Hello all, As you know we don't bother you with Yellow warnings, unless perhaps for snow, (especially the yellow sort!) however the Met Office have issued an Amber warning for all of our patch covering the period between Midday Sat 3rd and 6 Am on Sun 4th for heavy rain bringing some flooding and transport disruption. They say: What to expect * Homes and businesses are likely to be flooded, causing damage to some buildings * Fast flowing or deep floodwater is likely, causing danger to life * Delays and some cancellations to train and bus services are likely * Spray and flooding probably leading to difficult driving conditions and some road closures * A good chance some communities are cut off by flooded roads. Further details A band of rain will become slow moving and heavy across Wales, the West Midlands and into southwest England. This is likely to bring flooding and some disruption to travel. Many places will see 25-50 mm of rainfall, with totals of 70-90 mm expected over...

 Hello all, The Met Office have just issued an Amber warning of wind affecting South West England covering our operational area. They expect: A spell of very strong winds will develop across much of Wales and a large swathe of central England during Tuesday before easing from the west during Tuesday evening. Gusts are likely to widely reach 50-55 mph inland with some sites seeing 60-65 mph. Exposed coastal locations in the west and some higher ground inland may see gusts to 70 mph at times. * Longer journey times and cancellations likely, as road, rail, air and ferry services may be affected * Some roads and bridges likely to close * There is a good chance that power cuts may occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage * Flying debris is likely and could lead to Injuries or danger to life and probably some damage to buildings and trees, such as tiles blown from roofs and branches on roads * Injuries and danger to life is likely from large waves...

Hello all, Thanks for the feedback on the model risk assessment. We're improving on it and will reissue for next week. Any other comments most welcome. Helpfully a number of you commented on the return to work after an illness content of the cover email. We agree, without testing it won't be possible to know what the illness has been and it is perfectly possible that returners may need to self isolate again if symptoms occur again, just in case. Hopefully both testing of those with it and those who may have had it will accelerate to aid the confidence around returning to a form of normal. We heard yesterday that the Government hopes effort by all will see the worst behind us by the end of June. However, a later in the year return of the virus is in the planning. There is also work going on in terms of isolation fatigue. We don't seem to be doing well as a society in terms of not panic buying! Goodness knows how attitudes will pan out and potentially impact o...

Hello all, We have been asked, and in the light of yesterday's Government announcement, please find our updated draft risk assessment to hopefully cover many of the issues you are now faced with to make provision for a restricted number of pupils in the categories described, while the majority are asked to stay at home. We appreciate this is a huge challenge and more explanation will be very helpful but it does represent an important contribution to helping flatten the curve of infection and protect the vulnerable as far as possible.  In the mix you have more issues to take into account and handle sensitively such as staff who live with the vulnerable, have vulnerabilities themselves, on top of those who indeed already have it themselves, who in the vast majority will shake it off over 7 days and will then be available for work and resistant to further infection, of course. COVID-19: Advice and guidance for small businesses and the self-employed LAST ...

Hello all, You may well have already heard or seen that as a result of the Government's meeting today on this issue they have moved to a different level of response to the virus and its progress namely DELAY. After reading the following and reflecting on it you may come to the conclusion a communication to all staff and another to parent/carers would be timely, as soon as possible, to try to stave off issues on site tomorrow morning. With immediate effect the advice is that anyone with a new persistent cough or high temperature should self-isolate for seven days. From Friday, school trips abroad will be banned. This should trigger the ability to claim from your insurers but there's no compensation for the disappointment and lost opportunity, of course. Older people and those with pre-existing health conditions are being told not to go on cruises. PM Boris Johnson said it was "the worst public health crisis for a generation".   He said there was no...

Wed, 26 Feb, 20 Hello all, The Met office have just issued a weather warning for snow in the following areas of our patch: South West England: Gloucestershire, Swindon, Wiltshire. However, please note surrounding travel to work areas, eg: S. Wales, will also be affected. The warning is at Yellow level so not so dramatic, but as we know, in some circumstances a little has a disproportionate impact, especially for the unprepared. Further details Rain and hill snow will move eastwards late Wednesday evening and during the early hours of Thursday. Snow is expected over hills and mountains in Wales and also over the Cotswolds and Chilterns. In southern Wales 2-5 cm of snow is likely, mainly above 200 metres, whilst 1-3 cm snow is likely over the Cotswolds, Chilterns, and parts of the Midlands above 150 metres. Away from hills, rain may turn to sleet and snow for a time over parts of the Midlands, East Anglia and the northern Home Counties. Accumulations at these low-levels wi...

Priority Wed, 26 Feb, 20 Hello all, Looking at how things are progressing and supporting you with your many enquiries can we suggest, if you haven't done so already, a communication to your community and staff? The content would be to reassure that you are following the national and local advice. You could then copy and paste the advice from yesterday that includes the list of Category 1 and Category 2 locations and the list of Italian lock down villages. If you can you can go on to say nobody has returned from lock down areas anywhere in the world. Some have returned from areas where the advice is clear on being vigilant in case symptoms appear. If that were to be the case they will then follow the self isolate advice, etc. it would be sensible to recognise that the situation is very dynamic and could already be changing as you send your communication. You will update them on your position if anything material changes, but they can also keep up to date ...