‘It’s important everyone feels safe.If not we’re not going anywhere’

Derry principals Joyce Logue, Long Tower Primary School and Martine Mulhern, St. Cecilia’s College, outlined some of the preparations during a Féile discussion on Tuesday.

Both agreed that safety is paramount and that the school routine will inevitably look a little different in the age of COVID-19.

For primary pupils this will mean, for example, leaving personal effects at home to reduce the risk of spreading the infection and ensuring social distancing within schools where possible.

Mrs. Logue explained: “Our children now will be returning in class bubbles and to make that possible they will not be bringing in personal equipment from home. Just a clear pencil case. No school bags.

“This is all very minor information but information that’s really important for parents.

“Canteen dinners will be served in classrooms. Children in each class will be kept separate from every other classroom. Play times will be different. It will be a very different experience for children. Probably a very worrying experience for children because you will have brothers and sisters in other classes and children, while we will naturally do everything in our power to keep social distancing within the class bubbles, there will be times when a P1 child will see its P5 sibling and will want to run to it. We will do our best to minimise any interaction but it won’t be 100 per cent secure and I think we have to be honest about that at the outset.”

Mrs. Mulhern said some of the measures that apply for primary age children will work at secondary level as well.

“We will be operating bubble systems for first years, second years and third years. They will come into their class group and they will actually stay in the same classroom all day. Their teachers will actually come to them. It’s a complete change for both the children and for our teachers,” she said.

However, as timetables diverge at Key Stages 4 and 5 in line with pupils’ subject choices a different regime will be required.

“Up the school with the more senior girls there will be movement as they move to their subject choices. Obviously that’s going to create potential difficulties for us in the school but nothing that we haven’t though tout and nothing that I don’t think we are going to be able to handle.

“I think it’s really important at this stage that everyone recognises we really have to work together. Teachers can’t do it on their own. Parents can’t do it on their own. Children can’t do it on their own.

“We are really going to have to try and work with everyone together to make sure that we try and keep each other safe.

“For me in bringing our children and our staff back to school it’s really important that everyone feels safe. If they don’t feel safe then we are not going anywhere,” she insisted.