Covid 19 Contingency Plan

ST MARY’s & ST. GERARD’s N.S. ENNISKERRY    COVID-19 SCHOOL CONTINGENCY PLANS

                                                                                                                           DECEMBER 17th, 2021

 

Contingency Plans – Overall Approach

 

These plans are being developed as practical solutions for continued learning in the instances where the school needs to close, a class needs to be sent home or a child and siblings or pod are required to be sent home. These contingency plans will apply regardless of whether the case is a community case or from within the school. These plans will not be perfect for everyone, but the intention is that proactive communication will help everyone know what to expect should these situations arise. The plans will evolve as more guidelines become available from The Department of Education and Skills and as we learn from other schools which experience these situations. These plans are built around 3 possible contingency levels:

Level 1 – Individual child, individual child plus siblings or individual pod impacted;

Level 2 – Multiple pods in one class or a full class impacted; and

Level 3 – Full school impacted.

These plans are designed around a blended learning approach that includes book-based homework, online activities (e.g., Spellings for Me and Mathletics) and online homework through Seesaw, Zoom connect and Zoom teaching classes where possible.

Parents will be required to be in the vicinity of their children during these Zoom sessions and the normal etiquette guidelines for Zoom meetings will apply.

In Circular 0050/2021, the Department of Education recognises that schools will continue to require additional substitute cover in the 2021/22 school year for primary teachers to assist in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. In the unforeseen event that the school has limited available staff and cannot source substitute cover, classes may have to stay at home until substitute cover may be provided. In this exceptional circumstance, parents will be notified by text and email as early as is possible so as to facilitate child-minding arrangements. Class Representatives will also be notified.

 

LEVEL 1

 

Contingency in event that individual children, siblings of children or a class pod is impacted

  • Parents of the child/children impacted will be contacted by phone immediately after the school is made aware of the incident and arrangements will be made to have the child/children collected.
  • Teachers and staff will all be informed either in person or by email once arrangements for the impacted children have been made.
  • Parents of other children in the impacted pod/classroom will then be informed by text message/email of the incident, the incident level and how it is been managed by the school and any necessary action they need to take. The Board of Management will then be informed.
  • The impacted children will be sent home with all their own copies, books and classroom textbooks.
  • Seesaw will kick in for online homework ideally within 3 days of the incident but no later than a week after the incident for those children who are well enough to participate. Lesson plans will be published on the Sunday after the incident for the week ahead.
  • Zoom connect sessions will be established no later than one week after the closure and will recur on a weekly basis until all the children are well enough to attend school again. The purpose of these sessions is to keep the children connected with their teacher and their classmates.
  • It will also be encouraged in the instance of a pod being impacted that parents of the children in that pod take responsibility on a rotational basis to organise Zoom connects between the children in the pod who are well enough to attend.
  • If a child, siblings of a child or a pod is at home, class teachers will host Zoom teaching classes once a week during the school day where possible. The Principal and/or SET and/or Infant teachers will facilitate same by taking over the mainstream class for the duration of the Zooms.
  • In addition to teaching and learning support, a link will be provided to children to the Move Well Move Often website so children can focus on physical education throughout the period and this will be included in the homework schedule. A suitable PE Homework Activity Website for parents has been uploaded onto the school website under the heading ‘Educational Websites’ in the Parents’ section. Other PE links may be found on the school website under Parents – Educational Websites – Physical Education.

 

LEVEL 2

 

Contingency in event of multiple pods or a full class being impacted

  • Parents of the children impacted will be contacted by phone immediately after the school is made aware of the incident and arrangements will be made to have the children collected.
  • Teachers and staff will all be informed either in person or by What’s Apps Group email once arrangements for the impacted children have been made.
  • Parents of other children in the classroom or school will then be informed by email of the incident, the incident level and how it is been managed by the school and any necessary action they need to take. The Board of Management will then be informed.
  • The impacted children will be sent home with all their own copies, books and classroom textbooks.
  • Seesaw will kick in for online homework ideally within 3 days of the incident but no later than a week after the incident for those children who are well enough to participate. Lesson plans will be published on the Sunday after the incident for the week ahead.
  • Zoom connect sessions will be established no later than one week after the incident and will recur on a weekly basis until all the children are well enough to attend school again. The purpose of these sessions is to keep the children connected with their teacher and their classmates.
  • It will also be encouraged that parents of the children in the impacted pods/class take responsibility on a rotational basis to organise Zoom connects between the children in the pods/class that are well enough to attend.
  • If multiple pods are at home, class teachers will host Zoom teaching classes once a week during the school day where possible. The Principal and/or SET and/or Infant teachers will facilitate same by taking over the mainstream class for the duration of the Zooms. If the entire class is at home, class teachers will host Zoom connects during the school day.
  • Where a full class is out, and the teacher is well, a or a sub teacher is available, online teaching classes will be held via Seesaw and Zoom. Once a week, initially, the teachers will focus on one/two areas/subjects and will record and upload a teaching lesson on Seesaw. The following day the teacher will facilitate a live Zoom class to help answer any questions the children may have on the lesson/homework set through Seesaw. The classes will be timetabled to consider siblings’ Zoom schedules and individual teachers’ schedules.
  • In addition to teaching and learning support a link will be provided to children to the Move Well Move Often website so children can focus on physical education throughout the period and this will be included in the homework schedule. A suitable PE Homework Activity Website for parents has been uploaded onto the school website under the heading ‘Educational Websites’ in the Parents’ section. Other PE links may be found on the school website under Parents – Educational Websites – Physical Education.

 

 LEVEL 3

 

Full school is out

  •  The Board of Management will be consulted on the need to close the school.
  • Parents will be contacted by text message immediately after the school is made aware of the closure and arrangements will be made to have the child/children collected.
  • Teachers and staff will all be informed either in person or email.
  • The children will be sent home with all their own copies, books and classroom textbooks.
  • Seesaw will kick in for online homework ideally within 3 days (but no later than 7 days) of the closure for those children who are well enough to participate. Lesson plans will be published on the Sunday after the school closure for the week ahead
  • Zoom connect sessions will be established no later than one week after the incident and will recur on a weekly basis until the school reopens. The purpose of these sessions is to keep the children connected with their teacher and their classmates.
  • It will also be encouraged that parents of the children take responsibility on a rotational basis to organise Zoom connects between the children in their pod/class.
  • Parents will be required to be in the vicinity of their children during these Zoom sessions and the normal etiquette guidelines with Zoom meetings will apply.
  • If the teacher is well, online teaching classes will be held via Seesaw and Zoom. Once a week, initially, the teachers will focus on one/two areas/subjects and will record and upload a teaching lesson on Seesaw. The following day the teacher will facilitate a live Zoom class to help answer any questions the children may have on the lesson/homework set through Seesaw. The classes will be timetabled to consider siblings’ Zoom schedules and individual teachers’ schedules. Catherine will create a sample timetable in advance to see what it looks for parents with multiple children in the school. The length of the classes will vary as follows
    • Junior Infants – 15 minutes, Senior Infants – 15 minutes
    • 1st & 2nd class – 20 minutes, 3rd & 4th class – 30 minutes, 5th & 6th class – 40 minutes
  • In addition to teaching and learning support, a link will be provided to children to the Move Well Move Often website so children can focus on physical education throughout the period and this will be included in the homework schedule. A suitable PE Homework Activity Website for parents has been uploaded onto the school website under the heading ‘Educational Websites’ in the Parents’ section. Other PE links may be found on the school website under Parents – Educational Websites – Physical Education.

 

Additional Plans for Special Education Needs Students

 

Contingency Plan Guidelines in the event of the whole school or class being sent home

  • Children will be sent home with their SEN copies and SEN folders and suggested online reading material and/or Maths activities and/or SEN resources.
  • Seesaw will immediately kick in for additional online work with lesson plans/suggested activities published on a Sunday for the week ahead.

 

Contingency Plan Guidelines in the event of a child with SEN and siblings from the same family or a pod being sent home

  • Children will be sent home with their SEN copies and SEN folders and suggested online reading material and/or Maths activities and/or SEN resources.
  • Seesaw will immediately kick in for additional online work with lesson plans/suggested activities published on a Sunday for the week ahead.
  • Zoom connect will be established on a bi-weekly basis if the child is well to keep the child connected with his/her SEN teacher. These connects will be for the purpose of connecting the child with his/her learning resources, support his/her learning and supporting the child’s wellbeing. Depending on the time out from school, some of these Zoom connects may be with the full or part of the SEN class to keep the child connected with his/her peers.

 

Protocols for Online Check-in with Teachers via Zoom

  • The email invitation that you receive with the link to the online session should not be forwarded to or shared with anyone.
  • Your child’s participation is not compulsory and is at your discretion. If your child does participate, your consent if presumed.
  • Parental supervision of your child’s participation is required for child protection reasons (a parent does not have to be on camera, just in the vicinity of where your child is when they are participating).
  • We would request that all cameras are switched on to facilitate better interaction with the teacher and classmates.
  • Please note that five minutes after the scheduled meeting start time, access to the meeting will be locked to new participants for the security of all involved.
  • The session must not be recorded by any of the participants, for the security of all.
  • The usual high standards and expectations of behaviours and appropriate interaction apply.
  • Children should not have access to mobile phones while participating unless the phone is the device to participate in the session.
  • An appropriate physical background for the session should be chosen by the participants and we request that no virtual backgrounds are used.
  • Children should be dressed appropriately while participating.
  • If the teacher’s broadband connection drops and she is no longer present on the Zoom call, all participants must leave the call and the teacher will reschedule the session.