RE: Re-opening of St Brendan’s PS
Dear Parent / Guardian, 14th August 2020
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. It has been difficult on pupils , parents and staff alike but we could not be prouder of how we adapted as a school community to engage in remote learning and continue to support each other. These supports have continued into the summer with school supports for some pupils and 100 lunch packs being distributed to our families.
As outlined by the Minister for Education Norma Foley, we are now all focused and determined to reopen our Primary schools. Our first day back at school for the academic year will be Friday 28th August as planned on our school calendar.
We have worked hard behind the scenes over the summer to re-open our school safely, in line with current guidance and recommendations for Summer provision (11 boys ) and summer literacy camp ( 36 boys). I would like to sincerely thank the staff, boys and parents involved for their trust and co-operation with our new COVID safety procedures.
The next step is now to re-open for 190 boys on 28/08/20. Re-opening the school safely will require the co-operation of all members of our School Community – BoM, School Leadership, Staff, Parents and Pupils. We will all be 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 have been working on updating our plan for the safe reopening of the school for some weeks now and have published the DES COVID-19 Response Plan (Summer provision) for the safe and sustainable reopening of Primary and Special Schools on our school website. The Response Plan gives details of
• Physical preparation, signage, hand sanitiser stations,
• Advice, procedures and training for the safe return to working in the school for all school staff and pupils
• General and specific advice on how all pupils, staff, parents and visitors will prevent the spread of the virus
We have also published our COVID-19 Policy Statement on the school website. These will change again for the full re-opening but can give you a sense of what we are trying to achieve. We will keep you informed as to the progress of our re-opening plans and provide you with the information required by you to play your part in safely re-opening the school. Each family will be updated weekly regarding various new arrangements – class bubbles / break times / class layouts / morning and evening social distancing among a few issues that must be planned and implemented.
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. We will be in touch with you again in the coming week with everything you will need to know.
Stay safe,
________Pat Teehan_______________________ ___Niall Crofton______________
Cathaoirleach, An Bhóird Bainistíochta Príomhoide
The following websites provide further information on COVID-19 and on government advice and recommendations regarding the re-opening of schools: –
• https://www.education.ie/en/covid-19/
• https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/
• https://www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/a128d-back-to-school/?referrer=http://www.gov.ie/backtoschool/
