Recent interviews on the media and information coming from the PHA/DE have created confusion around the issue of when children should or should not come to school.
Our school policy was outlined in my recent email to parents and remains unchanged.
It has always been our policy that children who are feeling unwell with temperatures, colds, flu, vomiting, diarrhoea earaches, sore throats etc should not be in school.
1. They are miserable in school.
2. They pass their illness on to their classmates.
3. Minor illness can temporarily reduce the ability of the sick child’s immune system to fight more serious infections.
Consequently, they should stay at home and only come to school when the symptoms are cleared.
This policy hasn’t changed, in fact it is more important than ever, now that we have Covid-19 to contend with.
We now add Covid-19 into the mix:
Children MUST NOT ATTEND SCHOOL if they have COVID-19 symptoms:
1. A new and continuous cough
2.High temperature/fever
3.Loss or change in sense of smell or taste
Research by Queen’s University has also found that gastrointestinal problems may also be symptoms ie vomiting and diarrhoea.
Medical evidence coming from hospital clinicians clearly indicates that Covid-19 symptoms are not exclusive to the three core symptoms and indeed symptoms are VARIABLE.
To conclude, we are maintaining our existing policy of exclusions and adding to that list, children exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms.
We are not trying to keep children out of school, nor to disrupt their learning further, rather we are endeavouring to keep our children and staff safe and healthy.
Parents need to be clear that social distancing, is impossible in classroom bubbles. Please do not listen to the hogwash coming out of the DE. Children are mixing within their class bubbles. Consequently, if one child contracts Covid-19 all of their bubble classmates and staff will be off school for 14 days. That’s how important this fight against infections is, in terms of health and learning.
We need all of our families to continue to support us in achieving our aim to keep our children and staff safe and healthy and to keep our classrooms open.
This policy hasn’t changed, in fact, it is more important than ever, now that we have Covid-19 to contend with.