Presentation National School will reopen on August 31st.
On 27th July 2020, the Department of Education and Skills published guidelines for reopening schools. You can find all the published documents here.
What’s happening?
Our school will be a bit different this year, especially at the beginning, but the children will get used to it very quickly.
Explain to your child that things will be a bit different, but try not to let them know that you are overly worried. Children pick up on your stress.
What You Can Do to Prepare
*Practice washing hands properly, with soap, for 20 seconds.
*Make sure that your child also knows how to dry their hands thoroughly.
*Children should also know how to use hand-sanitizer correctly, and that it should not be ingested.
*Teach your child correct cough and sneeze etiquette.
*Cough or sneeze into a tissue, or into your elbow if you do not have a tissue.
*Make sure that your child can INDEPENDENTLY open and close their lunchbox and bottle, their coat, and their shoes. Shoes with laces are not recommended for younger children!
Drop-off and Collection
*The school gates will be opened for pupils at 9.10 each morning and pupils only can enter the school yard from then on.
*Each class will be assigned a specific entry gate which will be clearly identifiable on Monday Aug 31st.
*Children will go straight to their classes via a specific route that will be clearly explained upon return to school.
*We would strongly encourage those adults dropping and collecting children to wear a mask/visor around the gate area of the school and adhere to social distancing.
*In order to ensure that every pupil is familiar with the access protocol to the school in the mornings we have decided that for the first day only (Aug 31st) there will be a staggered opening as follows:
9.20-9.30: Mrs O’Mahony’s Senior Infants and Mrs. Twomey's Senior Infants/First Class
9.35-9.45: Mrs Hurley’s First Class and Miss Hickey’s 4th/5th Class
9.50-10.00: Mrs Casey’s Second Class, Ms O’Leary’s Sixth Class and Mrs Murphy’s 3rd/4th Class
10.05-10.15: Ms Hickey’s Junior Infants and Mrs. O’Mahony’s Junior Infants.
NOTE: Junior Infants will go home at 12 O’ Clock from August 31st – September 11th; Thereafter they will go home at the normal time of 2 pm.
*When school finishes, children from First to Sixth Class will be conveyed to the gate by their teacher. It is imperative that social distancing is observed at the school gate at all times.
With regard to the Junior and Senior Infants the following protocol will apply.
*As we have 65 pupils in Junior and Senior Infants, there will be a large number of parents congregating at 2pm. (Junior Infants will go home at 12pm until September 11th). As the space outside the gate is limited, traffic will still be using the road and to allow the class teachers easily organise the safe exit of your child from the school yard, we will be implementing the following procedures.
*Parents form a socially distanced queue along the footpath towards Clara Road for collecting from Zone 4 (Room 1) and Zone 3 (Room 4).
*Parents form a socially distanced queue along the footpath towards the Church for collecting from Zone 1 (Room 7).
*When you reach the top of the queue, please stand behind Railing A for Room 1, the Cone for Room 4 and Railing B for Room 7.
*When the class teacher sees you at the collection point, she will call your child to exit the yard through the specific zone.
*Please move swiftly when you have collected your child and please do not proceed from the top of the queue to the collection point until the parent and child ahead of you have left.
Cleaning
*Cleaning in schools will be increased considerably. Schools have been given a budget for the extra cleaning and cleaning materials required.
*Each classroom will be cleaned daily.
*Resources will be provided for children individually where possible, or shared with their ‘pod’. Resources that are shared between classes will be cleaned between use.
*Books, toys and resources will be cleaned regularly or quarantined for 72 hours before being reused.
*Older children may be asked to wipe down their table and chair at the end of the day.
Physical Distancing
*Children from Junior Infants to 2nd Class are not required to physical distance. Children from 3rd-6th class are expected to keep a distance of 1m where possible.
*Each class will be a ‘Bubble’. Contact between bubbles will be extremely limited and break times will be staggered.
*Classes will be divided into groups, or ‘Pods’. These children will sit, work and play together. They will stay in the same pod for a number of weeks.
*We will have a system of staggered breaks in place that will allow for each individual class to access a specific yard and which will be segregated from other classes which may be on break at the same time.
*Staff will try to maintain physical distance from children when they can, and will wear face coverings and other PPE when needed.
Hand Hygiene
*Children will perform hand hygiene regularly during the school day:
-on arrival at school
-before eating or drinking
-after using the toilet
-after a cough or sneeze after playing outdoors
-when hands are physically dirty
*Hand sanitiser dispensers are installed throughout the school.
*Children are not required to supply hand sanitiser or any other hand hygiene products.
Schoolbags and Lunches
*The government have not given any guidelines regarding these items but a common-sense approach should be followed.
*Ensure that your child does not have any unnecessary items such as toys in their schoolbag.
*Choose lunchboxes, bottles and pencil cases that are easy to clean, as they will need to be cleaned frequently.
*We ask that all children have a plentiful supply of pencils, biros etc as is appropriate to the class your child is in as there will be no bin provision in classrooms in an effort to minimise the movement of pupils in the classroom. Furthermore, pupils will be required to take home all waste from their lunchbox.
Communication with Teachers
*Parents will not be permitted to enter the school building.
*Appointments may be made to visit the school for essential purposes.
*A contact tracing log will need to be filled out for each visit.
*This does not mean that you will be unable to communicate with your child’s teacher. You can communicate with them via the traditional methods such as homework diary, phone calls etc.
Teacher Absences
*The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation have put pressure on the Department of Education on the issue of substitute teachers. Supply panel clusters of substitute teachers are being set up to increase substitute availability.
*If the school is unable to secure a substitute teacher, the school may use a non-mainstream teacher to cover the absence. (This includes Special Education Teachers and administrative principals).
*Every effort will be made to avoid a class being split between other classes.
Starting Junior Infants
*Unfortunately, parents will not be permitted to enter the school with their child on the first day of school.
*Rest assured, the Junior Infant teachers and other school staff will do their best to make sure that every child feels happy and safe at school.
*The benefits of play are well-documented, and infant teachers are very aware of this. Lots of time will be spent playing and listening to stories. The number one priority for the first few months of school will be the children’s well-being.
Children with Additional Needs
*The Special Education Team in Presentation National School will make sure that your child’s needs are catered for to the best of our ability.
*Special Education Teachers may be required to cover for mainstream teachers in the case of their absence and a substitute teacher is not available. This may mean that your child may have reduced support at times, but the school will do their best to avoid this happening.
*If you have concerns or questions, email the school within the next week. Doing it now rather than in the first week back will give them a better chance to respond and prepare where necessary.
Very high-risk Pupils
*Pupils at high risk may not be able to return to school.
*These pupils will receive appropriate support to engage with learning.
*Ongoing connection with the classmates and school community will be ensured.
*The list of people in very high risk groups includes people who:
-are over 70 years of age – even if fit and well
-have had an organ transplant
-are undergoing active chemotherapy for cancer
-are having radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
-have cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment are having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
-are having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
-have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
-have severe respiratory conditions including cystic fibrosis, severe asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, lung fibrosis, interstitial lung disease and severe COPD
-have a condition that means they have a very high risk of getting infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell) are taking medicine that makes you much more likely to get infections (such as high doses of steroids or immunosuppression therapies)
-have a serious heart condition and are pregnant
Suspected Cases of COVID-19
Symptoms of COVID-19
-High temperature
-Cough
-Shortness of Breath
-Difficulty Breathing
-Loss of smell or taste, or distortion of taste
*Children should NOT ATTEND school if they are unwell or if any members of their household are unwell with symptoms of COVID-19.
*If any pupil becomes unwell or expresses a feeling of unwellness while at school, he/she will be brought to an Isolation Room and given a mask to wear. He/She will be supervised by a member of staff who will be fully kitted out with P.P.E. Parents/Guardians will be contacted and asked to collect the child as soon as possible.
*The HSE will inform any parents of children who have come into close contact with a diagnosed case.
Reminder to anyone attending school who has travelled abroad
*The HSE Guidance clearly states:
It is a requirement for anyone coming into Ireland, from locations other than those with a rating of “normal precautions” (“green”), to restrict their movements for 14 days, and this includes school staff, parents and children or other students coming from abroad to attend school in Ireland. Restricting your movements means staying indoors in one location and avoiding contact with other people and social situations as much as possible
If this applies to any pupil we ask that you would respectfully abide by this protocol.
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