Dear parent/carer,

As you will be aware, there has been a great deal written and advised about COVID-19, the coronavirus.

We want to stress that current advice and guidance suggests you should not be unduly worried about the potential of your child catching coronavirus. The Laurus Trust is, however, working alongside each Trust school to monitor the situation carefully and we will continue to follow the advice given by organisations such as Public Health England.

With any developments, we will use the normal communication channels available to keep you fully updated. We will use the same channels to advise you of any contingency plans that would also be implemented should government advice change.

At this time, however, we stress that there is no reason why your child should not continue to attend school as normal unless they are experiencing the symptoms detailed in the latest guidance here or they are living in the same household as someone exhibiting symptoms of a persistent cough and/or a temperature of 37.8C and above.

Contingencies are in place, in the event of a short or long term closure of all schools, to provide students with work or to allow them access to online resources. Full information will be forwarded by the usual channels if this situation arises.

Trips and visits
The Department for Education is currently advising against all overseas educational trips for children under 18. We will continue to update you via the usual channels.

What action can you take?
Doubtless you will be aware of the UK-wide campaign to provide clear advice on how to slow the spread of coronavirus through simple measures such as regularly washing hands and always sneezing into a tissue, to stem the spread of viruses.

We are encouraging students to maintain good hand, respiratory and personal hygiene. Please can you reinforce these messages at home.

Please follow the latest NHS guidance here and keep us updated.

If you or a close family member has recently returned from another country please follow the government advice here.

If a child or immediate family member is medically diagnosed with coronavirus please notify the school immediately by emailing details to [email protected]

The Department for Education has provided the following helpline (open from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday) for anyone with questions about COVID-19 related to education:

We will continue to update you with further information through the normal communication channels. There is also a specific coronavirus question and answer sheet below.

Please contact school directly if you have any further questions or concerns.

Once again, we thank you for your continued support.

Yours faithfully,
Martin Stewart, Head of School