Monday 29 June 2009

Health and Safety Review

Each term at Fendalton, the Board of Trustees review a different aspect of school life and the policies in place to support that aspect. As part of this review we like to survey the community for any feedback. This term we have been reviewing "Health and Safety" across the school and so would like to know if there are any concerns around this within our community.

The review looks at the physical spaces within the school, the systems that we have for managing risk and those for ensuring child safety. If you identify areas for us to develop, please provide ideas for how the system could be improved by completing the form below. The form is now open and will remain so until the end of week 2 of term 3 (Friday 31st July). Please take a moment to complete the form.

Friday 12 June 2009

Swine Flu

I am closely monitoring the regular updates from the Ministries of Health and Education on the Influenza A (H1N1) Swine Flu. There has been some mixed messages and inconsistencies, which is frustrating for parents and for the school. I have asked for children to be kept away from school for 7 days after they return from an overseas trip, even if they are not showing any symptoms. This advice came from the Ministry of Health and is not a requirement but a strong recommendation. Decisions about asking staff to stay away from school have not yet been made, the Board will discuss this at our meeting on Monday night.

I have been wondering why the swine flu situation has been receiving such attention, when the symptoms don't appear to be any more serious than the ordinary flu. The following background information (endorsed by Dr Alistair Humphreys, Medical Officer of Health for the Canterbury Westland region) helped to clarify the reasons for me:


The issue is the infection rate. With normal seasonal influenza the infection rate is about 1 person in every 20. This swine flu epidemic is forecast to infect as many as 1 person in every 3. Thus, in the peak week of infection, if nothing is done about it, there could be 60,000 new infections in Canterbury in that week alone. When a virus takes off in a community, the infection rate is very steep to start with, then peaks, and then slowly decreases. If the onset is too steep, so many people report for treatment at the same time that services are overwhelmed, and medical staff also succumb to the infection. The strategy is trying to flatten out the curve of the infection rate, to take the peak out of it, and make it longer and flatter. By slowing down the onset curve, medical planners seek to get us through with hospitals and GP's coping with patients; both those suffering from the swine flu virus, and those with other medical conditions. Schools' procedures are hugely important as they have the ability to amplify or reduce the effect of a virus on a community.

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