Re-Opening of School update

Dear Parent/Guardian,
I hope you and your family are keeping safe and well at this time. Scoil Mhuire will be reopening fully for all pupils at 9.20 a.m. on Monday, 31st August. The health and safety of all will be the priority for this reopening and Scoil Mhuire will be following all HSE and Department of Education guidelines. The Board of Management will be meeting next week to finalise the Covid-19 Policy statement and Covid-19 Risk Assessment. These will then be published on the school website for you to view. 

The school has already undertaken many preparations for the reopening. A quantity of PPE has been purchased for the school and hand sanitiser dispensers have been installed in each classroom as well as at entry/exit points to the school building. Covid-19 signage has been ordered for the interior and exterior of the school building. Classrooms have been measured to ensure that PODs (groups) in classrooms are 1 metre apart as recommended in Department of Education guidelines. Rooms will also be decluttered to maximise space in all classrooms. 

The In-School Management team and I will be sectioning off the school yard to ensure that each class (bubble) has their own designated section in the yard for break and lunch time each day. Permanent lines will be put down on the yard for this purpose. The number of teachers on yard supervision each day will be increased to ensure enhanced supervision in order to prevent classes (bubbles) mixing in the yard at any time. 

In the morning, a “drop and go” system will be operating at the top roundabout just outside the school gate. The children will be told to go straight to their assigned yard line. The In-School Management team and I will be supervising this each morning. Junior infants, senior infants, 1st and 2nd classes will be directed to the back yard near the junior infant building while 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th classes will be directed to the basketball yard. All lines will be socially distanced in these two yards. The In-School Management team and I will also be supervising collections in the evening when classes will line up at the front of the building in their designated lines. We will be asking parents not to enter the school building on either dry or wet mornings. Parents who need to engage with the school office will need to use the intercom service at the front door. Phone or email is the best way to communicate with the school. 

I have received a small number of queries about school uniforms. Our uniform policy for the new school year remains unchanged. The girls will be expected to wear the formal uniform and school tracksuit on P.E. days. (Infants will continue to wear the school track-suit each day as normal.) We do appreciate that parents may wish to wash uniforms more regularly and the school will be taking a common sense approach to this change. 

As you will all appreciate handling cash and coins poses an extra risk at this time. For safety, we will be solely using our usual e-payments system for payment of the school resource money. An email will be sent to all parents at the end of next week with an e-payments invitation. 

I thank you all in advance for your co-operation and support in ensuring a safe return for all the school community in Scoil Mhuire. I will be in touch with you again before the 31st with a few final reminders. Please also find attached a recent letter from the Minister for Education, Norma Foley, which outlines the national position. 
Kind Regards,

Ms. O’ Kelly