Dear Parents,

Please find below some specific arrangements and guidelines around Covid 19.

The re-opening plan for the Holy Family campus was created directly in line with the Schools Re-opening guidelines as issued by the Department of Education and Skills. It is of paramount importance that we adhere with these public health guidelines. We completely understand the challenges that are linked to a number of the areas below, but all procedures are set out to keep our entire school community safe and well. As such, there will be no exceptions to the processes set out below.

We have missed school life and our pupil cohort very much and look forward to having them back on campus. Schools cannot , and will not, be a zero risk environment but we look forward to complete
co-operation from all sectors of the school community in ensuring the risks are as minimal as is humanly possible for a happy and safe return of our pupils. Please retain these guidelines for use throughout the school year.

A Frequently Asked Questions document will be sent to you on Aladdin and available on the school
website next week. We hope this will assist greatly with any understandable queries you may have.

Kind regards,
Ms. Róisín Brennan/Mr. O’ Connor

Arriving to School this Year:

Pupils are asked to arrive to school no earlier than 8.30am. This is very important in order to keep all pupils safe and isolated in their own class bubble as per government and public health guidelines. We must minimise the risk by reducing interaction between classes.

• Parents are asked and not come into the school grounds unless they have made an appointment through the office. There will be a lot more paperwork involving a tracking log, set down by the department, for anyone coming into the school for any reason no matter how short the visit.
• We ask that those children who walk to school do not arrive until as near to the start time of 9am as is possible.
• On arrival the pupils will go directly to their classroom. It is envisaged these arrangements may change in line with public guidelines and a plan may be devised to retain the children safely outdoors in pods/class groups before school. All decisions will apply current public health procedures and advice.

Extract directly from the Government Guidelines:

Physical Distancing outside of the classroom and within the school

School drop off/collection

Arrangements for dropping off/collecting pupils should be arranged to encourage physical distancing of 2m where possible.

Walking/cycling to school should be encouraged as much as possible.

Arrangements should be made to maintain a distance of 2m between parents and guardians and between parents and guardians and school staff.

Aim of any arrangements is to avoid congregation of people at the school gates where physical distancing may not be respected.

Entering the School:

All pupils enter through the large green gate (alongside Nano Nagle Hall)

Children will be directed to enter the building through the following areas:

1. All 3rd class pupils enter through the doors alongside Rooms 1 and 2 and go directly to their classroom.

2. All 4th class pupils enter through the doors alongside Rooms 1 and 2 and go directly upstairs to their classrooms.

3. All 5th and 6th pupils enter the school through the door facing the Astro pitch and go immediately left and up the red stairs to the top floor to their classrooms.

Classrooms:

Classrooms will be laid out in lines with the Dept. guidelines to ensure 1m distancing between groups of children

Children will be seated in groups of 4-6 max. These are known as ‘pods’ in the guidelines in media. However, seating children in groups like this has been common practice for years and the children will be well used to this. These groupings will be kept together until the midterm when there will be an opportunity to change seating arrangements after the Halloween break.

Face Coverings:

It is not recommended by the HSE that children under the age of 13 wear face masks. We will not be going against this recommendation however if you want your child to wear a mask or your child wants to wear a mask they will be allowed. The school will not be responsible for ensuring the child keeps his/her mask on or wears it properly at all times etc. but the option is there for children to wear a mask.

Please ensure your child has a plastic zip locked bag/freezer bag that they can put their mask in when they are not wearing it

Hygiene

• As per the guidelines all pupils will have opportunity to wash their hands and sanitise at all the appropriate times during the day as set out in the procedures for schools. Sanitiser and washing facilities will be provided.
• We ask also that each pupil has their own hand washing kit in their school bag.

Please put a small facecloth and a small bottle of sanitiser into a small lunch box or a sealed zip locked bag/freezer bag.

This will further minimise movement within the room and sharing of resources. Thank you again for helping us minimise risk.

Isolation Area:

As per the guidelines, an isolation area has been set up in the school.

Extract from the Government Guidelines:

A designated isolation area should be identified within the school building. The possibility of having more than one person displaying signs of COVID-19 should be considered and a contingency plan for dealing with additional cases put in place. The designated isolation area should be behind a closed door and away from other staff and pupils.

If a staff member/pupil displays symptoms of COVID-19 while at school the following are the procedures to be implemented: If the person with the suspected case is a pupil, the parents/guardians should be contacted immediately. Pupil must contact their GP and Public Health will take over at this stage and direct the individual and family at this point.

Communication with the School:

In the mornings, parents are asked not come into the school grounds unless they have made an appointment through the office. There will be a lot more paperwork involving a tracking log, set down by the department, for anyone coming into the school for any reason no matter how short the visit.

We ask that if you need to meet anyone in the school that you make an appointment through the office for a time where this can be done safely and in line with guidelines.

We completely understand that this is a big change for parents and teachers as communication before and after school has always been very effective.

As per government guidelines:

Access to the school building will be in line with agreed school procedures. Arrangements for necessary visitors such as contractors and parents with be restricted to essential purposes and limited to those who have obtained prior approval from the principal. The Department of Education Inspectorate may also need to visit schools and centres for education to support them as appropriate in the implementation of public health advice relating to creating a safe learning and working environment for all.

Uniforms:

We will continue with our school tracksuit/uniform. As always, the formal uniform (i.e. the slacks, shirt and jumper) is optional. Many parents have indicated that they like to have both the formal uniform and school tracksuit. This is perfectly fine.

Please also feel free to supplement the tracksuit and/or uniform with generic navy and blue tracksuit bottoms/trousers, blue polo shirt T-shirts and navy jumpers from Dunne’s Stores/Penneys/Tesco etc. The school does not wish for any family to incur any extra costs or indeed apply any extra pressure. We all understand the pressures from our own home lives and will be applying common sense in this area.

EPayments :

We have had many queries from parents as to when the can pay digitally for their book rental. We were happy that we could include so many books on the book rental scheme and reduce to 1 or 2 the number of books you were required to buy.

Epayments are now live on the Aladdin App

You will receive a link from Aladdin via text

From here, you can pay for your book rental etc. as communicated to you on the booklists.

We have set it up so that this money can be paid in instalments, beginning at 10 euros per instalment. We do not want to apply pressure to any family. Please contact the school if you have any concerns or questions.