Following on from the announcement by the government yesterday evening the position at the school is as follows:

The school is running for all Year groups for today and tomorrow, Thursday 19^th and Friday 20^th March.

I would repeat the requirement that:-

• Any student who has a persistent cough or fever should not be in school and should be self-isolating for 7 days.
• If anyone in the household has a new persistent cough or fever, the student should not be in school, and should be self-isolating for 14 days.
• Any student who has a medical condition that makes them more susceptible to COVID-19 should not be in school and should be self-isolating for 12 weeks.

From Monday, the school will be shut to all students, except the children of ‘key workers’ and other groups of students that are identified in government guidelines

A programme of home study will start from Monday for all students who are at home

The government has stated that the Year 11 and Year 13 exams for this year will be cancelled.  We will provide more details in respect of this once they become available.

I appreciate that the position creates much anxiety and uncertainty. We will be doing all that we can to provide more clarity as we receive further information ourselves. For those students who were in school yesterday, we were able to keep disruption to a minimum. We expect for students to be able to follow their normal timetable over the next couple of days.

Jamie Brownhill

Headteacher

The Government has updated its advice in respect of its response to COVID-19.

As a consequence of this :-

1. If students have a new persistent cough or a fever they should self-isolate for two weeks.
2. If anyone in their household has a new persistent cough or a fever they should self-isolate for two weeks.

It is, of course, important that we all follow this advice.  We are tracking students to ensure that they do follow this guidance.

The School remains open for all Year groups.

Once again I would like to wish you all well at this challenging time and thank you for your continued support.

Jamie Brownhill

Headteacher

On 12 March 2020, the government announced a move into the ‘delay’ phase of its plan to tackle coronavirus. The immediate implication for the School is that

• Anyone with a new persistent cough or high temperature is now advised to self-isolate for 7 days.

We would ask, therefore, that any students with such symptoms are kept at home for this period of time, or for longer, if their symptoms continue.

Jamie Brownhill

Headteacher

I am writing to outline the School’s approach to home learning if we are closed as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus. This is preparatory work we have undertaken despite receiving no indication that closure is either likely or imminent. We felt that it was important nonetheless to prepare in case the Government followed those of other countries in shutting schools nationwide.

Our intention is that every pupil at the School would follow their normal timetable while working at home, including both lesson time and homework. We have chosen to use Show My Homework as our vehicle for delivering this timetable in this eventuality. Each lesson’s work on any given day will be set as a piece of work on Show My Homework.

The nature of the work set on Show My Homework will vary from subject to subject. For instance, in Mathematics Show My Homework will direct pupils to Hegarty Maths, in Science Show My Homework will link to resources using ActiveLearn, and in English our resources will be posted directly onto Show My Homework. Where subjects are asking for work to be submitted directly to Show My Homework, pupils can either submit this as a word processed document or as a photograph of written work. We will be providing pupils with an exercise book to complete work.

If you have questions in relation to this, including if your child will be unable to access Show My Homework on a laptop, mobile phone or computer while at home, or if you would like your or your child’s login to Show My Homework, please email Mr Samuel on samuelw@cfbs.islington.sch.uk.

In the meantime, we hope you will use the School website to be familiar both with the School processes to keeping the community safe and well at this time and with how you can support us with this.

We wish you well in what we know is a challenging time for us all.

Jamie Brownhill

Headteacher

Firstly, again, I would like to thank you for your support during this challenging period.

We are now moving into a different stage of the School’s response, as we move beyond the issue of students returning from a Category 2 area, to seeking to limit the spread of the virus within our community.

Staff and students who visited Northern Italy, which was designated a Category 2 specified area

We followed the Government guidance in respect of these members of staff and students.  Those who showed no symptoms remained in School; those who showed any symptoms, however mild, were asked to self-isolate at home.  Over 20 of the staff and students were tested for the COVID-19 virus, all the tests were negative.

All staff and students from the ski trip returned to school on Monday, with the exception of one who has not yet received his test results back.  He will return as soon as he receives a negative test.

Preventing the spread of the virus

We are taking the following actions to prevent the spread of the virus:

• Washing and/ or sanitising of hands – we have systems in place to ensure that students wash or sanitise their hands upon entering the school, after using the toilet, prior to eating and after PE lessons.

We would ask for your support to ensure that the pupils wash their hands before leaving for school each morning and upon their return in the evening.

• Preventing infection from the touching of objects – we are insisting that the students do not share standard equipment such as pens and pencils.  Where students have to use specialist items, such as computer keyboards, art and technology materials we have provided sanitising gel and wipes.

• The need to avoid touching mouths, eyes and faces – students are receiving messages and are being challenged in respect of these actions.

• Cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects – the School has been deep cleaned once and we have engaged with our cleaning contractors to ensure that all surfaces are cleaned and disinfected daily.

• Staff and students to be at home if they have flu/ cold like symptoms – we ask for your support in respect of this.  Any student displaying any cold or flu like symptoms will be sent home from school to recover.

• Coughs and sneezes to be caught in a tissue which is disposed of immediately - students have been messaged and challenged in respect of this.

• Avoiding, where possible, ‘close contact’ with students and colleagues – this is obviously very difficult in an educational setting, however, we have reviewed our routines to limit ‘close contact’.

Dealing with a potential positive case or a confirmed positive case

We will be advised by Public Health England of our approach – it is likely to involve all students who have been in ‘close contact’ with the positive case self-isolating.  The expectation at the moment is that school would remain open.

If a student has come into contact with a person infected with COVID-19, please call NHS 111 to seek their advice and self-isolate. Parents should also inform the School.

Plans for reduced staffing levels and a period of closure for the School

If we had significantly reduced staffing we would revert to a timetable with larger class sizes for Years 7 to 10.  In addition, we would go to tutor groups of 30 students.

We have a system in place of remote learning for students who are off school.

Public exams

It is very much our expectation that these will go ahead as expected.  All students must be preparing in this expectation.

Jamie Brownhill

Headteacher

Following the negative test results and the expiry of the 14 day isolation period, our ski trip students and staff will be returning to School on Monday.  We will be delighted to have them all back.  It has been a very difficult time for them and their families.  I would like to express my gratitude for the support they have provided to the School in helping us to manage the situation.

Moving forward, the School will monitor the situation in respect of the coronavirus and will follow advice issued by the Public Health England and the Department for Education.

In the meantime, the School continues its actions in terms of preventing the spread of the virus. We ask the parents to support the School in educating the students about the importance of hand washing and general hygiene.

Jamie Brownhill

Headteacher

On Tuesday 27th February a group of pupils in Years 11 and 13 visited the Mexican embassy in London to learn more about the countries and cultures in the wider Spanish speaking world.

During the visit, pupils listened to a presentation, conducted entirely in Spanish,  about Mexico’s geography, history and culture. They also heard about the work of the embassy here in London including diplomatic duties as well as organising events to promote Mexican culture abroad. Afterwards pupils had the opportunity to ask questions relating to their interests and studies. We discussed topics as wide as food, Spanish-Mexican relations and current social issues in Mexico. They were also greeted by the ambassador.

Well done to all those involved and keep practicing your Spanish!

Further negative test results have been received today.

Some general school news – a group of Year 11 and Year 13 students studying Spanish have recently visited the Mexican embassy in London to learn more about the countries and cultures in the wider Spanish speaking world. Please see a separate post about their visit.

Jamie Brownhill

Headteacher

Further negative test results have been received today and we are now in the position that we are only awaiting a small handful of results.

Some general school news – tomorrow sees our Year 10 football team play in the last 8 of the Schools National Cup.  They are playing Redbourne School, Bedfordshire.  We wish our Year 10 team well.

Jamie Brownhill

Headteacher

Today has been another day of bedding down our virus transmission prevention strategies.  The students have been excellent in adopting the need for the focus on handwashing.  Tutor time has been used to teach perfect handwashing.  We have removed all ‘finger food’ from our breaktime menu and required the use of forks and serviettes to hold the food.  Students who bring in pack lunches should also use the serviettes provided to eat their food.

We have received news of further negative tests today.  This means that we now have the results of over two thirds of the tests that have been taken, with of course all of them being negative.

Meanwhile the life of the School continues.  I am very proud of the response of our students and community to the coronavirus situation.  The overall attendance of students throughout  this period has remained very high.  An example of ‘normality’ continuing at the School was 60 of our Year 7 students taking part in a music workshop all day on Monday, which culminated in them performing as an orchestra for parents and teachers at the end of the day.

Thursday is, of course, World Book Day.  In our whole School assembly today we heard from students and teachers on books that had changed their lives.  Our challenge is illustrated by one finding from the National Literacy Trust’s survey, released to mark World Book Day.  It found that 47% of boys, as against 60% of girls were ‘keen’ readers.  This figure, for both genders, declines considerably as they move through their teens.  As a School we look for all of our students to be keen readers and to read widely.   We have a programme of reading during tutor time and all students are required to have a book ‘on the go’, which can be chosen from our well stocked library.

Jamie Brownhill

Headteacher