Pontefract school tackling minor scarlet fever outbreak

Staff at The King's School, Pontefract , have confirmed that 15 pupils have been diagnosed with the illness.

In 2018 there were a total of 1027 students on roll call.

The school's Executive Director of Secondary Education James Franklin-Smith said that the risk to students is low.

He said: "Attendance at The King’s school is normally excellent but over the last week the absence of pupils has been higher than normal and it’s been confirmed that around 15 students have been diagnosed with Scarlet Fever.

“Despite the fact that there is no statutory requirement to inform parents or carers or deviate from normal working practices, we felt it was crucial that communication from the school to parents and carers was clear, timely and out of courtesy we have provided text and letter updates.

The high school is working closely with Public Health England to tackle the outbreak.

Mr Franklin-Smith said: “We are taking advice from Public Health England and we felt it was important we let parents know of the signs and symptoms. Public Health advised that once treated with antibiotics pupils will be fine to return to school after 24hrs.

“As with any situation like this, there can often be details that are blown out of proportion. At the current time, we are only talking about a relatively small number of confirmed cases of Scarlet Fever and the risk to students is low.

"We’ve assured parents that the school is doing everything it can to minimise any small risk going forward and will continue to ensure that caring for and safeguarding students is paramount.”

For more information please see: http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/scarlet-fever-guidance-and-data