Spending €50,000 on PPE and cancelling hurling: the steps schools are taking to get students back

Seamus O'Ceallacháin, Principal Pobalscoil na Tríonóide, who is getting ready to open the school doors next week. Picture: Howard Crowdy

‘Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine’, people live in each other's shadows, and 'ní neart go cur le chéile’, no strength without unity.

Those are the seanfhocail helping Pobalscoil na Tríonóide, in Youghal, County Cork power through as the school prepares to welcome back close to 1,000 secondary school students shortly.

“Those are the ones we are operating on,” principal Seamus O’Ceallacháin told the Irish Examiner. 

Megan Daly pictured at a hand sanistising station at one of the entrances to Pobalscoil na Tríonóide in Youghal. Picture: Howard Crowdy

“We have 10 or 12 teachers here on site now all the time, working trying to get us ready,” he added.

Preparations are underway at primary and secondary schools across the country to make classrooms ready to receive pupils in the coming weeks. Concerns remain at all levels about how schools will operate when they return, but the wider school community is pulling together to ensure it runs as smoothly as possible, Mr O'Ceallacháin said.

“People are worried but, to be honest, I have never seen such goodwill from staff," he said.

"I have never seen so many messages of support, or offers from staff to come in and help out. From parents too. I had another phone call this morning, I’d someone wanting to come up, help with painting and help with laying out desks. 

“Everybody wants to get this right. We’ve had a number of meetings from our parents association, our board of management is very supportive and we’ve support from the students themselves.

“We have some of them in at the moment, helping out, working, socially distanced obviously. They are just anxious to get back.”

In recent weeks, the school has undergone some major changes, and there’s work still to be done before the school opens its doors to students again.

The School PE Hall which has been converted into four seperate temporary classrooms to minimise class numbers in Pobalscoil na Tríonóide in Youghal. Picture: Howard Crowdy

“We are converting our PE hall into classrooms. We are changing all of our plumbing to make sure we have instant hot water throughout the school,” Mr O'Ceallacháin explained. 

“We also are introducing a new WiFi system, and making major investments in new IT equipment.”

The school is also investing heavily in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and additional hygiene measures. 

"We are investing approximately €50,000 for this term up to Christmas in PPE equipment and sanitisation products, putting in 100 new hand sanitisers," Mr O'Ceallacháin said.

"We’re also purchasing back to school packs for students which will include things like masks, and maybe even their own individual stationery and biros so they have enough of those.”

Teacher James Mancell measuring distances between chairs in one of the classrooms at Pobalscoil na Tríonóide in Youghal. Picture: Howard Crowdy

The school has appointed lead Covid officers, who are preparing signs throughout the school, and between 300 and 400 desks are being moved to ensure the school can adhere to public health advice regarding classroom layouts. The school is also looking at revising timetables.

"We are looking at extending lunchtime so students will be able to go home if they wish," Mr O'Ceallacháin said.

"We are also bringing in hour-long classes, instead of forty minutes, to reduce the amount of interaction between students and to improve social distancing."

The school also has to make major changes to its school book scheme. 

Plumber Cian Roche finishing installing new taps in the bathrooms ready for the new term in Pobalscoil na Tríonóide in Youghal next week . Picture: Howard Crowdy

“We’re talking about 10,000 books," Mr O’Ceallacháin said. 

"So we have to bring in new measures around the collection and delivery of them so that they are not being handled in school. 

“We’ve also about 10 new staff to hire, taking on teachers, caretakers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs). All of them have to be hired in the next few weeks so interviews are ongoing.

“We’re also introducing new canteen facilities and new procedures around how we distribute food so that social distancing doesn’t become a challenge. We’re also using the local rugby club facilities just to give us a bit of space if we need.”

Teachers Tim O'Regan and Lorna Daly ensuring safe distancing and mask compliance as they prepare for the opening of Pobalscoil na Tríonóide in Youghal next week. Picture: Howard Crowdy

With all of these changes, there naturally comes some downsides. 

"We have always had a fantastic homework club here for students who want to use it, but we won’t be going ahead with that," a disappointed Mr O'Ceallacháin explained.

"We’ve had fantastic supervised study here every day between 4pm and 6pm, but we can’t go ahead with that. Our focus is getting the students back to school, teaching them and just reducing anything else that would expose risk.

"We are certainly reducing our extracurricular activities. I just can’t see hurling teams and football teams going out straight away. It just isn’t safe, I don’t think schools will be running those competitions this year."

Simple things, such as accessing lockers, also need to change, he added.

"Students will not be able to access their lockers for the first couple of months until we can ensure they won’t be congregating," he said.

"Policies might change after a few months but certainly, for the first few months we need to get it right. We just need to get it right.”