Covid Return March 2021

Thursday 18/3/’21

Dear Parent,

It is with great pleasure that I, on behalf of Governors and staff welcome all pupils back to school on Monday 22^nd March 2021. It is now months since we have all been together. We are simply delighted to just get back to where we were before lockdown. I want you to tell the children that we are looking forward to their arrival and that we plan for a smooth entry next week. All homeworks will be suspended until after the Easter break.

By and large, the safety measures remain the same as before. I am issuing you with the measures that I outlined in August. They still apply.

However, I do wish to add that I really want you to be vigilant about your child’s health. If your child is sick, has a cold, a tummy sickness etc. please ‘err on the side of caution’ and keep him/her off school. Please also book your child to have a COVID 19 test and relay the results to us before your child’s return to school. The school’s experience from last term was that children tend not to have the big symptoms with which adults can present. Our staff are not vaccinated. They have to spend 6 hours in direct contact with the children during the day. This is more than any other group. Even if the child does not have COVID it leaves a 24/48 hour window of anxiety awaiting for the result. In addition, if it is only a mild cold, it still can be passed onto another child and the doubt and worry begins again.

As well as passing the infection onto staff and other children, we have an onus to keep our community safe. It is great to have the school open so please work with us to ensure that it remains open for all. We worked really well together last term and I am very confident that we can do so again. We just all have to stick to the rules. I know that we are in a better position now due to the vaccine programme and with COVID 19 numbers falling, but schools are still very vulnerable places.

Social distancing will remain at a distance of 2 Metres between child and adult, as it currently does between adults. Each year group will not mix with any other year group. The class will be termed as a ‘protective bubble’. There will be staggered start and home times. No class will mix in the playgrounds due to staggered break and lunch times.

Drop Off in Mornings: In terms of the drop off in the morning, classroom assistants will be placed outside the school to greet and direct the children. All children will walk to their designated door. P.1. children‘s parents will place their little one into the care of the class teacher outside the P.1. ‘exterior’ class door. The entry points for the children are:

P.1. – P.1. exterior class door

P.2/3. - Children’s Parents drop their children off at P.1. gate (not P.2/3/ door)

P.4.- P.4. back fire door

P.5. door at back where P.5. and P.6. enter playground

P.6. same door as P.5. (different entry and exit times)

P.7. side door at large playground.

*As I stated, classroom assistants will direct the children to their entry points.

Parents: I said to you in the previous letter that you, as parents, are not permitted into the building. I am compromised in saying this as in normal times you are so welcome. However, I hope you understand that under no circumstance can you enter the school building. If you need to speak to a teacher or myself, please contact the school by telephone and we will be happy to speak to you.

Entry Times:

P.1. & P.5. 8:45am

P.2. , P.4 & P.6.. 9am

P.3.& P.7. 9:15am

** (If you have more than one child in your family to drop off, the classroom assistant will direct the child to his/her entry door where he/she will be met by their class teacher. I would advise that you arrive at the earlier time slot for your children. For example, if you have a P.1. and a P.6. child, the P.1. child arrives at 8:45am and the slot for P.6. is 9:00am. With this arrangement, send both children in at 8:45am. Your older child will be directed by the classroom assistant to his/her entry door).

On entry to the school all children’s hands will be initially sanitised. When all children are safely inside the class, they must then wash their hands as directed by the class teacher.

Home Times:

P.1. leaves at 1:45pm via P.1. exterior door

P.2. leaves at 2pm from P.2. exterior door

P.3. leave at 2:45pm from P.3. exterior door

P.4. collected from P.4. back fire door at 3pm

P.5. collected from P.5./6 back door at 2:45pm

P.6. collected from P.5/6 back door at 3pm

P.7. collected at 3:10pm from the side door at the large playground  

*Before leaving school all children will again wash their hands.

Buses: Both yellow school buses and blue public buses will be operational. Children will be greeted by a classroom assistant on disembarking and directed to their relevant outside entry door. The children will also be guided onto the buses in the evening as is the normal practice. If your child travels on a blue bus he/she must wear a face mask and adhere to the 2M distancing as far as possible. With regard to yellow buses, children are advised to wear a mask and there is no social distancing. However, we will attempt to ensure that siblings sit beside each other and where this is not possible, children from the same class bubble will be seated beside each other. As is always the case, but critical now, children are not permitted to change from the seats to which they have been allocated.

Face Coverings: Children may wear face coverings if they wish during the school day. However, if your child does wear a face covering he/she must be taught how to wear it properly: putting on and taking off face masks can cause more hygiene problems if not used properly. If your child wears a mask on a bus, disposable masks need to be binned. The classroom assistant greeting your child will have a bin close by for this purpose. If your child wears a reusable mask the classroom assistant will provide your child with a plastic bag so that the child can retain it. However, regardless of whether it is a reusable or a disposable mask your child will require at least 2 masks to school each day if you decide that he/she is going wear one.

Equipment: Children are not permitted to bring anything into school. This includes a school bag and stationery. However, children may be asked to bring equipment to school that will remain in the building and not sent home.

Homeworks: There will be no homework until after the Easter break. We will then resume the former plans where a homework pack will be sent home with your child at the start of each week. Your child will complete the homework under your supervision but will not return it the next day. The packs should be returned to the class teacher on a Friday.

Reading Books: Many of the older children use novels so there will be no need for the text to be returned to school on a daily basis. The teachers will set reading activities that can be monitored without the text needing to be present as the teacher will have a copy of the novel. For P.1. to P.4. children, reading books will be issued on a Monday and will be returned on a Friday. However, depending on each child there may be a combination/variance of this.

Money: Dinner money will only be collected on a Monday. It needs to be placed into an envelope with the amount and child’s name clearly written. (The child can keep this in his/her pocket coat before passing it to the class teacher).

Snack: You may send a snack with the children as usual. There will be no shared snack as was the normal practice for P.1. and P.2. in the past.   However, just send your own snack instead.

Dinners: As you probably know, Holy Trinity Kitchens prepare the school dinners. There will be a warm dinner provided in disposable containers. There will be no choice available. However, you will be issued with a weekly menu and it will be communicated via the school website. The dinners will be eaten in the classrooms along with anyone taking a packed lunch.

Milk: Milk will be available as normal.

Lunchboxes: If your child needs a lunch box it must be made from a washable material and it must be washed each evening before entry into the school the next day.

Uniform: It is preferable that the children have a change of clothing each day. If you have not got enough uniforms, the child can wear his/her plain clothes instead. On P.E. days, the children can wear their P.E. uniform to school. You will be informed about the details later.

Coats: All children must wear a coat to school each day. This year, we will attempt to have the children outside as much as possible, so please ensure that they all have a coat.

Car Parks: The staff will now park in the parents’ car park, and you, the parents, can drop the children off in the former staff car park directly in front of the school. We understand that for some families, you may have to collect more than one child in the afternoons and that they are all exiting at different times. Please park and wait until the other child is ready for collection, as we cannot release families due to minimising adult contact at the exit doors.

Sickness:

• If your child is unwell please do not send him/her to school.

• If your child has symptoms of COVID 19 he /she must not come to school.

• Please also see paragraphs 3 and 4.

Symptoms:

• a temperature i.e. over 37.4 degrees/ a continuous cough/ anosmia loss of smell & sometimes taste
• If your child displays any of these symptoms you must seek medical advice/attention. In the event of your child or someone in your household having a positive test for COVID 19, you must communicate the result to the school. Your child must not come to school and must follow the guidance on self-isolation. If a COVID 19 case is confirmed in the school, this means that the child’s class bubble would have to self-isolate for a given period and the area in which he/she resided within the school would require a deep clean. You would be kept informed throughout.

• *My strong advice is to take your child’s indoor temperature each morning prior to going to school. I must stress again that a sick or symptomatic child should not come to school.

• In the event of your child becoming sick at school, there is a designated isolation room identified for your child to wait until you can collect your child. (Room at back of Assembly Hall known as the Science Store -collect child from fire exit door which is beside the large playground). Please ensure that the telephone numbers that you provide to us are accurate and that you give an immediate response to us when we alert you of the sickness. A member of staff will support your child while we await your arrival. Your child will also be given access to a toilet that will be cordoned off for everyone else in the event of sickness.

I hope that you understand that these measures are all in place to keep your children as well as possible. We need to also ensure staff’s safety. In addition, we all have a wider responsibility to ensure that society is kept as safe as possible. I understand that for some parents/families these arrangements may be difficult: please understand that in order to comply with the regulations set out by that Department of Education that these plans are the best that we can determine. The plans that I have established will be reviewed accordingly in line with Departmental advice.

I urge you not to congregate in groups outside the school. We are told that adult interactions are the most dangerous and will cause infection spread more so than any other age group. Please refrain from group meetings for the safety of all.

The school will be cleaned throughout the day and also after school. Children’s hands will be regularly washed and sanitised in the course of the school day.  

I know that we can get through this together. We are doing very well. I want to pay tribute to three groups of people:

• To you, our parents, you have had to take on the role of teacher. This has not been an easy road trying to combine family life with a completely new role. There were many pressures and expectations. Everyone at Mullanaskea did brilliantly. Remember every family’s situation is a unique situation. What works for one family will vary with another. You did your best and you did a good job.

• To the children, it was never part of your plan as a child, to be away from school for such a long time. It is always lovely to have days off and holidays but not this situation. I want you to know that I think you coped well with home learning. I can remember being your age and I really do not think I could have coped with doing work at home and having to be split from my friends. So well done boys and girls!

• To the staff, 8 wonderful teachers and 9 wonderful classrooms assistants, Claire and Aidan a huge thank you. Everyone had to adapt their roles and find new ways to work. You are all a credit. You worked as a team in a situation where you could not meet. You were not trained to teach in this way but you had to learn quickly and you did a brilliant job. I am immensely proud of each one of you and am very grateful for the hard work, time and effort you put in. Thank you.

We are all very glad to be back together and to serve this community in the way it deserves to be served, with dedication, understanding, vision, responsibility and commitment.

My Very Best Wishes to You All,

Ms. O’Neill.