School Closure – Thursday 24th November 2022 and Friday 25th November 2022
Towards the end of last week school started to see a dramatic increase in the number of children absent from school due to illness. This has escalated incredibly quickly with us seeing numbers of children off in excess of one hundred each day this week. The majority of absences are due to the same symptoms - high temperatures and coughs. We have also had an increase in staff absence, as well as children being sent home throughout the school day.
In light of the above we contacted Public Health Bury on Monday who in turn have liaised with the UK Health Security Agency. All absences of staff and children were reported to them and today they came back to us with further advice this afternoon based on this being identified as a respiratory outbreak.
Based on the recommendations given by UKHSA and Public Health Bury, Miss Michael with the full approval and support of the Chair of Governors, has had to make the very difficult decision to close school for the next two days to try to halt the rapid spread of illness we are currently seeing.
This decision has not been made lightly as we appreciate and fully understand that the short notice and suddenness of this decision will cause inconvenience across the school community but we have to prioritise the health and safety of our children and staff and try to stop the spread of illness.
Staff are working to setup work packs and online learning ready for tomorrow. Work on Class Dojo will be available by 9:30am tomorrow morning with work packs available from 11:00am for those unable to access Class Dojo from home.
The school kitchen will be preparing packed lunches for all those children entitled to benefit led free school meals. We will send a message out to let families know when they are available for collection.
I extend my humble apologies for this change in education provision.
Yours sincerely,
Miss M Michael
Headteacher