School Closure

Dear Parents/Guardians

Re: Provision for the Children of Key Workers

You will know from the Minister’s statement that arrangements for remote learning have been made for children because of the “deteriorating nature of the epidemic and the risks to public health…after unprecedented levels of positive Covid-19 tests since Christmas, and the pressure this applies to our health service, it is critical that we all must consider the public health and scientific advice as we look forward to brighter days ahead.”

Today schools have been instructed to close until mid-term in February and to provide remote learning instead of classroom teaching. Exceptions can be made to provide supervision (not teaching) in the school building for children of key workers who have no safe alternative.

The safest way for our children to learn is through remote learning at home. To date, we are one of the few schools that has not been directly affected by COVID-19 as none of our children or staff has contracted the virus. This has been due to the stringent safety measures we have put in place along with your tremendous level of cooperation in following our new policies and procedures. As many of our staff are also parents, we too fully understand the stress and pressure home learning can place on families but we urge you to help us in what hopefully will be the last major lockdown of schools. We have light at the end of the tunnel with the roll-out of the vaccine which will help the most vulnerable in our community. Whilst we all want our school children back in class we also realise this is a dangerous time for our school with the arrival of the new variant of the virus. Therefore, the more pupils we have in school the higher the risk of covid entering school and spreading in our community.

However, should any family where a parent is a key worker find it impossible to provide safe remote learning at home, please complete the booking form on facebook. This form must be completed each Friday by 12pm for the following week. Our staff will provide supervision for remote learning in the school building where no safe alternative is possible at home.

Parents/guardians of statemented students who require support in school should also complete the online form by 12pm each Friday.

In the case of students who may be vulnerable for other reasons, and in need of additional support, our staff will be in direct contact, and in-school supervision arranged where no safe alternative is possible at home.

Home learning packs will be available for collection each Friday from 1.30-2.15pm for reception/year 1 and year 2/3 and 2.15-3pm for years 4-7. Please collect these from the designated doors your children have been using. Staff will continue to use the Seesaw app to post videos, accept home learning work for correction, upload work and communicate with their classes. Year 4-7 will also host some zoom meetings to allow children to chat to their teacher and each other as well as discuss their home learning. Teachers will be available from 9-3pm each day on Seesaw or via their email should you need to communicate with them.

We thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Oonagh