As you may well have heard, swine flu has been spreading quickly through Barnet along with other parts of London.

There have been several confirmed cases in Barnet schools. The advice that we have had from NHS Barnet is that the virus is pretty mild at this time, milder than ‘seasonal flu’ so there is no cause for alarm.

While the NHS and the Health Protection Agency explored closing schools early in the spread of the virus, the NHS in London has now moved away from this, as swine flu is in the community and therefore, we have been advised that there is nothing to be gained from keeping healthy children away from school; they are as likely to catch swine flu outside of school as within.

With so many cases being reported, the NHS is no longer necessarily testing people for confirmation of swine flu. For many people swine flu will come and go with no formal confirmation. Up until now Barnet Council has published details of schools with confirmed cases of flu but this will now change as we are collecting reports of cases.  It is quite possible that a majority of schools in Barnet will report cases within the next two weeks.

All schools in Barnet are also being advised to behave as they would with any similar illness. Schools will remain open unless we cannot guarantee that there will be enough adults to ensure safe supervision of children.

Parents are advised to treat a case as they would with any other illness their child may have. If the child is ill with flu like symptoms they should be kept away from school to avoid infecting other children and staff. Siblings of children who have either been diagnosed with swine flu or who have flu-like symptoms should attend school as normal as long as they remain symptom-free.

If parents are concerned that their child is unwell and is displaying some of the symptoms described above, they should call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47 or their GP practice for more information. 

For general information on swine flu, please call the national swine flu information line 0800 1 513 513.  Information can also be found at www.nhs.uk and www.direct.gov.uk/swineflu.

The school is currently working closely with Barnet and the health authorities to monitor and manage the threat of Swine Flu. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you once again of advice we have been issuing over the past weeks;