On 2nd December 2022, UK Health Security Agency (UK HSA) put out an alert on the national rise in cases of scarlet fever (caused by Group A Streptococcus) and Invasive Group A Streptococcus. This is across all regions in England. For us, this means:

• pupils with specific conditions such as scarlet fever should stay off school until GP and/or clinical assessment and not return for 24 hours after starting antibiotics;
• where there maybe many co-circulating bacteria and viruses, we re-emphasise good hygiene including:
  • more hand-washing or sanitising during the school day until the end of term. Parents may send pupils to school with a small bottle of hand-sanitiser, if you wish;
  • reminding pupils of the 'catch-it, kill-it, bin-it' approach to respiratory hygiene, including taking a lesson time to talk to pupils and perhaps watch a video.
• tell us if your child has been diagnosed with scarlet fever because we must also tell Northumberland health protection team if there are 2 or more cases in a class.