LETTER TO PARENTS/GUARDIANS.
Dear Parent/Guardian,
We hope you and your families are well and that you have had an enjoyable and restful Christmas break. We wish each of you a Happy New Year and look forward to working together in the year ahead.
The school will open as planned, tomorrow, January 6th 2022. As we re-open we are very mindful of the rising instances of Covid-19 in the community and the potential knock-on effect this could have within our school community.
We are therefore, asking for your support in continuing to implement our School Response Plan. In particular we are asking for your support with the following measures:
1. Stay at home if unwell.
Please do not allow your son/daughter to attend school if they have any symptoms of Covid-19. As symptoms vary from person to person we advise that you take a precautionary approach at all times. If your son/daughter displays any symptoms, please ensure they self-isolate, undergo testing and seek GP advice as appropriate.
2. Close Contacts.
If your son/daughter has been deemed to be a close contact they need to adhere to the advice on the HSE website in relation to restricted movements and testing. If they develop symptoms they should isolate and seek testing as appropriate.
3. Mask Wearing, Hand-Hygiene, Sanitisation and Social Distancing.
These four elements continue to be essential aspects of both Public Health Advice and our School Response Plan. It is important that your son/daughter understands the reasons for these measures and that they adhere to them at all times while in the school premises. Please ensure that they have an ample supply of masks, their own sanitiser and wipes each day.
The emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 leads us to expect that the coming weeks will be challenging. It is envisaged that there may well be a number of staff unavailable for work on any given day. Should this be the case, we will endeavour to do everything we can to ensure that a substitute teacher is available to cover. However, it may not always be possible to employ a subject-specific teacher to cover each class. Work will be provided by the relevant teacher and we ask you to encourage your son/daughter to continue to engage with the classwork and homework assigned.
It is not envisaged at this point that there will be a need to ask some classes or year groups to move to online learning from home. However, if staff shortages reached a crisis point this may become a likely reality. The purpose of the preventative measures outlined above is to ensure that such a scenario does not arise and that we can continue to provide education for our students in an environment that will be as safe as we can possibly make it.
We thank you for your continued patience and support as we navigate our way through this pandemic. Working together we will continue to endeavour to provide your son/daughter with the best possible educational experience during these challenging times.
Kindest Regards
Anton O Mahony,
Principal Skibbereen Community School.