental Health and Wellbeing for Children and Young People
School Reopening
Government Information for Parents and Carers
Well-being Resources
Explain the Pandemic to Children
What to do if your child is unwell
Mental Health Guide for Parents and Carers
Local Information and Support
Information about local companies offering home deliveries
E-Safety
Digital Five A Day
Internet security
Social Media Networks for Kids
Home Learning
Starline, a national home learning parent helpline that has been set up in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Led by a partnership of education and parenting organisations, the helpline provides parents and carers the opportunity to ask questions about home learning which will be answered by qualified teachers with substantial experience and expertise. It is open six days a week and can help with questions about strategies for home learning, curriculum topics, managing behaviour and wellbeing at home, and support for children with special educational needs. The number is 0330 313 9162 (charged at the same rate as a standard landline call).
BBC advice for home schooling and Bitesize
Establishing a good routine
For those of you who are keeping your children at home, we are aware that there are a lot of links to free educational resources available at the moment. Though these are useful, they can also be overwhelming. Your child’s teacher will send out work daily. This is intended to be easily accessible and sufficient to keep your child busy and occupied for part of the day.
Please try not to do too much. It is important to try and structure your daily routine but this doesn’t mean filling it with ‘school work’. Try to get children up, showered and dressed at a sensible time; children can make their beds and tidy their rooms. It might not be perfect to start with but they will get better with practice!
Do some exercise together. Joe Wicks, the Body Coach, is doing daily PE lessons on YouTube at 9am. It’s a good workout! Then sit down to complete some school work. Try to have lunch at the same time every day – could you make it together? Stephen Fry, President of Mind, has spoken about ‘slowing things down’ and taking your time to do tasks; now could be the time for your children to become more independent in the kitchen!
In the afternoon, could the children play outside? Build obstacle courses, make dens, practise their ‘keepie-uppies’! Could they go on a nature trail around the garden or do some bird spotting? Inside are there jigsaws, board games, colouring activities they could complete either independently or with help?
Easier said than done but try to limit screen time – perhaps timetable it as part of the day. Don’t feel guilty about letting your child have screen time though: you need time for yourself too.
Instead of getting overwhelmed looking at educational resources available, perhaps have a look at some of the mental health/ mindfulness resources listed below. These are for adults and children.
Children are incredibly resilient. What they will remember about this time is how they felt and it is us, as adults, who can impact this. They need to feel love and calmness; if we are stressed because we feel that we should be ‘educating’ them constantly they too will feel this pressure.