Reopening schools will be ‘very challenging’
THe principal of a rural south west Wexford school has said reopening this August under current recommended guidelines will be very challenging and has been extremely stressful.
Kate O’Keeffe, who is principal of Shanbogh NS near New Ross, said: ‘We have a small school. The numbers are great but any school is going to have problems because of social distancing.’
With small classrooms, it will be very difficult keeping children apart.
‘The older ones’ desks mean they will be one metre apart. They can sit at either end of it but we are hoping to bring all of the pupils back full-time on August 31.’
The 31-pupil school has two classes: junior infants up to second class and third class up to sixth class. One learning support teacher attends the scool, but also assists at St Canice’s NS so that dynamic needs to be ironed out, Ms O’Keeffe said.
‘We are looking at staggering break times and entry times into the school. The essence of a small school is that they all play together; it’s like a family. Sixth class pupils buddy up with junior infants and the small ones.’
By having an earlier break than the senior pupils, ‘the small ones’ will lose out on that interaction.
Following weeks of mixed messages from government about how primary (and secondary) schools can reopen, as well as union reaction, Ms O’Keeffe said: ‘There seems to be a thinking that most schools must open in September. How they are going to open is hard because some kids have underlying conditions, like asthma. The health and wellbeing of staff is my priority. You want to be ticking all of the boxes but the communication has not been clear.’
Describing the past few months as very frustrating, Ms O’Keeffe said: ‘It keeps changing. Some principals are saying just to park it for July and we will look at it again in August. You could be in there every day of the week looking at what to change, even with the small ones’ toys.’
Pupils have to wash their hands five times a day under current regulations, an exercise that will take 45 minutes out of the school day, Ms O’Keefee said.
Opening on August 31 means Shanbogh NS will have everything in place for pupils, including hand sanistisation areas.
‘September will be a very strange month. The kids will be so delighted to be back and I just hate the thought of telling them to not get close. To me, you don’t want the school to be a scary place.’
She said there is no point dwelling on the current information too much, as it may change.
‘Questions remain: do we have enough classrooms? The information is there for everyone on the outside world but for schools and teachers there are different rules.’