Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 2 September 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Covid-19: Review of the Reopening of Schools (Resumed)

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the committee for the invitation to attend today in regard to the reopening of the schools sector. I am accompanied from the Department by Ms Deirdre Shanley, assistant secretary, Ms Aoife Conduit, assistant secretary, Mr. Dalton Tattan, assistant secretary, Dr. Harold Hislop, chief inspector, Ms Yvonne Keating, deputy chief inspector, and Mr. Eamonn Murtagh, director in the planning and building unit; and by Ms Anne Tansey, director, National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS.

Although this is my first appearance before the committee, I have been following its work and I acknowledge the energy and commitment that have gone into its sessions to date as it discusses the response to Covid-19 across Government, State-delivered services and other sectors of society.

As members know, the reopening of our schools has been a number one priority since my appointment. It was not a hope, as some would have characterised it, but a reasonable ambition which, like all ambitions, presented a series of challenges for us to address in order to realise it. I have been fully supported by the Government in putting in place the supports necessary to realise that ambition. In recent days and into this week, we have seen that ambition being realised. Deputies will also be aware of the announcement I made yesterday on calculated grades, which followed a Government decision on proposals I put forward to amend the national standardisation process in the calculated grades model.

Under the calculated grades model, estimated marks will be adjusted, as planned, to ensure that a consistent standard is applied across schools throughout the country when judging the performance of students. The change I introduced removes the use of school-by-school historical data in the standardisation model and places a greater emphasis on the estimated marks provided by schools to individual students. In making this change, I was driven by the desire to ensure fairness for the students in the process.

Our decisions provide additional reassurances to 2020 leaving certificate students that their unique situation has been understood and treated fairly. Fairness must be at the heart of everything we do as a society. From my first day as Minister for Education and Skills, I have been determined that in this extraordinary year the system in place to mark students' achievements of their years in post-primary education would be the fairest possible system under these challenging safeguards.

In July, the Cabinet approved the roadmap for the full return to schools. The roadmap set out how the public health advice provided to my Department on the safe return to school could be implemented at individual school level. Approval was given for over €375 millionin additional funding necessary to support the implementation. I provided details of the supports being made available to both Houses of the Oireachtas in the last week of July and the effect of those supports has been seen across the country as schools reopened their doors from last week.

During August, I provided a number of updates on how the planning for schools reopening was progressing. To date, the payments made directly to schools exceed €160 million. My Department brought forward the payment of the annual minor works grant to primary schools, totalling approximately €30 million, which typically is paid in either December or January each year. In addition, an enhanced minor work grant, which matches the 2019 payment, has also been issued directly to schools. This amounts to €60 million, which has now been issued directly to primary schools in minor works grants since the publication of the roadmap. A minor works grant amounting to €42 million issued to post-primary schools in the free scheme.

The minor works grant provides schools with the necessary flexibility to implement necessary physical measures in their school quickly to enable the full school reopening. These measures include, but are not limited to, reconfiguration of classroom space, repurposing rooms to provide additional space, purchasing furniture, altering desk layouts, and the short-term rental of additional space. Given that each school setting is different, individual schools are best placed to decide on the appropriate reconfiguration measures for their school, which are necessary to facilitate school reopening.

The roadmap was developed following intensive engagement with stakeholders from the education sector, including staff unions, representatives of principals and deputy principals, school management bodies, and representatives of parents and post-primary students. This co-operation and collaboration has continued, including at a local level where school communities have worked together to best address their local circumstances. Yesterday, officials met the primary and post-primary stakeholders again to maintain the spirit of partnership regarding reopening. There was also a meeting of the advisory group on the State examinations yesterday emphasising the continued co-operation in this area. I acknowledge the unstinting and selfless efforts of schools communities throughout the country in recent weeks and months to do all that is necessary to reopen our schools. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to all of them for their generosity of spirit, a reflection of their absolute dedication to their students and the provision of education for all.

The roadmap and its accompanying documentation provided schools with guidance on training, checklists for schools on preparing for reopening and guidance for operating the school safely in a Covid-19 context. Template Covid-19 response plans for schools were also provided to schools. These plans provide clear and practical guidance and support to schools on the range of measures that need to be put in place to bring everyone back to school safely. The Department has produced age-appropriate guidance for students in the form of animated videos, which are intended to help students further understand some of the new routines when they return to school. Guidance is also available for parents and will be available in several languages. These animations are available at gov.ie/backtoschooland also issued to schools to be disseminated to parents.

The HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre has confirmed that all recommendations in the public health advice I published at the beginning of July, including physical distancing guidelines as set out in the roadmap, still apply in all schools, with the exception of the recommendations on face coverings, which has been updated to reflect the latest research and expertise. Teachers and post-primary school students should wear face coverings, similar to those worn in shops or on public transport. Guidance for parents, guardians and families on the return to school is also available on the gov.iewebsite.

Parents and guardians can direct specific queries to their schools.

A letter was issued to all schools last week, together with a HSE document entitled, Schools Pathway for Covid-19, the Public Health approach, setting out the approach to managing isolated confirmed cases of Covid-19 within the school community and the principles that will underpin the management of outbreaks or potential outbreaks and the aligned testing strategy within an educational facility. It is important to note that the response to confirmed cases or outbreaks of Covid-19 in the community or in a school is the responsibility of, and will be led and managed by, public health and the HSE. All decisions as to the appropriate actions following a confirmed case or outbreak will be made by their teams in the context of a full public health risk assessment procedure according to the principles set out in the document.

Any actions to be taken by the school will be communicated directly by public health and the HSE. School management will be informed as and when such actions, such as the exclusion of children or staff or partial or full closure, are deemed necessary on public health grounds. If the school is not so informed, it has not been deemed necessary by public health.

Children will continue to display symptoms of many other circulating respiratory viruses. It is known that young children often have a persistent cold. A child with a blocked or runny nose but no fever can attend school, but if he or she requires paracetamol or ibuprofen, he or she must stay at home for 48 hours and parents or guardians should contact their GP to assess whether a test is required. Students and staff who have symptoms of Covid-19, including fever, new cough, shortness of breath, breathing difficulties or loss or change to their sense of smell or taste, should not attend school.

The definition of close contacts within a school will be variable and determined by a risk assessment that will take account of individual factors within each school or class. It will not be automatically assumed that a whole class will be deemed as close contacts. Close contacts will be directly notified by the HSE and advised to restrict their movements and present for testing on day zero and day seven. Close contacts will restrict their movements for 14 days even in the event that Covid-19 is not detected in both of these tests.

There is no blanket policy to test entire classes or years. The testing strategy will be aligned to the public health risk assessment, which may recommend widespread swabbing within a class or school under HSE mass testing procedures. In the event of an outbreak, public health will determine between a range of possible interventions, from exclusion and testing of a small group or pod of pupils up to and including closure of an affected facility. All schools are required to have a summary of key information to assist public health in its public health risk assessment ready to be provided on request. Outside the school environment, everyone should follow the latest public health measures announced on 18 August, which are available on gov.ie.

The issue of school transport is an area of considerable interest to Deputies and it is a massive daily logistical undertaking.

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