19/03/2020
Dear Parents/ Guardians
This is a communication all of you have been expecting as this gives notice that school is now closed. I don’t know how long this is going to be for but we will keep you informed.
This is a very serious but necessary measure in an attempt to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
It is vitally important that everyone clearly understands the reason for school closures. This is to limit social contact with a view to reducing the spread of the infection. For this measure to be effective it is absolutely necessary that children are not mixing with others, including neighbours and friends, while out of school. This is not a case of been given an unexpected holiday but a measure which will place huge demands on all of us. We all have older relatives or someone who has an underlying health issue, or a neighbour who may be vulnerable. We have a duty of care towards all such people in our community.
It is also important that you speak with your children and reassure them of the safety in following protocols that have been communicated by Public Health Agency (PHA). Kidshealth.org Coronavirus(COVID-19): How to Talk to Your Child
The teachers have made preparations for the distribution of work activities for all pupils in the school. (See the school website this feeds automatically to our Facebook page)
I want to stress that the completion of school work is secondary to the health and well-being of your families and it should not take precedence over the demands that other restrictions may bring.
The resources available are a mixture of online work activities from familiar educational websites and pupils own workbooks. The nature of the activities is in keeping with the specific demands of the curriculum designed for your child/children.
We would recommend that reading requires daily practice and this is an appropriate activity for pupils across all year groups.
Pupils in KS2 can access activities posted on the Google Classroom Platform which they are all currently using. Work activities will be added to Google Classroom by KS2 teachers.
All children will be issued an exercise book for recording work during the isolation period, but this is NOT to be returned to school after the spell at home. Likewise, all other booklets must NOT be returned to school to avoid cross contamination. Work will not be collected or corrected by teachers, (KS2 will also upload answers for work), this is entirely at the parents’ discretion.
Further communications from the school to parents will be posted on our school website and Facebook page.
Finally, I want to thank all of you for your public and privately expressed support for us at this time. It is an extremely challenging time with the prospect of even greater hardship lying ahead. The staff of St. Mary’s sincerely wish you all the greatest resilience, good health, firm faith and the belief in the power of hope for the time that is in front of us.
God Bless
Principal
Peter McDonnell