About Us
Swine Flu letter 18th June 2009
Letter to parents
18th June 2009
Dear Parents
I am writing to inform you that a pupil of our school has been found to have the swine flu virus. This case was confirmed yesterday (17 June 2009).
Please be assured that there is no need for parents to be alarmed as the pupil has not attended school since contracting the virus. The pupil is now being treated at home using anti-viral drugs and is responding well to treatment.
Whilst the pupil is the only person in their family to have shown symptoms and to have been tested positive for the virus, the whole family is receiving treatment as a precautionary measure. This includes the pupil’s sibling, who is also a pupil at our school and has been attending for lessons. Please be aware that a person can only pass on the virus if they are showing flu-like symptoms, so the sibling poses no more risk to pupils than any other.
However, it is very important to us that we minimise the risk for all concerned, so we have been working closely with the local Primary Care Trust, the Health Protection Agency and the Local Authority. Their advice has been that the school should remain open.
The swine flu virus is passed from one person to another through droplets that come out of the nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing. If the person coughing or sneezing is not covering his/her mouth & nose with a tissue, those droplets can spread and others will be at risk of breathing them in. In the UK, swine flu has produced only mild symptoms in the majority of cases.
The most effective way of protecting against flu viruses is to practice good hygiene. Both parents and children are encouraged to wash their hands regularly, and to use tissues to catch coughs and sneezes and then dispose of them as soon as possible. Should you wish to find out more about swine flu, the NHS Choices website – www.nhs.uk – contains some very useful information, or you can call the national Swine Flu Information Line on 0800 1 513 513 for recorded information, 24 hours a day.
We appreciate that parents may be worried but I would take this opportunity to reassure you that we are doing everything we can, with support from the relevant authorities, to protect our pupils, staff and parents.
Yours sincerely
Katie Beal
Headteacher