"My English lessons in the Lower Sixth were one of the most important cultural influences on my life."
	David Lidington, MP.

Swine Flu - Urgent message 30th June 2009

The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School has one confirmed case of swine flu in a member of the support staff.  There are also three suspected cases: one in another member of the support staff; one in a year 3 boy; and one in an Upper 6th boy.  None of these suspected three cases has been confirmed.

Our immediate area (Watford, Bushey Heath and Hertsmere) is now officially one of the hot spots.  Our advice is that there is no need for the school to close at the moment, but it may be that this becomes necessary.  If the school closes, it will not be until the following day, and a message will be sent by text and/or email asking you to look at further information on the school website.  Closure would most probably be for a period of 7 days.

In the meantime, if your son is ill, the advice is to take his temperature.  If it is 38°C or more, AND he has two or more of the following symptoms: cough, sore throat, runny nose, limb/joint pain, headache, vomiting/diarrhoea, you should telephone your doctor or out-of-hours service.  If he is given a prescription for Tamiflu, he should not return to school until he has finished the 5-day course of medication.  In all cases, he should stay at home until he is free of all symptoms.

Please also keep us informed: we need to know how many boys in the school have flu in order to take advice from the Health Protection Agency about possible closure.  If your son has a temperature but swine flu is not suspected, then you should also keep him at home until he is symptom-free.

In the meanwhile, sensible precautions are to ask you to make sure your son is aware of basic hygiene precautions (washing hands, covering the mouth/nose when coughing or sneezing, disposing of used tissues quickly and appropriately) and to keep him at home if he seems as if he could be incubating flu.  For the same reason, if a boy at the school seems to have the symptoms, we will need to keep him in isolation and to telephone to ask you to take him home as soon as possible.

If we close, staff will make every effort to continue to keep your son’s education going so far as is reasonably possible using email and the school website, intranet and internet, though obviously what can be done will depend on your son’s age and on the subject in question.

Our website will be updated as and when we have further news.  If you have queries about swine flu, please contact NHS Direct on 0845 4647 or look at the HPA website.

12:42 pm, Tuesday 30th June