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Schools close { April 23 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/2969743.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/2969743.stm
Last Updated: Wednesday, 23 April, 2003, 11:52 GMT 12:52 UK
Schools taking no chances with Sars
With the new school term about to start, independent schools in the UK have been reacting in different ways to the potential risk from the Sars virus.
Going far beyond official advice, some have been putting into quarantine pupils returning from areas of infection, particularly in the Far East.
Others are just keeping a close eye on returning pupils in case they develop symptoms.
Official guidance remains that students from Sars-affected areas are not a risk to others if they have no symptoms.
Advice sent out by the Department for Education's pupil health and safety team says: Students who are well should be allowed to continue their schooling as normal Students should be advised to seek medical advice if they develop any symptoms suggestive of Sars, up to 10 days after their return Students should not return to school if they have any of the symptoms: a fever above 38°C and sore throat, dry cough or breathing difficulties If a student has come into close contact with a known Sars case it would be prudent for the student's health to be monitored for 10 days.
The public health authorities say: "We understand that some schools are advising parents that their children should return to the UK 10 days before the start of the new term in order for them to check their health over the period when symptoms might occur. This is not current UK policy."
The national director of the Boarding Schools' Association, Adrian Underwood, said it was up to individual schools to act as they thought best.
He is waiting for returns from 550 schools on what policies they have adopted, but his impression is that a majority are following the official guidance.
Isolation
But a public school in North Yorkshire is one of those that is taking no chances.
Harrogate Ladies' College is putting 42 of its pupils in quarantine for 10 days in one of its boarding houses.
They are due back from their Easter break in Hong Kong and south China on Wednesday afternoon.
Head teacher Dr Margaret Hustler, who plans to stay with the pupils, said: "What I have to do during those 10 days is to make sure those symptoms aren't developing."
At Wellington School in Somerset, 16 pupils are going into quarantine for up to 10 days as a precaution against the virus.
The bursar, Richard Coupe, said: "The pupils will be isolated in a separate boarding house with the head master and his wife, who will be teaching and looking after them."
Up to 30 pupils will be isolated at Stonar School near Melksham in Wiltshire.
The head mistress, Clare Osbourne, says the school took medical advice to the effect that pupils from infected areas did not need to be quarantined, but decided to take the precaution anyway.
And in Bristol, it is reported that Clifton College has already quarantined up to 30 pupils in its Sanatorium.
The parents of about 20 pupils at a Cornish independent school, Truro High School for Girls, kept their children at home at the start of term on Tuesday because of fears over the Sars virus.
They acted even though 17 pupils from the Far East had been screened and given the all-clear on their return to the UK. They will be checked again twice daily for 10 days.
There will also be 10 days of checks on overseas pupils at one of Worcestershire's top public schools, Bromsgrove School.
About 90 pupils from places such as Hong Kong, China and Japan arrived back at the school on Tuesday for the start of the new term.
Last week, 155 pupils from 32 boarding schools who arrived back in the UK from Hong Kong were put into quarantine for 10 days in field study and activity camps in Dorset and the Isle of Wight.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/2969743.stm
Published: 2003/04/23 11:52:16
© BBC MMIII
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