Dear Parents/Carers
As a result of the announcement on Wednesday by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, St Joseph’s will be closed from Monday 23 March until further notice.
Many principals in East Belfast have agreed to follow a coordinated response to ensure that we support the children of key workers in a similar way across our schools.
Firstly, it is vitally important that we are aware how many children of key workers will be attending school on Monday morning.
With this in mind, if you are an identified key worker, please make contact with school to inform us if your child will be attending. This can be by phone or e-mail using either stjoesps@gmail.com or the contacts link on the school website. We will ask you to confirm some details on your role.
Before contacting the school, please pay particular attention to the following points. School will not be able to operate a ‘normal’ school day. Many of our schools are already operating with a significant reduction in staffing and this will probably continue to get worse over time.
Points to consider
- A list of key workers, issued by the Department of Education is listed below.
- If only 1 parent is a key worker the other parent would be expected to look after the child so as to reduce the number of pupils attending school.
- In single parent families, the individual parent must be a key worker.
If possible, alternative childcare arrangements should be sought before deciding to send your child to school. For example, with other family members, friends etc. Please try and use schools as a last resort. This is to try and limit the number of children and adults together in a small space in line with recent social distancing guidance.
School will not have wraparound services available.
- Normal opening and closing time will apply.
- Children attending will be required to wear their school uniform.
- Please be advised that schools will be performing childcare duties, rather than teaching, as not all teachers are currently available to teach specific year groups and teachers must also be available to provide online / remote learning for pupils not in attendance.
- Pupils must bring a snack and packed lunch.
We would ask that you pay attention to the points outlined above before deciding to send your child to school. Obviously, it goes without saying, if you are a key worker and your only option is to send your child to school, we will look after them in order to support you in your important role.
Thank you for your ongoing support and patience.
Kind regards
Mr Donaldson
LIST OF KEY WORKERS AS OUTLINED ON DOCUMENTATION ISSUED TO SCHOOLS ON 19TH MARCH 2020
Health and Social Care. This includes doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, home carers and staff required to maintain our health and social care sector
Education and childcare. This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who will remain active during the Covid-19 response
Public safety and national security. This includes civilians and officers in the police (including key contractors), Fire and Rescue Service, prison service and other national security roles
Transport. This will include those keeping air, water, road and rail transport modes operating during the Covid-19 response
Utilities and Communication. This includes staff needed for oil, gas, electricity and water (including sewage) and primary industry supplies, to continue during the Covid-19 response, as well as key staff in telecommunications, post and delivery, services and waste disposal
- Food and other necessary goods. This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution and sale, as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (e.g hygiene, medical etc)
- Key national and local government including those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the Covid-19 response.