Updated guidelines published by the Department of Education last week have left schools with not enough time to implement all the new measures for the proposed reopening at the end of the month, according to a local deputy principal.
Seamus Calahan, who is deputy principal of The Bish, says the advice being handed down by the Department over the past three months has been contradictory, leaving a lot of schools in limbo when it comes to planning.
"The advice from the Department in June, July, and August has been contradictory to each other which has left a lot of schools in total limbo," he says. "We have been planning and then we would have to plan again when we receive new advice. The advice is sixes and sevens.
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"We have been closed since March and we received new information only last week. We are due to open on August 26 and we are trying to implement all the new measures. It is major programme for us. Our school was originally designed for 400 and pre-Covid we had some 800 [pupils] so it was tight and intimate to begin with.
"We are utilising every space available, from garages to bike sheds to make space. The new measures are not impossible to implement but it is a mammoth task. I have been speaking to other deputy principals who are all very frustrated.
'The guidelines on facemasks [in schools] changed last Friday, so I imagine it will be facemasks to be worn inside and outside if a distance of two metres cannot be maintained'
However, he says, the school is getting on with it. "This will be the important thing any of us in the education sector will ever do in getting the children back to to school for the educational and social development."
Principal of St Paul's Oughterard, Orla Malone, says her school has had to reconfigure some classrooms to be suitable for social distancing and that staggered lunchtimes would be difficult to implement.
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“Some of our classrooms were not suitable [to adhere to social distancing guidelines] so we have had to pull them out and reconfigure them in order to do this," she says. "We have been working hard to make sure that our biggest classes are assigned to the biggest rooms. Usually it is a teacher-based classroom, whereas we are looking at number in classrooms [for the timetables] now. However staggered lunchtimes will be difficult [to implement]."
Ms Malone also says pupils will be told about the importance of wearing a facemask and making sure they social distance on their first day returning to school, while also saying parents are eager for their children to return to school.
'The reality is that the planning for a return to school in just three weeks’ time is being made more difficult because we have the highest class sizes in Europe'
"The guidelines on facemasks [in schools] changed last Friday, so I imagine it will be facemasks to be worn inside and outside if a distance of two metres cannot be maintained. Teenagers are going to naturally congregate especially when they haven't seen their friends since March, so we will spend time on the first day to explain the changes because they will be based in one class now where they would be used to moving and walking class to class.
"From the parents I have spoken to, I don't sense as much nervousness as eagerness to get their children back into a routine. We are going by the guidelines and we are working very hard. The safety of pupils and staff is paramount and we are doing everything we can to ensure that."
TD Farrell raises issue of oversized classes
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While work is ongoing in schools to ensure that social distancing is maintained in classrooms, Sinn Féin TD Mairéad Farrell has expressed her concern at new figures coming out of the Department of Education, showing class sizes as large as 37 students in some parts of Galway.
She says It is clear overcrowding in classrooms is a huge problem."New figures show that the median class size in 2019 was 25 students. The EU average is 20 students per class. Classes in Wicklow and Kerry had up to 39 and 38 children respectively. Schools in Galway had up to 37 [children] in the classroom, while in Westmeath there was a shocking 45 [children] in one class last year.
'It’s a Catch 22 situation with most parents unable or unwilling to homeschool, while also not wanting to put their children’s lives at risk'
"The reality is that the planning for a return to school in just three weeks’ time is being made more difficult because we have the highest class sizes in Europe. The Government failed to tackle this in its plans for the reopening of schools, while one in every five primary school children here is in a class of over 30. There are countless classes that are far too big, in buildings too small, and not fit for purpose.
"The first step in ensuring that educational standards and safety protocols are maintained, is by drastically reducing class sizes down to the EU average of 20. It is extremely disappointing, then, that the Government parties voted against our Private Members’ Motion last week that would have committed the Government to doing just that.
"If there ever was a time to tackle this issue, surely this is it. To start, all classes of over 30 kids should be abolished, and never allowed to return. The Government must immediately undertake an audit of class sizes across the country, and work to address this issue sooner rather than later.”
Parents concerned about children returning to school
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A survey carried out by RollerCoaster.ie revealed 65 per cent of Irish parents' primary concern was that their children would contract Covid-19 on their return to school.
The sample of 1,500 parents also found 40 per cent of Irish parents agreeing that students of all ages should have to wear face masks at all times while in school
Speaking of these findings, Mary Burke, acting content and community editor of RollerCoaster.ie says the results of the polls are unsurprising in many ways with parents voicing their concerns and grievances about their children’s education across our discussion boards on RollerCoaster.ie in the past few months.
"It’s a Catch 22 situation with most parents unable or unwilling to homeschool, while also not wanting to put their children’s lives at risk," she says. "It’s a minefield that so many are facing. Team that with the economic downturn and the high cost of school supplies and books, Irish parents have a lot on their plate."
