Information for Parents - Phased Return Update

St Patrick’s Primary School

Phased Re-opening of Schools

Information for Parents/Guardians

I am writing to inform you of the updated details in relation to the phased re-opening of our school for face to face teaching.

Arrangements for P4-P7

On Tuesday 16th March, the Education Minister announced that primary schools would re-open for P4-P7 pupils from Monday 22nd March onwards. This means that we will have all of our pupils from P1-P7 back at school for face to face teaching.

From Monday 22nd March onwards, the children in P1-P7 will return to the original Bubble arrangements that we had in place before the Christmas break. I have included the classes and their corresponding bubbles below.

Bubble 1                          Bubble 2
Start Time 8.45               Start Time 9.15
Finish Time 2.15              Finish Time 2.45        


Mrs Dooley (P1)               Mrs Comey (P1)
Miss McGowan (P1)          Mrs J Quinn (P1)
Mrs Hanley (P2)               Mrs K Doherty (P2)
Mrs McAteer (P2)             Mrs Morroi (P2)
Miss McLaughlin (P3)        Miss McCormick (P3)
Mrs Cullen (P3)                Miss Bryson (P3)
Mrs McCusker (P4)           Mrs J McLaughlin (P4)
Mrs Wood (P4)                 Miss S Quinn (P4)
Mrs MacFarland (P4)         Mrs McConnell (P5)
Miss P Smith (P5)             Mrs Gibbons (P5)
Miss Meehan (P5)             Mr McCallion (P5)
Mrs S Smith (P6)              Mrs Moore (P6)
Mrs Callan (P6)                 Mrs Adlard (P6)
Mrs Crumley (P7)              Mrs Kerr (P6)
Mr Bradley (P7)                Mrs C Doherty (P7)
                                        Miss R Doherty (P7)

School meals will be available for the children in P1-P7 year groups and any child who is entitled to a Free School Meal will not have to pay. All of the Covid-19 safety mitigating factors that were in place before the Christmas break will resume.

The emphasis when children return to school will be on welcoming them back, re-assuring them and on supporting them to reconnect socially with their peers and adults within the school setting. There will be a strong emphasis on supporting the children’s emotional health and well- being as we guide them back to their pathway to learning.

Keeping our School Safe
Please remember that everyone has an important role to play in keeping our school safe and helping to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and its associated variants. We will continue to have comprehensive mitigating measures in place within school to reduce the risk for our school staff and pupils. Parents can also play a very important part by adhering to the following guidance:

• If your child or family member has any Covid-19 symptoms such as a high temperature, a new or continuous cough or a loss of taste or smell then keep your child at home and book a Covid-19 test. The household must self-isolate until the test result comes back and please inform the school of the outcome of the test.
• When on school grounds parents need to wear masks and keep a social distance of 2m from other adults.
• Please remember to leave the school grounds promptly after dropping off your child and please don’t engage in lengthy conversations with other adults at the school gates.
• If you have a child in P5-P7 year groups, please consider allowing them to walk onto and leave the school grounds unaccompanied to reduce the volume of footfall.

Thank you for all your support at this time and we look forward to welcoming your children back to school again after the lengthy school closure.