August 13th 2020

Dear Parent / Guardian, Staff Member,

RE: Re-opening of St Brigid’s Primary School

I hope you and your families are keeping well. 

As you are aware, our school has now been closed since 12th March due to the COVID-19 situation.  We are now hoping to re-open our school safely on August 28th for all classes except Junior Infants, in line with current guidance and recommendations. Alternative arrangements for Junior Infants are being sent separately to the relevant families.

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. Re-opening the school safely will require the co-operation of all members of our School Community – BoM, School Leadership, Staff, Parents and Pupils and we are all called on to play our part in ensuring that re-opening of the school is done in a safe manner which prevents the spread of the virus and allows the vital work of Teaching and Learning to proceed with as little disruption as possible.

We will shortly publish our COVID-19 Policy Statement on the school website. Please note that the website is currently under reconstruction – apologies for any inconvenience.

The school holidays for the school year will also be posted on the website shortly and are attached with this letter also. Please note these are subject to public Health and Government directives and guidelines.

The following are the arrangements most pertinent at the moment.

Pupils and their teachers will be structured into Class Bubbles and these groupings will stay away from other classes as much as possible. Within each bubble, children will be either seated 1m apart where space allows or seated in smaller groups, called pods, which will be seated 1m apart.  These social distancing measures are only required from 3rd to 6th classes.  In order to ensure class groupings mix only with their own class bubble from arrival in the morning, we will extend the arrival time frame in the morning and stagger entry to the school.

 Arrival at School. – The school gates will open at 8.50am, to allow 10 minutes more than normal to help facilitate social distancing outside the gate, on footpath etc. Children will be allowed enter school grounds at this time, and a staff member will be present. Each class will be designated a marked area of the grounds to wait in prior to entering the school with their teacher at their designated time. Children are asked to go directly to their designated area when they enter the gate in the morning, maintaining social distancing from any pupil from another bubble who is in their vicinity. Parents are not allowed to enter school grounds with their children. Staff will assist with the arrival of Junior Infants and escort them to their waiting area. Alternative arrangements involving entering the school directly at arrival and/or designated shelter in the playshed will be put in place for very wet mornings.

5 class bubbles will enter the school at 9.10am and the remaining 4 class bubbles will remain in their designated waiting area until they are called in at 9.20am. Each class will be assigned a specific marked door for entry.  

Details of your child’s class teacher and room will be forwarded to each of you individually.

Arrangements will be made with the buses and with LUX Breakfast Club staff to facilitate their arrival. Parents of children who are consistently outside their time slot will be contacted and asked for their cooperation for the good of all.

A similar staggered home time system will be in place with the earlier arrivals leaving 10 minutes ahead of the later arrivals – See below.

Class

Teacher/Room

Door

Arrival Time

School Entry Time

Dismissal Time

Senior Infants

Mrs Keena Room 2

Door B

8.50 – 9.10am

9.10am

1.50pm

1st Class (1)

Mrs Brown Room 4

Door C

8.50 – 9.10am

9.10am

2.50 pm *

5th Class

Mrs Casey Room 5

Door B

8.50 – 9.10am

9.10am

2.50pm

6th Class

Ms Kelly

Room 8

Door A

8.50 – 9.10am

9.10am

2.50pm

3rd /4th Class

Ms Dalton

Hall

Door D

8.50 – 9.10am

9.10am

2.50pm

Junior Infants (1)

Mrs Bermingham Room 1

Door A

**9.10 -9.20 am

9.20am

2.00pm ^

2nd /3rd class

Ms McCormack

Room 3

Door B

**9.10 -9.20 am

9.20am

3pm

1st Class (2)

Mrs Martin

Room 6

Door C

**9.10 -9.20 am

9.20am

*3pm

Junior Infants (2)

Mrs Kavanagh Room 7

Door A

**9.10 -9.20 am

9.20am

2.00pm^

**In order to make this system as manageable as possible, we ask those in the first slot to arrive as early as possible and those in the later time slot to arrive from 9.10 am if at all possible. Children in the second slot who have siblings in the earlier slot will be allowed to enter the grounds and go to their waiting area before 9.10am. Those with children in only one slot are asked to be as considerate as possible of those with two.

*1st Class (1) go home at 1.50pm from August 28th – September 4th inclusive and at 2.50pm from then on and 1st Class (2) go home at 2pm from August – September 4th inclusive and at 3pm from then on

^ Junior Infants go home at 12 noon for the first 2 weeks, August 31st to Sept 11th  inclusive and at 2pm from then on.

Further Information

Lunch boxes should be brought as normal – please ensure children have spoons for yogurts etc – no school cutlery will be available. Please ensure child can open all parts of lunch themselves, not just the box and bottle but frubes, oranges etc as well. Please monitor lunch box for the first 2 weeks and discontinue any items that seem to be returning home unopened or uneaten.

We are happy to continue to facilitate the Lunch Box service in the school as long as there are customers – each class bubble’s lunches are boxed separately to other bubbles which allows for ease of distribution. Details of this service will be forwarded to new parents.

Uniforms continue to be required – children may alternate between tracksuit and uniform from day to day to allow for frequent washing. Please ensure that your child can manage the ties on their shoes. Velcro closures are essential for children who cannot properly tie laces. Shoe laces can be particularly unhygienic and staff must avoid close personal contact with children. We will inform you if your child is having trouble with laces and ask for your cooperation.

Children’s personal belongings, pencil cases etc will be stored in their own individual under desk basket and they will access them there themselves directly. Home work will be very limited, if any in the first few weeks. We do not envisage Homework Club taking place as it involves mixing of children from different bubbles.

Children do not need to wear face masks.

Hygiene and cough etiquette will be reinforced in the early weeks. Please reinforce public health guidelines with your child prior to reopening.

 Regular and thorough cleaning regimes will be implemented.

Parents should contact the school to make an appointment if necessary. No parental access to the school will be available without prior permission.

Where children themselves have returned from abroad, or where a member of their immediate family has, should adhere to all Public Health requirements before returning to school.

Pupils should not attend school if they are displaying any symptoms of Covid-19. The Symptoms of Covid-19 are high temperature, cough, shortness of breath or breathing difficulties, or loss of smell or taste or distortion of taste. Parents will be contacted if there is a pupil suspected case.

More details on many aspects of our plan will be sent to you all as the move forward. In the meantime, the following websites may provide further information on COVID-19 and on government advice and recommendations regarding the re-opening of schools: –

 

 

 

Regards,

Cathy Gillivan,   Principal