Letter from our Headteacher, Shelley McLaren, regarding Coronavirus:

Dear Parents/Carers,

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

As you will be aware, we are working through an unusual and everchanging time for our community and country.

At present, the guidance from the local authority and government is that all schools will remain open as normal.

I know that this is a worrying time for many, therefore I would like to highlight the plans we have put in place in school to keep everyone as safe as possible. I would also like to explain the plans should our school close.

Suspected Case of Coronavirus

The advice from the NHS is that if your child is showing symptoms of Covid-19 (a high fever or a new continuous cough) you should stay at home for seven days, even if symptoms are mild. If symptoms worsen, please contact your GP or NHS 24 (111).

In school, if a young person is showing signs of coronavirus, our medical assistant and a member of the Senior Leadership Team will be made aware. The young person will then be taken to our prepared isolation room and medical advice will be sought and parents/carers contacted.

Cleaning

Our cleaning contractors are using disinfectant cleaners on a continuous basis. A disinfectant deep clean would be undertaken if there is a positive case of coronavirus.

Communication

If the school closes, all parents/carers will be sent a text. The school website, Facebook and Twitter will also be kept up-to-date with information for parents/carers and pupils. Please ‘like’ or ‘follow’ our Facebook or Twitter pages if you have access to these apps. The school Facebook page is Craigroyston Community High School. Our Twitter handles are @CCHSEdinburgh and @HTCraigroyston.

Overseas Trips

As of Friday, the First Minister announced that all overseas trips should be cancelled. Our Tanzania 2020 trip was due to leave at the end of May. We have made the decision to postpone this trip until next May. Although this is very disappointing for our young people, we feel that making this decision at this stage means that we have the opportunity to postpone it rather than cancel it altogether.

Local Trips

The current advice is that local trips can still go ahead. However, we have decided to postpone our Black-Tie Auction event on Friday and Blackpool 2020.

Learning and Teaching and Technology

In preparation for a potential school closure, our staff have been working hard to ensure that resources will be available online and in hard copy for pupils to study at home. Online resources will be available on Office 365. A guide on how to use this will be put on our school website in the coming days.

There will be assemblies held today and tomorrow where our young people will be shown how to access these online resources. For S1-S3 pupils, this will also be covered in lessons this week.

Our senior phase pupils will be given study packs and past papers from all subjects. This will ensure that they have all materials available to prepare them for their final exams in May.

I completely understand that this is a very worrying time for everyone. Our main aims are to keep our young people safe and to be as prepared as possible should our school close. We know that our senior phase pupils, in particular, have great concerns about preparation for exams so we’re trying to support them in every way we can.

We are a very strong community and I know that we can all work together to make the best of this difficult situation.

Please take care of yourself and your families and we will contact you as and when information becomes available.

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Shelley McLaren