Dear Parents,
I hope you and your families are keeping well. We have been working on our plan for the safe reopening of the school for some weeks now and have been examining the DES COVID-19 Response Plan for the safe and sustainable reopening of Primary and Special Schools.
The Response Plan gives details of
- Physical preparation, signage, hand sanitiser stations
- Advice, procedures and training for the safe return to working in the school for all school staff and pupils
- General and specific advice on how all pupils, staff, parents and visitors will prevent the spread of the virus
Our Board of Management will keep you informed as to the progress of our re-opening plans and provide you with the information required to play your part in safely re-opening the school. It will be the responsibility of each and every one of us to keep Covid-19 out of our school.
At this stage I want to outline a few items relating to the reopening of Holy Family National School on Monday 31st of August.
School will start at the normal time for all classes at 9.10am with doors opening at 9.00am. (For the first morning the new Junior Infants will be given a time to arrive at the front door with their parents. From there they will enter the building with a few friends. For the first two weeks the Junior Infants will go home at 12pm.
Junior Infants, Second and Third Class will enter via the front door, Senior Infants and First via the staff door and Fourth, Fifth and Sixth via the rear door near the 6th Class classroom. A brief period of supervision will be provided in the morning but children are not to be dropped off early as we cannot let them congregate at the doors as would have previously happened. Children must socially distance and remain in their bubble (class grouping) on arrival. They will also exit via these doors. The teachers and SNAs will accompany them out in the evening to their usual collection points of the bus and car parking areas.
We will be
finishing at the normal time of 1.50pm for Infants and 2.50pm for 1st
– 6th class. We will not be having a staggered drop off or
collection of pupils. Parents are asked
to maintain social distancing outside the school. We would encourage those
walking their child/children to the door, to utilise the lower car park to
ensure the roundabout is free flowing for stop and drop.
Parents must not enter the school in the morning with the children. If you need to communicate something to a teacher this can be done by ringing the school number and speaking to the secretary. Contact can be arranged with a teacher/ the principal over the phone or by email and a socially distanced meeting can also be arranged with a teacher/ the principal if required.
In some classes the children will work in small groups (pods) while others will have their own desk space and observe the recommended 1 metre social distancing. We will be following templates from the Department on classroom layout to maximise space and ensure social distancing.
There will be an increased emphasis on hand-washing, safe sneeze and cough etiquette and social distancing as per Department of Education Guidelines. Our classrooms and toilets have warm water in all sinks. Children are not allowed to carry their own hand sanitiser as outlined by the Department of Education and Skills. Hand sanitisers will be available at all entry and exit points to our school building and in every classroom.
Our normal school crested uniform is still required. Some parents were concerned that uniforms and tracksuits might have to be washed every day but Department guidelines do not state this. However, if you wish to wash uniforms more frequently than you would have done previously, the school tracksuit can be worn on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. As our tracksuit legs are worn with our crested school jumpers, additional generic navy tops (unlabelled,roundneck sweatshirts - available from numerous outlets in the area) can be worn with the school crested tracksuit if you wish. Please see an example of these on the school blog. The school uniform should be worn to school only and taken off in the evening immediately after school. Lighter raincoat style jackets that can be stored in the pupil’s bags should be worn as cloakroom areas are normally very congested.
All school staff are due to complete Covid-19 Induction Training prior to returning on the 31st of August – we are awaiting further information on this. The hand sanitiser we are using is an alcohol-based hand sanitiser and has at least 70% isopropanol as the active ingredient as recommended by the Department.
Masks: Children will not be required to wear masks in school as they are not suitable for children under 13 years of age. School staff will have the option of wearing a variety of PPE. It is recommended that staff wear face coverings/ visors when a physical distance of 2 metres cannot be maintained.
If a pupil is sick or displaying any symptoms of Covid-19 he/she must not attend school. The school will not be checking the temperature of children as they enter the school. This will need to be done at home. We will have an isolation area for children who become unwell at school.
The Department has said while the curriculum normally plays a central role in our schools, the main focus for school leaders, teachers and parents must be to gently reintroduce pupils to their friends and to many unfamiliar and new school routines. For a little while this must take precedence over some aspects of the curriculum. Subjects such as SPHE, Art, Music and Drama might be given more prominence than usual in the timetables for the first weeks back to school.
Schoolwork and
Homework may be different from the norm as we adjust to schools reopening. Some
books will not be brought to school and be used only at home. Children should have a separate pencil case
for home and school and lunch boxes and drink bottles should be washed daily.
These are just some of the things we have in place for a safe return to school. I will be in touch again with more details prior to reopening.
I must advise that these guidelines are based on current government advice and are subject to change. Some children may be nervous about returning to school so please reassure them that we will all be working together to make school as safe as possible for everyone.
We are really looking forward to welcoming our children back to school and will be doing all that we can to ensure that the return to school is a safe and enjoyable experience for the children. As we continue to seek clarity on some questions we have about returning to school, I will keep you updated.
We appreciate that all family circumstances are different with regard to their experiences and possible worries around Covid-19 and the return to school. Please do not hesitate to contact me using the contact details above should you wish to discuss anything further.
Thank you as always for your continued co-operation.
Regards,
Paul Horan
