DERRY JOURNAL Editorial: Back to school but not as we knew it

It’s an anxious time for parents, guardians and school staff, as children, locked down at home for weeks on end back in mid-March and restricted in what they have been able to do since, re-enter an education system that has had to rapidly adapt in the space of a few short weeks under new guidelines for reopening.

It is a brave new world of sorts. Many of the familiar hallmarks, the excited chatter of hundreds of children in the playground at break times, parents grouping at the school gates, school assemblies, have gone. Even something as simple as holding hands with the lollipop woman or man as they led a child safely across the road is no more. Coupled with the anxiety of the unknown, there is however the relief of knowing our children are finally returning to a semblance of normality and routine.

There is a renewed sense of respect for our schools and confidence in those who staff them for all they have done over the past six months. It is worth recalling how it was our local schools, ahead of any official guidance, who stood in front of the children and refused to reopen to protect them. And as many a parent will tell you after home schooling, they are amazed at the work teachers and classroom assistants put in each day. That admiration has extended to the huge effort by principals, teachers, classroom assistants, canteen, cleaning and caretaking staff ahead of reopening -organising deep cleans, classroom ‘bubbles’, one way systems, changing lay outs, transport and arrangements for canteens and break times, and communicating all this to parents and guardians. Their role over the past six months has been incredible and I think we can all be confident that our children are as safe as they can be in this strange new world in the care of those same exceptional people.