Principal: We do have to adjust and will make mistakes, but we are ready to go
A SUMMER break was a distant dream for Kevin Mcareavey who heads Holy Cross Boys’ Primary School in north Belfast.
During lockdown the school was transformed into a cross-community food bank — staffed by a group of 40 volunteers, including Mr Mcareavey, who packed around 250 food parcels each day — six days a week.
Ligoniel Improvement Association, which has been running a food bank for the past seven years, was forced to relocate to larger premises at the Ardoyne school to cope with a rise in demand due to the Covid-19 crisis.
“It has been a long road but we have great community spirit and we’re all in this together as one big team,” Mr Mcareavey said.
“I’ve always said that Holy Cross Boys’ is a community school, not just a school in the community.”
Post-lockdown,
his
latest challenge has been leading his 62 staff in preparing for the return of 400 boys next week.
“There has been an awful lot of work to do in terms of creating one-way systems, collection points, class bubbles and all in a very short space of time,” he adds.
“We took in every single word of the Minister’s guidance and each teacher knows their expectations around the procedures should we have a Covid-19 case in the school to ensure the protection of everyone that is in the school.
“This is about adapting and adjusting to the new ‘normal’ and every principal I speak to is also trying to think outside the box.”
Mr Mcareavey says the new school term is going to be “a totally different experience” but he feels it’s just a matter of being practical.
“A lot of people are stressed about this but I really don’t see the point,” he adds.
“As teachers we are here to do a job — our underlying philosophy is to raise the standards and attainments of children.
“Okay we have an awful lot of obstacles now to circumvent but my view is we put the plans in place, make sure that everybody is well informed and let’s move forward together.
“Of course we are going to make mistakes and we will be learning all the time. But I have a great team behind me and we’re ready to go,” Mr Mcareavey added.