A chairde,

Léigh an nóta seo a leanas le do thoil maidir le staid cúrsaí covid sa scoil faoi láthair agus go raibh míle maith agaibh as bhur dtacaíocht leanúnach go dtí seo.

Please read the following note regarding the current covid situation in our school and thank you for your continued support.

Firstly, apologies that I’ve been unable to respond promptly to all emails recently. Since Friday of last week we have been inundated with reports of children testing positive on antigen tests and the knock on effects for the school has been huge. Although most of the cases been reported involve children getting Covid for the first time, we also have a handful of children that have become Covid positive for the second time and as such we ask that all parents remain extra vigilant at this time.

We would like to thank all parents that have been diligent in testing and adhering to the guidelines and also to those who have informed us of cases. We would ask that any positive case be reported to the school be it antigen or PCR. In spite of all of our work and the efforts that we have all put into keeping our school Covid free, we’ve had more cases since we returned from Christmas than we have had at any time combined since the beginning of all this. Our school attendance saw us with approximately 30% of our children absent in recent days: 116 children absent today and 114 children absent from our school yesterday and this is obviously a major concern for our students, our parents and our staff alike. Staff absences are improving however with all but 2 staff members back at work now and all staff Members expected to be back at work in the coming days.

New guidelines that were issued on Friday means that children may return to school after 7 days of restricted movement so long as they are significantly better on day 6 and 7. However, from day 8, 9 & 10 these children, as well as children who have been identifies as household contacts, must wear medical grade masks and limit close contact with other people outside their household, especially in crowded, enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces. If your child is too young to do so or has a medical or other exemption, we ask that your child remains at home until day 10 as classrooms are enclosed areas as detailed below*.

‘ Children aged 9-12 years old should wear a well fitted mask as much as is reasonably practical during the 10-day period. A medical grade mask (surgical mask) is preferable, if it fits the child well; otherwise a well-fitting cloth mask can be worn.

• Can exit self-isolation after 7 full days, once symptoms have substantially or fully resolved for the final 2 days (48 hours) of the self-isolation period.

• On exiting self-isolation after 7 full days, cases should be advised to follow the below advice, especially during day 8, day 9 and day 10:

· *limit close contact with other people outside their household, especially in crowded, enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces

· follows all public health protective measures. ‘

As it currently stands since Sunday 09/01/22 we have received word of the following cases amongst our classes. These do not include people who did not return from the Christmas holidays or who tested positive whilst isolating due to being a close contact (there may have been other cases that we’re not aware of):

Máire P:1 case

Lisa C: 6 cases (all this wek)

Siobhán: 11 cases (all this week)

Aoife: 2 cases

Cristín: 3 cases

Clár L: 4 cases

Lisa T: 10 cases

Maebh: 8 cases (all last week)

Rebecca: 3 cases: (all this week)

Deiric: 9 cases

Gearóid: 3 cases

Niamh S: 1 case

Máire L, Clár D, Gavin: 0 cases

We hope that everyone makes a quick recovery and comes back safely to school.

Le gach dea-ghuí,

Deaglán, Maebh agus Foireann scoile Gaelscoil an Ghoirt Álainn.