Back to school: what will my school look like?

As students prepare for a new year, Helen Kelleher visits two schools to see what a normal day will look like 

Valerie Elliffe, Principal of St. Mary’s National School, Carrigaline, Co Cork in the senior infant classroom, ready for returning students. Picture: Jim Coughlan

Pods and classroom bubbles, hand sanitiser stations, isolation rooms… so what exactly will the classroom look like when primary school children return this autumn. 

One of the biggest changes says Valerie Elliffe, Principal at St Mary’s National School in Carrigaline, Co Cork will be the restrictions placed on the movement of children within schools.

“There will be no free movement around the school – once children are in their own classroom or class bubble that will be more or less it”.

Valerie said there will be no mixing with children from other classrooms - “break times will be staggered, play areas increased, less classes in the playgrounds and more time allowed between breaks so different class bubbles will not come into contact with each other. 

"It will take some time for us all to get used to the new routines”.

From Junior Infants up to second class children will be separated into individual pods of four to six pupils. 

Each pod will be one meter apart and children will stay within their pods for learning, playtime and all activities within the classroom.

Valerie said they had to pack away dress-up boxes, play kitchens and garages and she said children will instead have desktop toys and activities within their own pods.

The idea of the pods is to limit the spread of the virus if it does enter a school. 

This would mean that if a student contracts the virus then only that pod or classroom would have to be sent home to self-isolate, instead of the entire school.

“We are looking at using colour-coding, especially for younger children so they can easily identify their route to class and the area in which to stay…the ‘red pod’ for instance will have red colour-coded shelves containing the toys and equipment for the red pod only and so on”.

Alan Carney is Deputy Principal at Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh in Cobh, Co. Cork one of the bigger primary schools with 730 pupils. 

He says there will be a lot of communication with parents before the school reopens on Wednesday, August 26 - he will be sending new school routes and other important information on videos which will be sent to parents on school app.

“The points of entry is a big one for us – up to now we had one entrance but we are going to have three separate entrances which will allow 200 plus students to walk straight to their individual classrooms and so limit contact between the different classrooms. 

"We are lucky with our building and the general layout. 

"All the downstairs classrooms have doors to the outside which we never really used before (mainly fire exits) but we will be opening these and we are in the process of creating our third entrance from the road”.

Deputy principal Alan Carney at the one way system to the class rooms with social distance in place ready for children returning to Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh. Picture: Dan Linehan

Neither Valerie nor Alan envisage staggering arrival times at this stage but they agree like most schools they will have to see how their different systems work and tweak things as they go forward.

“I think for all schools it is a matter of opening up again and seeing where we may need to tweak things as we go along”, says Alan.

Valerie said they too are still finalising plans at their school. 

Staff and a number of parents have been busy over the last few days moving furniture, reconfiguring classroom spaces and helping alter desk layouts for the school’s 215 children.

“We need to create as much space as possible in classrooms so we removed all excess furniture, computer tables, art presses and large shelving units. 

"We have ordered extra tables to try to ensure the recommended one-metre distance between students in the senior classes. 

"In larger classes we are also making use of our wet areas for groups of tables for students.

“Another change will be wet days, we can no longer use our school hall for break times and children will have their breaks in their classrooms making use of ‘busy breaks’ (where children do stretching/movements/balance exercise), go noodle and similar activities”.

Alan Carney putting on school safe hand sanitiser outside on of the classrooms. Picture: Dan Linehan

For lunchboxes and eating Valerie said they already have a policy that children don’t share food. 

“Traditionally they would store lunchboxes in a particular place but I think now students might keep them with them so limiting the movement around the classroom”.

From third class up Valerie says children are expected to be more aware of social distancing and to maintain one metre distance within the classroom.

She says they are lucky to have a bathroom and sinks with hot water in each classroom and for the school to be all on the one level where pupils can enter and exit through the fire door of their own classrooms thus limiting contact with other class bubbles.

“Each child will be asked to wash their hands/sanitise when they arrive each morning and again before eating and after playtime. 

"We will have soap, disposable hand towels and hand sanitiser stations in each classroom. 

There will be a dedicated isolation room in case a staff member or student has virus symptoms – if a child feels unwell during the day they will be taken to the isolation room and a staff member will call his/her parent. 

"Every school is required to have a Covid Response Statement, a Risk Assessment and a plan of action if there is a suspicion of Covid-19. 

"Anyone with a fever or temperature will be asked to avoid coming to school”.

Valerie and Alan say parents can expect lots of communication detailing changes at their schools shortly... ”there are still a lot of planning meetings ahead with staff and management to look at the many areas to consider in order to facilitate a safe return to school for all”.

Both Valerie and Alan praised their staff and school communities for their hard work and commitment in helping to achieve this goal and are looking forward to welcoming their pupils and staff back to school.

Alan says each school will do things differently depending on the school building, school cultures, numbers and location.

He said his biggest concern is staffing. 

“We have a large school so if too many staff are out sick (and guidelines state anyone with a fever or temperature or displaying any symptoms must stay home) or on courses then how are we going to manage that when trying to reduce the mixing of bubbles and trying to limit the number of staff in contact with various classes. 

"I would like to see more relief staff but I think it will be wonderful to get our schools open again and with all safety measures in place”.

What every parent needs to know 

• Children need to be able to manage their own clothing and footwear so ensure shoes with velcro if your child can not tie their own shoelaces.
• Ensure your child can open their own water bottle and lunchbox and manage their food items (yoghurts, peel their own fruit, open packets of crackers etc).
• Sharing is prohibited. Children should not bring toys, games or balls from home to school.
• HSE advice is that it is not mandatory for children under 13 to wear a mask but if your child would like to wear one going to and from school or at class then by all means he/she should but make sure it is suitable to their age and have it labelled – no disposables so as to prevent an unfortunate mix-up.

• At this stage children are very used to washing their hands but because they have been out of school for six months no harm to chat again about the technique, the importance of washing their hands when they arrive in school, before lunch, after outdoor play and anytime they look dirty.