March 4 2020

Dear Parent/Caregiver,

While media and public commentary in relation to Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to raise concern, public health authorities are advising that the current risk remains low in Western Australia. However, precautionary measures are necessary to ensure the safest possible environment for our children.

What are we doing in our College?

There are general measures which will help to reduce the transmission of this virus:

• Maintaining excellent hand hygiene
• Not shaking/holding hands
• Frequent cleaning of ‘high risk’ surfaces, for example door handles and telephones
• Use of disposable tissues
• No sharing of drink bottles, no sharing of food while at school.

There are specific measures for your child:

• Ensure your child’s asthma plan is up to date (if appropriate) and that you have adequate supply of asthma medication
• You may consider influenza vaccine this year to help reduce the risk of influenza related illness (note this is a different virus to novel coronavirus and is not yet available)
• If your child is unwell with any sort of illness, please have a low threshold for keeping them home until they recover fully. 
• Support and encourage healthy hygiene practices at home with your children

We are preparing an response plan which will involve an area for isolation (if needed) and streamlining our methods of communication (use of an SMS service). We will be testing this service on Thursday 5 March.

There is no way of differentiating COVID-19 from other respiratory viruses based on a student’s symptoms. It could mimic a cold or flu. However if your child has a temperature (measured over 38 degrees) or develops difficulty breathing, he or she will be brought to the Administration building and isolated from other students. We will promptly call you to determine if you or your child has been overseas in the last 14 days or if he or she has been in contact with someone with COVID-19. Irrespective of whether the student has travelled overseas, with these types of symptoms, it is essential for the child to be collected from the school as soon as possible.  

We will be reliant on the advice of the Department of Health regarding the need for further precautionary measures.

Students on school related travel

This is not directly relevant for Regent College. For other colleges, all school-related international travel, with the exception of travel to the USA, Canada and New Zealand (providing that this travel does not go through Asia), is not to proceed until further notice. This advice applies to all students and staff across all sectors. 

Students returning from International travel

The current advice from the Department of Health is that students travelling from mainland China or Iran should remain isolated at home for 14 days after leaving these destinations. Currently there are no specific recommendations about students returning from Italy, South Korea, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore or Thailand; however, these countries are considered increased risk of COVID-19. It is imperative that students should stay at home if they develop respiratory symptoms within 14 days of travelling from these countries. It may be worth anticipating the implications for International travel this year if the countries requiring a 14-day quarantine period are broadened.

Parent survey

We acknowledge that the possibility of a pandemic is stressful. We are committed to maintaining a transparent, measured approach based on information provided by the WA Departments of Health and Education. We would like to hear from you, particularly if you have any worries or concerns about COVID-19. A link to a survey about COVID-19 will become available soon.

Links to the Department of Health (Australian Government)

https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-schools-and-early-childhood-centres

It would be helpful for the College to be kept updated about intended International travel this year. Thank you for working together with us to keep our students safe.

Please direct any questions to me in the first instance at admin@regentcollege.wa.edu.au. 

Yours sincerely

Derek Nicholls. Principal

REGENT COLLEGE
22 Colombo Street
Victoria Park WA 6100
(08) 9470 4569