Dear Parents/Carers,

Here we are at the end of another half-term, we are also at the half-way point of the whole school year!  Lots has been happening this year so far, as Ms Jones wrote about in the letter earlier this week.

STAFFING NEWS

As we go into the half-term break, I’m delighted to be able to inform you that we have successfully appointed a new Deputy Headteacher for September when I take on the Headship on a permanent basis.  In the new academic year, will welcome Alison Turner, who is currently the Deputy Headteacher at Much Wenlock Primary School.  She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience, particularly in maths, and will be a great asset to the school.

PARENT SURVEY

As you know, we are constantly seeking to enhance every aspect of provision here at Coleham School and we really value your views and feedback, to make further improvements.  The survey can be anonymous, but if you have specific concerns, it would be useful to add your name so that we can address them directly with you.  Please remember that the online survey is not the appropriate place to air grievances or make personal comments: please contact me or the office if you have any serious concerns that we can address.  Click the link below to access the survey:

PARENT SURVEY 2023

This survey will be open for two weeks and will close on Friday 3rd March at 3:00pm.

We will also be asking the children to complete a questionnaire after half-term in order to gain their views too.  We will, of course, consider all of your views as a Leadership Team and I will write to you again with the results and details of our plans going forward.  Thank you for taking the time to fill in this questionnaire.  Your views do matter to us.

STRIKE ACTION: WEDNESDAY 1^ST MARCH

We are also able to confirm that school we be able to open as normal on Wednesday 1^st March (first Wednesday back) which is the next planned date for national strike action by NEU members.

It only remains for us to wish you a relaxing half-term break!

Yours sincerely,

Mr Larkham & Ms Jones

Dear Parents/Carers,

As we near the end of this half term, I write with some important updates and information.

Firstly, I am sad to let you all know that at the end of this term, Mr Venn will be leaving Coleham School to take up a new post at a school in Devon.  Mr Venn has taught PE for us here at Coleham for over 4 years and he has contributed so much to school life, running numerous sporting clubs, competitions and sports events.  He will be greatly missed by us all but we wish him lots of luck as he re-locates to Devon to be nearer to family.  We will, of course, be organising a sporting event to thank Mr Venn for all his hard work during his time at Coleham.  More information will follow after half term.

This half term has been a busy one.  The children enjoyed Francophone day, organised by Madame Jones, where they learnt about different French speaking countries.  They also enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year.  In addition, a number of trips have been organised by teachers, both local and further afield.  We are really keen to bring the curriculum to life through real life experiences for the children and we have even more planned for after half term, including the Year 4 residential trip to Condover and some exciting curriculum visits to Shrewsbury High School.

It was also lovely to welcome so many of you to the recent Coleham Quiz night.  Thank you to Mr Larkham, our Quiz Master.  Our recent school disco was also well attended and enjoyed by all.  We are now looking forward to the Plant and Craft Fair, which will take place in May and is part of the Belle Vue Arts Festival.  We’ll be holding a planning meeting for this after half term and warmly welcome parents and community members to come along and help with this event.  We will send more information soon.

After half term, we look forward to seeing you in school for Parents Evening.  Hopefully you have been able to book a slot with your child’s class teacher.  Please let us know if you need any support with booking your appointment.  When we return to school after the break, we are also looking forward to celebrating World Book Day and have a whole week of activities in school.  We have a storyteller visiting EYFS & KS1 and an author visiting KS2.  You are able to purchase a signed book for KS2 children on ParentPay for the author book signing if this interests your child.  Please see the separate letter from Mrs Young regarding this.  Finally, rehearsals are well underway for our school production of Jungle Book, which will be performed just before we break up for Easter.  Please look out for more information from Mrs Stennett regarding rehearsals and tickets!

Term Dates

The spring term is often a time when people look to book their annual holidays. If you are planning a trip this year, please do check our school’s website for our term dates to ensure that you are referencing the correct term dates.  We set our own term dates and so Shropshire Council’s term dates do not always correspond with ours, particularly when it comes to PD Days. Also, please be aware that we cannot authorise holidays during term.

Attendance

We are working really hard to ensure that attendance and punctuality remains high across school.  Please remember that good attendance is crucial and that most minor aliments (e.g. a cold, tiredness) can be dealt with at school.  We regularly speak to the children about the importance of punctuality and good attendance even if we are not feeling 100%.  Please can I ask you to deliver the same message at home to your children and, if in doubt, please send your child to school and be assured that if they are unwell while at school, we will call you to collect them.  Please remember that your child must arrive in good time to enter school at 8:50 am for registration and the school gates close at 8:55 am.

Uniform

Please remember to send your children into school in the correct uniform and with black school shoes (not trainers).  We are phasing out the old style red logo school jumpers and would ask you to please hand in any old jumpers so that we can swap them for new ones.  If you are having any trouble funding school uniform, please let us know; we are happy to help.

Class Assemblies

This term, a number of classes have performed their class assemblies – thank you for coming along to watch your children.  We have some more assemblies scheduled for after half term (please see below).  These assemblies are a chance for your child to share with you the work they have been doing here at school.  They will last for approximately 20 minutes and will begin at 9:10am on your allocated day.  Please head into the hall via the front door straight after drop off on your allocated day.

Finally, please remember that if you have any concerns or queries at all as the term progresses, do contact the school office.  Your child’s class teacher will usually be your first port of call but me or Mr Larkham are out on the playground most days, and are very happy to deal with any concerns you may have.

Yours sincerely,

Claire Jones

Headteacher

SPRING TERM PARENT CONSULTATIONS

Dear Parents and Carers,

Many apologies for the technical failure last week – we can now confirm that the system works and you are able to book your slot.  There is also a slight change of date, owing to the propsed NEU industrial action on Wednesday 1^st March.

Those of you who booked an appointment for Wednesday 1^st will need to rebook your slot. Those who have booked an appointment for Thursday 2^nd March will not be affected.

The two parents’ evenings will be:

• Tuesday 28^th February: 4:00 pm – 7:20 pm
• Thursday 2^nd March: 4:00 pm – 7:20 pm

To arrange your appointment, please follow the link below (which can also be found in the Parents’ Area section of our website).  Each consultation will last for 10 mins.  If you arrive a little early, you will have the opportunity to look through your children’s books while you wait for your meeting.  You are welcome to stay after the meeting to carry on looking through books if you wish.

Book an appointment here:

Click HERE to book your appointment

Where possible, we ask that you book one meeting per child.  For separated parents, we will be able to accommodate separate meetings if they are required.

Please do get in touch with the school office if you have any questions.

Kind regards,

Claire Jones

Headteacher

As you will be aware, there is planned strike action from the National Education Unioin (NEU) on Wednesday 1^st February, owing to a dispute with the DfE.

I am writing to let you know that we will be able to keep Coleham School open on the 1^st February, so please send your children in as normal.

If anything changes, we will, of course, let you know.  We will also keep you informed of the proposed strike days beyond the 1^st February when we are able.

You may be aware that The National Education Union (NEU) will be holding strike action in the near future due to a dispute with the government over pay and funding.

The NEU has announced the following dates for the potential strike action:

• Wednesday 1 February 2023: all eligible members in England and Wales
• Wednesday 1 March 2023: all eligible members in the following English regions: East Midlands, West Midlands, Eastern.
• Wednesday 15/16 March 2023: all eligible members in England and Wales.

The NEU is just one of many education unions represented at Coleham, so at this stage I do not know how this will impact classes in our school; I am writing to let you know that there may be some disruption on these dates.

Of course, I apologise for any potential disruption to your child’s education.  Please rest assured that I will write to you as soon as possible to let you know further details and if this strike action will impact any of our classes.

We are pleased to announce that Coleham School will be taking part in the Shropshire Primary Schools’ Half Marathon again this year.  This event was very popular last year with our pupils with 150 taking part ranging from Year 1 to Year 6.

This is a cumulative Half Marathon (13.1 miles) where, over the course of the Spring term, children will complete the first 12 miles of the challenge. We intend on running each of these miles on a weekly basis, during break time (any child may participate in this part at break times). The children will then complete their final 1.1 miles at the West Mid Showground on Saturday 22^nd April 2023 from 9am. Here they will get the full event experience including race bibs, a fully marshalled route, music and a start and finish line gantry. As they cross the finish line wearing their Half Marathon T-shirt they will be presented with their Half Marathon medal.

It is important to explain that this event is not a running race: it will not be chip-timed, nor will there be prizes for the “fastest” children. It is an inclusive personal challenge where, over a period of time, we hope they will develop a desire to exercise regularly, with no pressure to compete, whilst at the same time completing something as challenging as a Half Marathon – a wonderful achievement for everyone involved.

To compete in this event there is an entrance fee of £12 for each child entered and you must be able to commit to bringing your child to the event at the West Mid Showground. This event is open to all our pupils in Years 1 to 6.  If you would like your child to take part then please make the payment via Parentpay. If you require financial assistance, then please contact the school office.

The deadline for this is 12pm Thursday 2nd February as we need to give final numbers to the organising committee.

We are looking forward to being active and completing this challenge!

Many thanks,

C Lewis & M Venn

Miss Lewis and Mr Venn

PE Coordinator & Sport Coach

Dear Parents/Carers,

It was lovely to welcome the children back to school last week after the Christmas holiday.  Everyone is looking refreshed and ready for the term ahead.

We have a busy half term ahead with lots of activities planned.  On Friday, we will be hosting our first school disco since before Covid; we are really looking forward to this and hope that lots of children will be attending.  In addition, we are also organising a parents quiz night this half term (details to follow), which we hope you will support.

From a curriculum point of view, we have a number of trips planned including a Year 1 trip to Blists Hill, a Year 3 trip to Birmingham Sea Life Centre and a Year 4 trip to Engenuity as part of their Science topic.  Year 4 will also be going to Condover for a 1 night residential trip and Year 5 will be visiting the National Space Centre in Leicester as part of their Science and History work.  More details about all trips will follow in due course.

In addition, this term Mrs Stennett will be leading the School Production of Jungle Book.  Auditions for Years 5 & 6 have started this week (during lunch breaks) and the production itself will be just before Easter.  The whole school is also gearing up for our Francophone Day later this half term, organised by Madame Jones.  During our Francophone Day, the children will learn about the different countries where French is spoken.  We will also be celebrating the Chinese New Year at the beginning of February and we look forward to being able to share some images via Class Do Jo with you.

Staffing Update

This term, we have welcomed Miss Jones to teach in Whales class and we have also welcomed Mrs Mukhopadyhay to our support staff team, working across both Year 4 classes.

Attendance

We are working really hard to ensure that attendance and punctuality remains high across school.  Please remember that good attendance is crucial and that most minor aliments (e.g. a cold, tiredness) can be dealt with at school.  We regularly speak to the children about the importance of punctuality and good attendance even if we are not feeling 100%.  Please can I ask you to deliver the same message at home to your children and, if in doubt, please send your child to school and be assured that if they are unwell while at school, we will call you to collect them.  Please remember that your child must arrive in good time to enter school at 8:50 am for registration and the school gates will close at 8:55 am.  Thank you for your ongoing support.

Term Dates

The spring term is often a time when people look to book their annual holidays. If you are planning a trip this year, please do check our school’s website for our term dates to ensure that you are referencing the correct term dates: We set our own term dates and so Shropshire Council’s term dates do not always correspond with ours, particularly when it comes to PD Days. Also, please be aware that unless there are exceptional circumstances, holidays during term time cannot be authorised.

Class Assemblies

This term, we would like to invite all parents/carers into school to watch their child’s class assembly.  These assemblies will be a chance for your children to share with you the work they have been doing here at school.  They will last for approximately 20 minutes and will begin at 9:10am on your allocated day.  Please head into the hall via the front door straight after drop off on your allocated day:

We hope that you will be able to join us for these assemblies.

Finally, please remember that if you have any concerns or queries at all as the term progresses, do contact the school office.  Your child’s class teacher will usually be your first port of call but me or Mr Larkham are out on the playground most days, and are very happy to deal with any concerns you may have.

Yours sincerely,

Claire Jones

Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers,

This year at Coleham School, we are hosting a Francophone Day on Tuesday 17th January.  Francophone means ‘French Speaking’ and so we will be looking at countries around the world that speak French.  This is in place of our usual International Day as we would like to raise awareness of the fact that French is not just spoken in France.

There are 29 official French-speaking countries and you can see their flags below. Madame Jones will be teaching the KS2 children about HAÏTI in her usual French teaching slot.

Map

Activities

Each year group has been assigned a Francophone continent/countries for them to research in class (see below)

Le Monde Francophonie – The French-speaking World 

Reception – la France 

Year 1 – America: le Canada – Quebec 

Year 2 – Europe: la Belgique; la Suisse (Switzerland); Luxembourg 

Year 3 – Asia: le Viêtnam; Laos 

Year 4 – Northern Africa: le Maroc, Algérie

Year 5 – Africa/Indian Ocean: la Madagascar OR Caribbean: Martinique 

Year 6 –Africa: le Sénégal, le Cameroun, le Mali, la Côte d’Ivoire, le Burkina Faso 

This will be a day during which pupils of all year groups will take part in activities which celebrate international cultures as well as diversity within our school community. Your child will do some or all of the following:

• Listening to music from the country
• Learning to speak some words from the language
• Doing some art work linked with that country
• Doing some map work linked to the geography of that country
• Learning a bit about the history of that country
• Looking at the day in the life of a child from that country

Menu

There will be a special French Theme Menu for lunch on this day.

Non-Uniform Day

As usual, children are invited to dress in their own clothes with reference to any international country.  You do not need to go to any extra cost for this, some simple ideas are below:

• Dress in colours of a country’s flag or for example, if your child wants to represent Switzerland (la Suisse), he/she should wear any red or white clothes.
• Safety pin a flag to the front of a coloured T-shirt or wrap one around your shoulders.
• Use face paints to decorate your face with a flag
• Use sports clothes you have at home that represent a country (For example Football, Rugby or Cycling shirts)
• Please wear any cultural dress you may have at home.

Parent Visitors

We love to have visitors come into school to share their experiences.  If you would like to visit your child’s class to talk about a country you are connected with or have visited as a keen traveller then we would love to see you and the Class Teacher will support you.  (You might like to  bring photos, props, cultural dress, or share some of the language) Please contact the school office to book in.

We hope you agree that it will be a fun and enriching experience for all involved and many thanks in advance for your support with costumes.

Yours sincerely,

Chloë Jones

Foreign Languages Coordinator

Dear Parent/Carer,

School Disco

Lets start the New year with a School Disco!

The Children’s Disco is on Friday 13^th January 2023

Reception & KS1:            4:45m to 5.45 pm

KS2:                                  6.00pm to 7.00pm          

 Entry is £4 per child

 Children will not need to bring any money.  Treats and drinks will be provided.

 Payment

Please pay for Disco entry in advance on ParentPay.  We will not be issuing tickets – we will print off a list of children who have paid for our Register.

There will be free entry for children eligible for benefits related Free School Meals.  Parents do not need to book in, these children are able to turn up on the night.

If your EYFS/KS1 child attends and pays for After School Club on a Friday, these children will be taken to the Disco by Miss Gregory and can be collected at 5:45pm by parents.

On the night – Arrival

Due to numbers and staff safely supervising the disco, parents are not able to attend.  For both Discos children should enter via the KS2 double doors.  Please drop your children off here.  We will have staff on hand to take in the youngest children and dance with them.  Once inside children will line up into year groups in the corridor and be checked off on the register before entering the Disco.  We have lots of Reception and KS1 staff attending to dance with the younger children and will have a chill out calm zone available too.

 On the night – Collection

Please come into school and collect your child from the school hall.  This will be very busy and congested with two-way traffic so please be patient.  Senior Staff will be on the doors to ensure every child leaves with a known adult. (family member, friend or parent)

Can you help?

We rely on the wonderful support of our parent community to help stage these events.  The Disco is a lot of fun for the children and requires lots of volunteers to help with refreshments and supervise key areas.  If you are able to help out at 1 or both Discos, please sign up on the Volunteer Rota in the foyer area or let the office know.

Kind Regards,

Miss Othen

Business Manager

Dear Parent/Carer,

After a very busy and action-packed term, we are all delighted to have made it to the final day.  The Coleham staff and children are definitely ready for a good break!

Today is tinged with a little sadness though, as we will be saying ‘Goodbye’ to Ms Evans, who will be leaving us after 29 years teaching at Coleham.  Ms Evans has touched the lives of hundreds of children and her commitment and hard work has been exceptional.  We will all miss her very much but wish her lots of luck as she moves on to new adventures.

This week has been a special one at Coleham and the children have really enjoyed themselves.  It has been heart-warming to see them selecting their gifts at the Elves’ grotto this week (aka The Coach House!). Thank you so much to Miss Othen and the Friends of Coleham for organising the “Elfridges” event and funding Christmas treats throughout school.   If you are lucky enough to receive one of these gifts, we hope that you like it!  In addition, all of the children thoroughly enjoyed their trip to the pantomime at Theatre Severn.

It was magical to watch the nativity performances last week at Holy Trinity Church and lovely to see so many of you coming to watch them.  I really hope that you enjoyed them as much as we did.  A huge ‘well done’ to all of the children who performed and thank you so much to everyone at Holy Trinity Church for allowing us to use the church.  Well done also to all of the Coleham staff for pulling together such wonderful performances with very little time to rehearse.

The staff at Coleham have worked incredibly hard this term and I cannot thank them enough for their endless energy, dedication and commitment.  Despite feeling tired and ready for a break, the whole staff team, led by Mr Williams, created another music video for the children, which we shared in assembly on Monday.   Once again, Mr Williams has wowed us all and done a truly magnificent job.  It was wonderful to hear the children’s laughter in assembly and watch their faces! Please do have a watch and share with your families.  We hope that you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.  Here is the link:

https://youtu.be/LShd3FR-8lk

Some of the pupils and staff also filmed a podcast with The Shrewsbury Biscuit Podcast chatting about our music Video, why we do it, backstage secrets and our special community.  Please check it out and have a listen.

https://www.theshrewsburybiscuitpodcast.co.uk/the-shrewsbury-biscuit-podcast-coleham-primary-school-christmas-video-preview/

You will have already received letters regarding our school clubs.  We are pleased that so many of the children have already signed up for clubs next term.  We believe it is crucial for all children to have the opportunity to develop new hobbies and skills outside of the classroom.  Please remember these start the very first week back at school.  Please don’t forget to have a look and book on over the holidays if you haven’t yet had chance to do so.

Looking ahead, we have another busy calendar planned for the Spring term, including various house competitions, an International Day, a school disco and a celebration of the Chinese New Year.  We will continue to share work with you on Do Jo so that you can see what your child(ren) have been up to here at school.

Finally, all that remains is for me to thank you all for your fantastic support throughout the year and, of course, to wish you and your children a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I hope that you all have a lovely, restful break and I will look forward to seeing you all at the school gates on Tuesday 3^rd January 2023.

Yours sincerely,

Claire Jones

Headteacher

Dear Parents / Carers

As 2022 draws to a close I wanted to write to you as the Chair of the Coleham Local Governing Body to reflect on a year of significant change.  This time last year we were successfully navigating our first Ofsted inspection for some years.  The outcome of this reaffirmed my belief that Coleham is an Outstanding school and has the potential to be recognised as such by Ofsted.  That initial inspection has set the groundwork for much of the work the LGB has done this year in supporting the school make the small adjustments to the curriculum that will allow us to feel confident and well prepared for their likely return next year.

2022 brought with it much change in the make up of the Local Governing Board.  Oliver Russell, Stephen Murphy and Eleanor Miles all took the decision to step down from their role as governors and I would like to thank them all for their contributions during their terms.  We welcomed Clare Wilson, David Jones and Daniel Konn to the LGB and I am confident that they will be well equipped to continue the drive for success at Coleham.  Perhaps most significantly in terms of change have been the recent leadership changes at Coleham.  It was with mixed emotions that we received the news that Claire Jones would be moving into the Deputy CEO role on a full time basis from September.  Coleham’s loss will be the Trust’s gain and her leadership will be a real asset for them.  Fortunately, any apprehension for the future was short-lived as the appointment of Tom Larkham to the role of permanent Head Teacher from September was the perfect outcome.  I know the whole LGB will be looking forward to working with him in the future.

We are constantly trying to raise the profile of the LGB within the school and governors have visited the school through 2022 with a focus on a range of areas from safeguarding to behaviour.  These visits have proved invaluable in helping governors to see first hand some of the outstanding work being done everyday at Coleham.  Our link governor groups continue to meet with members of the Senior Leadership Team on a regular basis and they focus on Leadership and Management, Quality of Education and Pupil Related Matters.  This gives governors the opportunity to really drill down to the detail on their area of focus.

We continue to enjoy the benefits of working within the 3-18 Education Trust.  We were sad to see Michael Barratt retire from his role as the CEO and his wit and eloquence will be missed at our meetings.  We have however, already begun an excellent working relationship with the new CEO David O’Toole and we are looking forward to continuing this collaboration into 2023.  In particular, the addition of new primary schools such as Bowbrook will allow for the sharing of good practice at a school and governance level.

I would welcome the opportunity to speak with any of you directly to answer any questions that you may have about the Local Governing Board so please feel free to drop me an email on Geoff.hulme@318edcuation.co.uk or stop me to chat at one of the many school events coming up next term.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and all the best for 2023.

Yours sincerely

Geoff Hulme

Chair of the Coleham Local Governing Body

Dear Parent/Carers,

Well what a week it’s been!  The children have done magnificently in their Nativity and Christmas Shows, we are so proud of them all.  It felt absolutely magical to hear all the children singing together in church and all credit to the children for their commitment.  It takes an awful lot of focus to be part of such a big show, for practising the songs in the run up, to rehearsals and finally performing to 3-4 different audiences.  A huge thank you to our Music Teacher Mrs Porrett who pulled out all the stops and to you all for coming along to watch.

GRAND HAMPER RAFFLE

Thank you for your generosity and hamper donations, we raised £900 to purchase lots of exciting resources for the children.

ELFRIDGES

Next week the children will visit ‘Elfridges’ in school time.  The Coach House has been transformed into the ‘Elves’ Grotto where children can shop for Christmas Gifts for loved ones and family.  Every child in school will visit and there will be a selection of gifts for all the family (sorry no pets this year).

Children love this experience and it is lovely to see them choosing gifts for members of their family.  It teaches the children the value of kindness and giving gifts rather than receiving them.

Gifts cost £2.50 each and can be purchased over the weekend on Parent Pay via your child’s account.  (The cost includes the gift, wrapping and a small donation to school.) You may purchase 1 or more gifts if you wish and we will have a class register recording the number of gifts purchased for each child.

It is important to us that every child in school is included in this experience and enjoys the Grotto visit.  We ask that if you are able to purchase a gift for your child, then please support this school event.  If not, please don’t worry we will ensure every child takes a gift home.

We really couldn’t do this without your support, so thank you!

PANTOMIME

Next Tuesday 13^th December EYFS, Years 1 & 2 will be visiting Theatre Severn to watch Beauty and the Beast show, finishing at 4:30pm.  Coaches are booked to bring the children back to school for approximately 5:15pm.  It will be dark and we need to release the children safely after they have collected their belongings from the classrooms so please do not wait on the pavement for the coaches to arrive.  We will open the front school gate and you should collect your children from outside Badgers & Foxes Classrooms or the playground where you would normally pick them up from.  Please be mindful of the traffic situation at this time outside the front of school with large coaches trying to exit, if you are able to walk to collect your child then please do so.

CHRISTMAS LUNCH

Our School Christmas Lunch will take place next Wednesday.  We’ll have an extra long lunch time so we can all enjoy a festive meal together, both staff and children.  This will be a NON-UNIFORM DAY and the children are free to wear whatever clothes they choose from home.  It will be School Uniform for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday although a spot of tinsel and Christmas hat can jazz this up!

Please see the menu below:

School Trips

Tuesday-Year 6 Liverpool Trip

Arrival at school: 7:50am

Collection: 4:00pm by Parent/Carer

School Uniform & Packed Lunch required

Thursday-Year 5 :Lions Synagogue Tripam

Arrival Time: 8:15am

Collection: Normal time

School Uniform & Packed Lunch required

Staff Christmas Video

As our gift to the children, we have for the third year running, produced a Christmas Song which will be released next week!  We are very excited about showing this to you as we had lots of fun making it.

Finally, have a super weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday morning for our last week of school in 2022.

Best Regards,

Mr Larkham

Headteacher

Dear Parent/Carer,

Health Information

There are a small number of confirmed cases of scarlet fever at Coleham.

Although scarlet fever is usually a mild illness, it should be treated with antibiotics to minimise the risk of complications and reduce the spread to others.

The symptoms of scarlet fever include:

• the first symptoms of scarlet fever often include a sore throat, headache, fever, nausea and vomiting.
• after 12 to 48 hours the characteristic fine red rash develops (if you touch it, it feels like sandpaper). Typically, it first appears on the chest and stomach, rapidly spreading to other parts of the body. On more darkly-pigmented skin, the rash may be harder to spot, although the ‘sandpaper’ feel should be present
• fever over 38.3º C (101º F) or higher is common
• white coating on the tongue, which peels a few days later, leaving the tongue looking red and swollen (known as ‘strawberry tongue’)
• swollen glands in the neck
• feeling tired and unwell
• flushed red face, but pale around the mouth. The flushed face may appear more ‘sunburnt’ on darker skin
• peeling skin on the fingertips, toes and groin area, as the rash fades.

Lots of these symptoms are similar to general illness and viruses but the ‘rough rash’ and ‘strawberry tongue’ are specific to Scarlet Fever.

If you think you, or your child may have scarlet fever the advice from Public Health states:

• see your GP or contact NHS 111 as soon as possible
• make sure that you/your child takes the full course of any antibiotics prescribed by the doctor.
• stay at home for 24 hours after starting the antibiotic treatment, to avoid spreading the infection.

Complications

Children who have had chickenpox recently are more likely to develop more serious infection during an outbreak of scarlet fever and so parents should remain vigilant for symptoms such as:

• a persistent high fever,
• cellulitis (skin infection)
• arthritis (joint pain and swelling).

If you are concerned for any reason please seek medical assistance immediately.

If your child has an underlying condition which affects their immune system, you should contact your GP or hospital doctor to discuss whether any additional measures are needed.

Please be assured that we are following Public Health guidance and have introduced extra hygiene measures at this time.

Yours sincerely,

Claire Jones

Headteacher

Extra Resources:

Public Health Scarlet_fever_symptoms_diagnosis_and_treatment

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/scarlet-fever/

Scarlet Fever fact sheet