See here for the latest news and updates

• Advice on Shielding for clinically vulnerable people

  Tue 24 Mar 2020 Julie Fardell

  This guidance is for people, including children, who are at very high risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) because of an underlying health condition, and for their family, friends and carers. It is intended for use in situations where the extremely vulnerable person is living in their own home, with or without additional support. This includes the extremely clinically vulnerable people living in long-term care facilities, either for the elderly or persons with special needs.

  Shielding is a measure to protect people who are clinically extremely vulnerable by minimising all interaction between those who are extremely vulnerable and others. We are strongly advising people with serious underlying health conditions (listed below) which put them at very high risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) to rigorously follow shielding measures in order to keep themselves safe.

  What do we mean by extremely vulnerable?

  People falling into this extremely vulnerable group include:

  1. Solid organ transplant recipients

  2. People with specific cancers:
     • people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
     • people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
     • people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
     • people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
     • people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs

  3. People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD.

  4. People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).

  5. People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.

  6. Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.

• Prime Minister’s latest advice

  Tue 24 Mar 2020 Julie Fardell
  While Victoria School is partially open today to provide care to a small number of children who are particularly vulnerable and those whose parents’ work is critical to the country’s Coronavirus response, I take the opportunity in light of last night’s Prime Minister’s address, to remind families that wherever possible, it is safest for children to be cared for at home and all unnecessary travel should be avoided. I continue to be concerned about the risk to children who are medically vulnerable, travelling in groups then being present with a number of other children and staff. If you plan to request that your child attends school, the request will be prioritised against the published list of essential workers  and individual vulnerabilities. Tackling the Coronavirus needs a concerted effort from all to follow Government advice to stay at home unless absolutely unavoidable.

• Coronavirus information in 23 community languages

  Fri 20 Mar 2020 Julie Fardell

  Click on the link to see information about Coronavirus in 23 languages.

  https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/coronavirus-information/

• School Nursing during Partial Closure Period

  Fri 20 Mar 2020 Julie Fardell

  Special School Nursing Service

  Dear Parent/Carer Following government recommendations for schools to offer a limited service during the coronavirus pandemic we would like to assure you that you will still be able to access help and support from the special school nursing service. During this time you can continue to get support and advice from the special school nursing service by either emailing: BCHNT.holidaycoverssnteam@nhs.net Or Telephone: 0121 466 4270 OR 0121 465 2622. The email and telephone lines will be staffed Monday to Friday 08:30 – 16:00 and staff will be able to support or advise as required.  If you email or leave a message outside these times staff will be in contact with you when they return Please check www.birminghamcommunity.nhs.uk for any information about other services. Kind Regards Caroline Moore -Service Manager Hannah Dyson - Clinical Lead   Special School Nursing Service       Do you need this information in another language or format? If you require this information in an alternative language or format such as Braille or large print, or in a different language please contact customer services on 0800 917 2855.

  

• Online Safety During Partial Closure

  Fri 20 Mar 2020 Andrew

  Some of you and your young people may be spending more time online during the partial school closure. National Online Safety are offering a free subscription to all of their #onlinesafety guides.

   

  'Not only will you receive all of our existing guides, you'll receive a new guide every Wednesday as part of our #WakeUpWednesday campaign!'

   

  Please visit and share:

   

  https://nationalonlinesafety.com/guides?utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=Free-Guides-Subscription

• Latest Information on partial school closures and free school meals

  Fri 20 Mar 2020 Julie fardell

  Dear parents and carers,

  The government has now provided a much clearer and broader definition of who might classify as "key workers". The advice continues to state that the majority of children should be cared for at home but schools will remain open to provide care to a much smaller number of children who are especially vulnerable or whose parents have to be able to get to work as they are classed as key workers. We will be working hard today to get in touch with every family to determine whether you would need to send your child to school in the coming weeks. I continue to be concerned that for many of our children, their underlying medical conditions would be such as to make them more susceptible to the effect of Coronavirus and that for these individuals, being cared for at home is probably the safest option.

   

  We are also looking at ways to help families whose children are entitled to free school meals. Probably a voucher system for you to buy healthy food for them would be the most suitable option but we still need to determine exactly how we can make this happen.

   

  We have not been successful in contacting all parents yet, but at this stage we have 16 pupils needing to access school next week. We are liaising with Birmingham City Council in regard to the provision of transport, and will open Tuesday to Friday from 9am to 3pm. The kitchens will be thoroughly cleaned on Monday. Children in attendance from Tuesday to Friday will receive a school lunch.

   

  School nurses will be in attendance, although fewer of them than usual. Physiotherapists will also be in attendance. Your child may not be cared for in his/her usual classroom or with his/her usual peers, or even by the usual staff (although all will be experienced school staff). However, we are confident that they will have a safe and happy day at school.

   

  The provision will be under daily review and we will let you know of any changes as they arise. At this stage we are not sure whether we can provide a service during the Easter holidays and will be contacting you again to check whether this is something that is needed.

   

  Thank you for your support and flexibility throughout the past week and going forward into the next few weeks. There will be staff at school to receive your calls on monday, so if you have any questions, please feel free to phone.

   

• Emergency Closure Letter

  Thu 19 Mar 2020 Julie

  Dear Parent / Guardian,

  Due to the recent announcement from the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson that all UK schools must close due to the spread of Coronavirus, we are writing to officially notify you of Victoria School’s closure.

  This is an extremely difficult situation which impacts us all, but we believe that the closure of schools is necessary to ensure the safety, health and wellbeing of everyone and prevent further spread of the virus.
  
  The Prime Minister has advised that children should not be left with older grandparents or older relatives who may be particularly vulnerable to the Coronavirus.
  
  Vulnerable children and children of key workers will continue to be able to come into school as normal. Examples of these key workers include NHS staff, police and delivery drivers who need to be able to go to work. Vulnerable children include those who have a social worker and those with educational health and care plans. We are awaiting further instructions on this as to how it will affect our school.

  Our staff have been working hard behind the scenes to devise a learning plan to ensure that your child still has the opportunity to continue their studies remotely. Please find details of our emergency education plan below:

  https://www.victoria.bham.sch.uk/  – ‘Pupils’ section – home learning

  If you have any questions or concerns regarding the closure, please do not visit the school as all staff will be working remotely but contact email:  enquiry@victoria.bham.sch.uk

  As soon as we have an official date to re-open, we will communicate this with you via the school website.

  Can I remind you all to register and download the website app to your mobile phones.

  Until then, we would like to offer our very best wishes and hope that anybody affected by this unprecedented virus makes a speedy recovery.

  Yours Sincerely,

  Headteacher

   

   

• Coronavirus Update 19 March 2020

  Thu 19 Mar 2020 SLT

  Following on from the government advice yesterday we plan on closing Victoria School at the end of the day on Friday. We are awaiting further advice about the role of the school for keyworkers and vulnerable children. We will be in contact with families over the next 2 days to discuss this further. 

   

  We are also trying to clarify with physios, nurses, transport and our kitchen staff what this announcement means for the service they provide. As always we will keep you updated as soon as we know more.

   

  We appreciate that there is much that is still unclear about the announcement of school closures and we are doing all that we can to get clarification and make the best decision for our young people and their families.

   

   

   

• Home Learning Resources

  Wed 18 Mar 2020 Julie Fardell
  Given the large number of pupils currently self-isolating at home and the possibility of future school closures, we have compiled a range of useful home learning resources for your reference and use under the PUPILS tab on this website. Resources range from simple activity ideas to internet learning sites with free logins. We are sure you and your children will find loads of interesting educational content to pursue.

• Coronavirus Update 18 March 2020

  Wed 18 Mar 2020 Julie Fardell

  The Government has announced its new COVID-19 Emergency Bill which will be published later this week. There will also be an important announcement by Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education, to the House of Commons at 5pm this evening.

  In the meantime, to limit the spread of disease to our very vulnerable pupil population, I implore all parents to please keep children at home if they exhibit any signs of illness, but in regard to COVID-19: a new cough or an elevated temperature. If children present with either of these symptoms at school, you will be contacted and will need to collect your child from school as soon as possible and then keep them in isolation at home for a minimum of 7 days. We currently have about one third of our pupils absent from school either self isolating because they are vulnerable owing to underlying conditions, or because they have symptoms. We are also experiencing a growing number of staff absent for a variety of reasons. However we are not aware of any confirmed cases of COVID-19 among pupils or staff.

   

  We appreciate that this is a stressful and confusing time for everyone and ask that  everyone follows government guidance in order to keep themselves and others safe and healthy.