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
The welfare of our staff and students 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. We will continue to communicate directly with all parents and agents to alert them to any changes.
- 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.
- 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, 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 after a period of quarantine.
- 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:
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
Update about the start of Spring Term 2021
Lockdown in England – 5 January 2021
England is now entering a period of lockdown with immediate effect owing to a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases.
We will continue with our online teaching provision until the government tells us that we are able to return to face-to-face teaching. The boarding houses will remain open, so students are welcome to come and stay with us, use the library, be in a school environment, and enjoy community life among fellow students.
The Prime Minister announced that schools in England would remain closed for live teaching until the February half-term break (15-19 February).
The new strain of Covid-19 is more infectious but there is no evidence that it is any more dangerous than the standard virus. So, we are confident that the infection control measures we had in place in the Autumn term will be equally effective from January 2021. There were no cases of Covid-19 among either IB World School students or staff during the entire term.
St Clare’s is a safe environment.
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.
Here is the advice from Public Health England
