COVID-19 update: 6 March 2020

6 March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

I am writing to update you on our planning as the outbreak of COVID-19 progresses. As you would appreciate, we are monitoring developments closely and acting in accordance with advice from public health and other agencies.

The safety of students and staff is our priority and we have put in place the first stage of our response plan. For this to be effective, we need your cooperation.

What should parents and carers do?

The key messages for parents and carers are:

  • Do not send your daughter to school if she is unwell.

  • Collect your daughter promptly if she is unwell during the school day.

  • Arrange flu vaccinations as soon as possible on the advice of your GP.

  • Reinforce basic hygiene measures: thorough and frequent hand washing, cover sneezes and coughs, avoid touching the face.

  • Update your contact details with the School to ensure that important and urgent messages are promptly received.

  • Carefully consider travel plans in the upcoming holidays, especially for students in Year 12. Travel to certain destinations may prevent attendance at school on return, with students required to complete a quarantine period and/or obtain medical clearance before returning to school.

  • Please advise us of your daughter’s international travel plans for coming months on the Student Travel Register, which will help us respond to changing advice in relation to travel.

  • If your daughter has been in close contact with a person who has travelled to a high risk location, please keep your daughter home from school and consult your GP to obtain medical clearance.

We thank families for their support so far but there continue to be a small number of cases when girls have been sent to school when they are clearly unwell, or parents have declined to collect their sick daughter because of work commitments. This is not helpful under these difficult circumstances and the School is not equipped to care for sick students. We need, and expect, parents to cooperate with us to ensure the safety and health of our community.

We have contingency plans for various scenarios that may develop in relation to COVID-19, and these plans are being continually revised and adjusted in response to expert advice. These plans include provision for off-campus learning should it be necessary at some point to close the School.

If you would like to know more about the steps that have been taken at this stage, please find details here.

The response of the Queenwood community so far has been very encouraging. We are grateful for the calm and common sense which have prevailed amongst our families, and we appreciate your ongoing assistance.

If you have further queries about these issues, please feel free to contact Mrs Toohey or Mr Daunt Watney.

Yours sincerely

Ms Elizabeth Stone
Principal