Publication
COVID-19: Your questions answered about returning to school
Published on
Last updated on
Published on
Last updated on
The Department of Education, in close consultation with experts in the HSE, have produced a suite of guidance documents to facilitate the safe reopening of schools.
All of this information is available here and includes the following:
These resources are designed to guide schools in the correct implementation of public health measures to:
These measures include making sure that:
Financial support is being provided to schools to enable them to implement the changes required for a safe return to schools, including the continued purchase of hand sanitisers and other necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies and consumables.
Whatever mode of transport is used for travel to school, the aim is to minimise the risk of exposure to COVID-19 by ensuring physical distancing, good hand hygiene, good respiratory hygiene and wearing of face coverings where appropriate.
Congregation of people at school gates should be strictly avoided.
Some approaches that schools may consider to avoid congregation include the following:
Physical distancing is a key measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In order to facilitate physical distancing in primary schools, pupils and their teachers may be sorted into ‘Class Bubbles’ and ‘Pods’.
A ‘Class Bubble’ is a class grouping which stays apart from other classes as much as possible.
Within the Class Bubble, pupils and teachers may be further separated into small discrete groups or ‘Pods’, to the extent that this is practical. Pod sizes should be as small as is reasonably practical in the specific classroom context. If the class is divided into Pods, there should be at least 1 metre distance between each Pod, and between individual pupils and teachers in each Pod, whenever possible.
The objective is to limit contact and sharing of common facilities between people in different Class Bubbles (and Pods within those Class Bubbles) as much as possible, rather than to avoid all contact between Pods, as this will not always be possible.
The aim of the system within the school is that Class Bubbles mix only with their own class from arrival at school in the morning until departure at the end of the school day. Pods within Class Bubbles are an additional measure, to further limit contact between pupils and teachers in the Class Bubble.
Whenever possible, pupils and teaching staff should consistently be in the same Class Bubbles. Different Class Bubbles should have separate breaks and mealtimes or occupy separate areas at break or mealtimes. Sharing educational material between Pods should be avoided or minimised. Movement of staff members between Class Bubbles should be limited as much as possible.
Teachers, SNAs and other staff and students attending post primary schools are required to wear a face covering when a physical distance of 2 metres from other staff and students cannot be maintained.
Cloth face coverings should not be worn by any of the following groups:
Staff and students are likely to have their own face coverings for use in schools.
The department has advised schools that they should have additional disposable face coverings available for students, teachers and staff in case a back-up face covering is needed during the day.
The department has also provided a framework and funding for PPE, including face coverings.
In certain situations in schools, the use of clear visors should be considered for staff interacting with students with hearing difficulties or learning difficulties.
Staff, such as SNAs and bus escorts, who may be in closer and continued proximity to students, may wish to use medical face masks to EU Standard 14683. These masks are available on the PPE framework.
There is no evidence to suggest that asking children to wear freshly laundered uniforms or clothes every day is an effective measure to limit the spread of COVID-19. School uniforms or clothes should be laundered regularly in line with usual good hygiene. If uniforms or clothes are visibly dirty or soiled, they should be laundered.
Your child can bring a lunchbox/water bottle to school, but they should be the only person to handle these items during the school day and should not share or swap their lunch with other children. This aligns with regular good practice to protect children with allergies from accidental exposure to allergens such as nuts.
The virus that causes COVID-19 survives for longer on hard surfaces like lunchboxes and water bottles, compared to soft fabrics like clothing, so these items should only be used by one child and should be cleaned daily with regular household cleaning products.
Wherever possible, children should have their own individual resources, for example: textbooks, pencil cases, art equipment. Some resources can be shared when necessary, but strict adherence to the Department of Education COVID-19 response plans for the safe reopening of schools must be maintained:
Shared Equipment
Students who have symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, new cough, shortness of breath, breathing difficulties, or loss or change to their sense of smell or taste, should not attend school.
Please phone your doctor and follow guidance on self-isolation. Your doctor will advise whether COVID-19 testing is required and will arrange testing if necessary.
If your child develops symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 while in school, they should tell their teacher or designated staff member straight away. They will be taken to a designated isolation area within the school building.
Ideally, the isolation area should be a separate room (resource permitting), but it may be an area within a classroom where a distance of at least 2 metres from all other people in the room can be strictly maintained.
The school will immediately contact the child’s parent or guardian to inform them that the child has symptoms of COVID-19.
The child’s symptoms will be assessed to determine whether they require emergency medical attention:
Appropriate cleaning of the isolation area will be conducted when the symptomatic child has vacated the room.
If your child develops symptoms of COVID-19 in school their symptoms will be assessed to determine whether they require emergency medical attention:
Under the law, all cases and outbreaks of COVID-19 must be notified to Public Health. It is very important to note that management of confirmed cases and outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools will be Public Health led, and action taken will be based on Public Health risk assessment undertaken by the regional Department of Public Health.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach for the management of cases and outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools. This is because every situation and every school is different.
Public Health doctors consider many factors when they risk assess an outbreak of COVID-19 in a school, including:
All of these factors, and more, allow Public Health doctors to assess the level of risk to students and staff within the school. Outbreak management is a complex process undertaken by highly trained Public Health doctors and affiliated staff. Many factors are considered in deciding the right course of action in each individual situation.
Wherever possible, each child should have their own set of textbooks and their own pencils/pens and pencil case. They should not share these items with other children. The virus that causes COVID-19 survives for longer on hard surfaces like textbook covers and pencil cases so these items should be only be used by one child and should be cleaned daily with regular household cleaning products. Cleaning of textbook covers can be facilitated by laminating the cover/lining the cover with clear plastic wrapping.
The public health advice is that temperature checking is not recommended because fever is not a consistent symptom of COVD-19 in children. Parents and/or schools do not need to take children’s temperatures every morning.
Parents and pupils/students are reminded that, if they feel unwell or have ANY COVID-19 symptoms, they should not attend school. More information is available on the symptoms of COVID-19.
Visitors to schools during the day should be minimised as much as possible and by prior appointment and should be received at a specific contact point.
Visitors who are admitted to schools should then be subject to the same controls as apply to staff entering the school.
Visitors should perform proper hygiene on arrival at school.
Schools should consider the use of Perspex in school offices if there is likely to be a high throughput of visitors, despite the restrictions above.
Visitors should maintain 2 metres physical distancing from pupils/students and staff while in school.
Visitors should sign a contact tracing log which each school is required to keep. The department has provided a sample tracing log at Appendix 5 of the School COVID-19 Response Plans.
Education staff move routinely between schools in the context of substitute teachers, shared special education teachers and so on, and it is not possible to eliminate this movement entirely.
The department has provided additional staffing resources which will help to minimise the movement of staff within and between schools. It is recognised that there will continue to be movement of staff between schools, albeit perhaps at a reduced level.
In these circumstances the following should be considered:
You should provide your child with age-appropriate information about COVID-19 so that they know how to protect themselves and others and know how to recognise and report symptoms of COVID-19. Empower children to protect themselves and others by teaching them key health behaviours to reduce risk, for example: physical distancing, hand washing and respiratory hygiene.
Role model these behaviours for your children and make them the norm in all circumstances. Practice handwashing, respiratory hygiene and physical distancing with younger children so that they learn effective behaviours to protect themselves and others. See HSE.ie for further information on protecting your child from coronavirus.
The Department of Education has provided printed posters to schools with age-appropriate key health messages and has created age-appropriate videos, which are available here.
A suite of wellbeing resources for the primary and post primary setting is available here.
These resources include:
The wellbeing toolkits for schools are guidelines for teachers that focus on promoting a sense of safety; a sense of calm; a sense of belonging and connectedness; a sense of self-efficacy and community-efficacy; a sense of hope.
The Toolkits comprise of a combination of materials developed by the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) and information collated from other acknowledged sources that promote natural resilience for all and recovery for those with additional educational needs.
Everyone can support the safe reopening of schools, and help prevent the spread of COVID-19, by following the public health measures put in place by the government.
These measures include the following:
Parents and guardians can support the safe reopening of schools by following the advice included on www.gov.ie/backtoschool and by complying with all measures advised by Government and schools to reduce the risk of COVID-19.
These measures include:
As many countries have not yet implemented a full return to school, experience of spread of COVID-19 in school settings is limited. However, the international evidence to date is reassuring and suggests that schools may be low risk environments for the spread of coronavirus, provided that appropriate Public Health measures such as physical distancing are rigorously implemented.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) examined the international scientific evidence regarding the role of school settings in the spread of COVID-19 and published their conclusions in a technical report entitled ‘COVID-19 in children and the role of school settings in COVID-19 transmission’.
The report found that:
It is important to remember that there are many reasons why a child may not attend their pod or class. However, if a child does not attend because they have tested positive for COVID-19, then the school will be informed by Public Health services (HSE). If your child is identified as a close contact of someone with COVID-19, then they will need to restrict their movements for 14 days after last exposure to the child who tested positive, and they will be offered testing for COVID-19 (day 0 and day 7 tests).
It is important to await official confirmation from Public Health services that specific action needs to be taken in relation to COVID-19 to prevent any misunderstanding and unnecessary restrictions.
If a child has symptoms of COVID-19 and is awaiting a test, only members of that child’s household are asked to restrict their movement until the test results are known. This is because there are many illnesses that have similar symptoms to COVID-19 and the test may come back as ‘not detected’ and therefore no restrictions of movement are necessary for those in school who remain well.
It is important to await official confirmation from Public Health services or the school that specific action needs to be taken in relation to COVID-19 to prevent any misunderstanding and unnecessary restrictions when they were not needed.
If there is a positive case of COVID-19 identified in your child’s school, the Department of Public Health will work with the school to perform a risk assessment. See the Schools Pathway – a Public Health Approach document for further details. As per current guidelines, all children in the pod with the child who has tested positive for COVID-19, may be considered close contacts, offered testing (day 0 and Day 7) and will be advised to restrict their movement for 14 days after last exposure to the person who tested positive.
It is important to remember that there are many reasons why a teacher may not be in school on any given day. However, if their absence is because they tested positive for COVID-19 then the Department of Public Health will work with the school to perform a risk assessment to determine who would be considered a close contact of the person with a positive COVID-19 test. As per current guideline anyone considered a close contact of a confirmed case of COVID-19, is offered testing and will be advised to restrict their movements for 14 days after last exposure to the person who tested positive.
Advice can be found on the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) website.