Two-teacher primary school in Kerry embracing the new normal as children return
No matter what size a school is, there’s a long list of to-dos to be ticked off the checklist before students begin to make their return to the classroom.
That’s certainly the case for Ballyfinane National School, a two-teacher primary school with just under 30 students in Firies, Killarney, Co Kerry.
“I think the main thing at the moment is to get the kids back, get them back into a routine,” principal Catherine O’Shea told the .
“I think that’s what the parents, the teachers, all the staff in the school, and the students themselves want really.
“We are a very small school,” she added.
The school is also "blessed" with generous school grounds, which means it was easy enough to separate out areas for different class groups to enjoy their lunchtimes.
“I know a lot of schools are having staggered lunchtimes but we’re able to maintain what we had before.
“I suppose a lot of the normality is going back in Ballyfinnane National School but there will be some changes at play.”
To accommodate for social distancing, students’ desks will be more spaced out across the school.
“All the pupils will have their own individual boxes for their things, and we have family members sitting together but then the rest of the children will be sitting individually.
“I suppose it's a big move really from where we were. We used to have a huge emphasis on group work, and grouping the pupils together, whereas now they are at individual desks.
“We'd have a lot of wonderful play resources in the school, the children would learn a lot of musical instruments and that all had to be taken out of the room just to make space.
“I really hate saying it but some of the extra fun things and nice things about school are on hold,” Ms O’Shea added.
“We put a real investment into iPads to share in the school but now we will stagger how students use them,” she explained.
“So for example, it might be group one will get them today, and then it’ll be another few days before the next group gets them. We have to stagger them.
“The school was steeped in a fantastic tradition of GAA and traditional music, students learned the tin whistle, the fiddle, but at the moment, we’re waiting for further directions really.
“Our library is also taken out of the classroom now. We now operate a ‘library-pack’ system for each child now and when that pack comes back, it’ll have to be left for a number of hours and be wiped down.
“There’s also a lot of sanitising going on, we’ve sanitation stations all over the school. We have new door opening systems where drawers can be opened with feet so students don’t have to touch handles, and we’ll have a lot more markings on the ground.
“We put a huge emphasis on Aistear in our school, which is play and learning through playing with toys, so we’ve put in place a system where the children will share a box of toys between their pods.”
Children are anxious about their return to school, she added. “They are worried. They don’t know what they’ll see when they come back to school. So we’re putting a video together to show them the class they know and love is still here, just a little bit different.
“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen all the children in our lovely school. My heart goes out to the sixth class students who are moving on. We’d great plans for school tours and all that had to be put on hold.
“But it will be great to get the kids back into the school. I know they are missing the school, and their friends and playtime.”
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