SCHOOLS across the city are preparing for every eventuality as they return to the classroom after the Christmas break.
As rising Covid numbers threaten to bring about the return of distance learning, the principal of St Clare’s Primary School Principal on Cupar Street said that he remains committed to continuing face-to-face teaching where possible.
Speaking to the Andersonstown News, Cathal O’Doherty said: “Luckily we have a very good network of principals through our Area Learning Community and we chat daily. Each school is facing their own challenges depending on size, some of the principals are sick themselves and it makes planning very difficult.
“I had two members of staff test positive yesterday and another teacher this morning. Everything is changing by the hour. The guidance that we received from the Department of Education on New Year’s Eve didn’t contain any new information but we think that if a child is in a household where there is a positive case that they shouldn’t be in school if they have any symptoms at all, which isn’t Department policy.
“It is not just about infecting teachers, it is about infecting one-to-one classroom assistants, care takers, cleaners. So many people within the school can be impacted by just a couple of cases coming in.
"We currently have around ten staff out before we even return. Although it all depends on who the infected staff are. If we were to lose members of staff from our nursery unit, that would take out the whole nursery unit."
Cathal added that they are trying to plug staffing gaps where possible but that they still have a lack of access to substitute teachers and are struggling to find replacements for classroom assistants.
“This new Omicron variant is so contagious and I think we have to have some collective responsibility. The school, the local community, the Department for Education and the CCMS need to take this seriously if we want to keep our schools open for face-to-face teaching, which is our primary focus,” he said.
"It is easy for us to complain and say that the Department for Education are not being proactive enough but things are changing at such a rapid rate.
"Even though we have been living with Covid for the last two years, this particular strain isn't as deadly, but the fact that it is so infectious, within the next two weeks we will be able to determine what the rest of this term looks like.
"We cannot be reactive, we have to be proactive in how we approach this and closing schools isn't the answer."
Mr O'Doherty said that if schools were to close then they would return to working with vulnerable children and the children of key workers which make up a sizeable population of our schools.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan has called on the education minister to urgently revisit her approach to managing Covid in schools.
The party’s Education Spokesperson said that with schools returning the Education Minister "has failed to produce a plan to make our classrooms safer".
“Principals have been open and honest in recent weeks as they describe the deterioration of the situation in many of our schools," he said.
“A lack of appropriate guidance, a lack of adequate safety mitigations, a soft touch contact tracing policy, and a lack of available substitute teachers have put many of our schools in difficult positions with many having to resort to partial closures.”
Mr Sheehan added that the Omicron variant may also present new challenges and urged the Minister to revisit her approach to Covid in schools.
“I put these concerns directly to the Minister in the weeks before Christmas and called on her to produce a comprehensive plan which puts HEPA filters in all classrooms, which sets out a contact tracing policy teachers and families can have confidence in and to speed up the redeployment of qualified teachers from non-pupil facing positions back into the classroom,” he continued.
“The Minister keeps telling us she wants to keep schools open. We agree, but it would appear she has squandered the opportunity over the Christmas break to develop a plan.
"I will continue to make the case to the Minister for a new approach to Covid in our schools.”
