COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Information
This page contains links to all other pages on our site in relation COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Also available below is links to other external resources for help.
Please click here to view the latest letter regarding new national restrictions.
From Monday 5th October students MUST wear face masks in all communal areas, such as: on the corridors, in changing rooms, in the Dining areas - when not eating - or in their break/lunch zones and at lesson changeovers when moving around the Academy and when they leave at the end of the day.
- Masks should be worn from when they arrive through the gates.
- Although not currently recommended in the government guidance, students may choose to wear face masks in the classroom where they feel safer to do so.
- Although not currently recommended in the government guidance, students may choose to wear face masks in the classroom where they feel safer to do so.
- Further guidance on masks is available within the updated Student Protocol below.
Information for Parents with Students being Sent Home With COVID-19 Symptoms
Please note that this page can be translated into multiple languages.
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THis information
Absence Due to COVID-19 Parental Guide
Click here to view the Parental Guide to Absence
How to Get a Test if you need to
Click here to go to the NHS site to book a test.
Academy Protocols for During COVID19
Linked below are the Protocols created for students and staff returning to site. These document sets out specific changes to how students are expected to behave and new procedures on site that must follow be followed if attending during COVID19.
Staff Protocol
academy COVID19 Risk Assessment
General Advice & Links
Whilst coronavirus is infectious to children it is rarely serious. If your child is unwell it is likely to be a non-coronavirus illness, rather than coronavirus itself.
Whilst it is extremely important to follow Government advice to stay at home during this period, it can be confusing to know what to do when your child is unwell or injured. Remember that NHS 111, GPs and hospitals are still providing the same safe care that they have always done. Straightforward advice for parents can be found here.
Translated NHS Guidance
Doctors of the World in collaboration with the Red Cross have translated NHS guidance regarding COVID-19 into 44 languages including Arabic, Bengali, Farsi, Gujarati, Hausa, Hindi and Polish.
Translated Guidance - Doctors of the World
Coronavirus (COVID-19): travel advice for educational settings
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Travel advice for educational Settings
Advice for educational settings, and their students and staff, who are travelling or planning to travel during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
DfE/PHE Travel Guidance
Updated handwashing advice
It is essential that everyone washes their hands more often, using soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Hand washing with soap employs mechanical action that loosens bacteria and viruses from the skin, rinsing them into the drain. Drying hands afterwards makes the skin less hospitable to the virus. Hand sanitiser can be effective if soap is not available or the situation makes using soap less feasible (i.e. when outside) but using hand sanitiser provides none of the virus-destroying friction that rubbing your hands together and rinsing with water provides.
The latest guidance and video on hand washing can be found at:
The e-Bug project is led by Public Health England and has a dedicated webpage for learning resources on hand washing and respiratory hygiene.
Resources are currently available for KS1, KS2 and KS3 and can be used in various settings including schools and at home:
Click here for the e-Bug Project website
Making Connections Walsall
Your local community response to COVID-19 Coronavirus - a friendly service for vulnerable people and families
If you need practical help with:
• shopping
• picking up prescriptions
• food parcels
• advice on financial help
• reassurance calls/befriending
email: COVID-19communityhelp@walsall.gov.uk or call 0121 380 6690
Please regularly check the government/local advice pages.
Walsall Council - Coronavirus Advice
Citizens advice - Support with living costs
There is support available to keep your child safe online. Below are some useful links to help parents and carers:
- Thinkuknow (advice from the National Crime Agency to stay safe online)
- Internet matters (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Parent info (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- LGfL (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Net-aware (support for parents and carers from the NSPCC)
- Let’s Talk About It (support for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalisation)
- UK Safer Internet Centre (tips, advice, guides)
The full guidance can be accessed via the link.
Children’s Guide to Coronavirus – Children’s Commissioner
The Children’s Commissioner has developed a children’s guide to Coronavirus which supports children and young people in understanding what it is, how they can protect themselves and their families, how to deal with worries and hints and resources to pass the time whilst in lockdown. The Children’s Commissioner says “All these changes might make you feel scared or worried. That’s OK. It’s totally normal to feel like this”. The Children’s Guide can be accessed via the link below.
Coronavirus: online safety
Source: The Children's Commissioner for England
Date: 09 April 2020
The Children's Commissioner for England, in association with the privacy law firm Schillings, has produced a digital safety and wellbeing kit for parents and a safety guide for children to help keep children safe and well online during the coronavirus outbreak.
Read the news story: Digital safety and wellbeing kit
Download the kit: Parents' digital safety and wellbeing kit (PDF)
Download the guide: Children's guide to staying safe online (PDF)
Social isolation, reduced exercise, and bereavement, may affect children’s wellbeing in this period.
Resources to promote and support children and young people’s mental wellbeing include:
- MindEd educational resources for adults about children and young people’s mental health, which is relevant for parents and carers as well as volunteers, teachers, and other professionals working with children
- the Every Mind Matters platform which supports looking after your own and other’s mental health
- guidance on looking after wellbeing and mental health during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
- guidance on supporting children’s wellbeing and mental health
All NHS mental health trusts are setting up 24/7 helplines, and seeking to use digital and virtual channels, to continue delivering support during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Public Health England
Public Health England have also produced an easy read guide to looking after yourself during the pandemic. This can be accessed via the link below.
Public Health England - Personal guide
Educational Guidance Poster.
Click on image to Enlarge
Animation & Story Book Explaining the Coronavirus to Children (INEQUE)
The virus has brought monumental change to how we teach and care for children and young people. The virus presents a particular challenge for a lot of younger children as they adapt to new social distancing measures and forms of learning.
To support different forms of learning, Jim Gamble's team at Inqeue have prepared a short animation, a story book and an activity to support teachers and parents tackle misinformation and help children understand Coronavirus.
Further information:
https://ineqe.com/2020/03/20/animation-story-book-explains-the-coronavirus-to-children/