St Clare’s and COVID-19

For emergency calls regarding pastoral support or safeguarding please call 07932 724511. For all other enquiries please send an email to reception139@stclares.ac.uk 

St Clare’s is open and student and staff welfare remain at the heart of everything we do. We will continue to follow all Public Health England guidelines and regulations to ensure that all our students remain safe and well.

Here is a summary of the precautions we are taking to reduce any risk. Many of these precautions were already in place at St Clare’s before the first lockdown, so we are already in a good position to judge the practicalities of the measures. We will continue to communicate directly with all parents and agents to alert them to any changes.

• Health monitoring: All staff and students will receive daily health checks, including temperature screening.
• The entire St Clare’s campus will be continually deep cleaned. Surfaces and door handles will be sanitised several times during the day. Toilets for students and staff will be sanitised twice daily and social distancing will be enforced where appropriate.
• All staff and students must complete health declaration questionnaires before being permitted to enter the college.
• No visitors will be allowed into the college without a prior appointment and they will also be expected to complete a travel and health declaration questionnaire.
• If our international students and staff arriving from outside the UK are required to quarantine for fourteen days, we will ensure that they are able to complete a period of quarantine in college whilst under the direct care of our pastoral staff and medical team.
• We will require non-resident students, staff, and visitors who have travelled abroad not to enter the college until a period of 14 days has elapsed from their re-entry to the UK.
• All students and staff will wear face masks in college and around Oxford. St Clare’s will supply face masks for people who do not already have them.
• PPE and cleansing stations will be installed across the St Clare’s campus to actively reduce the risk of transmission.
• Students will be reminded of social distancing via information campaigns. None of our classes is larger than 15 people and teaching rooms will be arranged to space out students as much as is practicable. Our boarding houses are also small units, ranging from 11 to a maximum of 30 boarders per boarding house.
• Large group gatherings will not be permitted. Weekly whole year group meetings will be held online rather than in the hall. Dining rotas will limit the number of people permitted to eat at the same time and they will be more widely spaced. Contact with the non-St Clare’s community will be restricted. 
• UK government and Public Health England guidelines will be followed for all CAS and co-curricular activities. Common sense and dynamic personal risk assessments will also be important in all situations.
• We have an excellent relationship with the NHS medical practice in Banbury Road and our college nurse is in regular contact with them. The option for students to purchase private medical health insurance for the duration of their stay in the UK is also available.
• We undertake to provide regular updates from the Senior Management Group to all parents.

Please view our updated Risk Assessment below:

• Risk Assessment

The Boarding Schools Association (BSA) is working with both the Government and all BSA schools to ensure a safe environment for young people. It is reassuring to know that the University of Oxford is at the world-wide forefront of research into developing a Covid-19 vaccine, antibody testing and contact tracing, as well as having one of the best teaching hospitals in the world. It is a privilege to live in this great city.

St Clare’s, Oxford Senior Management Group

Visitors to the college 

Visits by prospective students and parents are by appointment only. We are able to conduct interviews via Skype if required. We are usually delighted to see former students but for the time being, such visits are suspended until later in the year.  

Lockdown from Thursday 5 November 

There will be a new lockdown coming into effect from Thursday 5 November which will last until at least Wednesday 2 December.

Unlike during the previous lockdown, schools, colleges and universities will remain open. St Clare’s will stay open and it is against our advice for students to leave the premises and return home. 

We want to reassure you that we are confident that your son or daughter will continue to have a safe, enjoyable social and educational experience with us in spite of the lockdown. Live, face-to-face teaching and learning will continue, and online learning will only be used in exceptional circumstances.

IB World School
For a variety of reasons, we have decided to alter the arrangements for the end of term. We are going to move departures day for PIB and IB students forward by 2 weeks to Saturday 5 December. The last teaching day will still be Friday 18 December, but all classes from Monday 7 until Friday 18 December will be online. The advantages of this move are that students will have time to quarantine in their home countries before the Christmas holidays begin.

International College
Arrangements for International College students at the moment remain as published, and live face-to-face teaching will continue until Friday 18 December.

Here is the advice from Public Health England