From 9.00 PM (21.00) this evening, Wednesday 18th March 2020, the college will be closed to learners and visitors, initially until Monday 20th April 2020, as we move to online learning in response to the continued threat from the spread of the Coronavirus.
We have taken this difficult decision following the government‚ briefings on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th March and their advice that:
- All members of a household should self-isolate for 14 days should anyone in the household have a fever or a cough.
- Pregnant women are now considered to be a vulnerable group.
We have been closely monitoring the impact of this advice on learners‚Äô and staff attendance and we have decided that it is not operationally possible to follow all of the government‚ advice
andrun the college safely.
We do not know which of our learners or staff (or their family members) who have symptoms have the virus as they will not be tested at this time. However, because they will not be tested, we are unable to assess the risk this presents to us.
We have tried to accommodate staff and learner absence by joining groups together. However, it is no longer safe to do so. We are also aware that placing learners into even bigger groups increases the risk of spreading the virus, perhaps to pregnant, elderly or sick family members who are not able to be ‘socially distant’.
