Home School Learning

As you will be aware, digital work is distributed by the school, rather than physical packs of work, as this is the course of action outlined by the teaching unions and the Education Authority. The reason for this is that transfer of physical materials from school to home involves ‘unnecessary journeys’ and increases the risk of transmission of Covid – 19, as the virus can stay ‘live’ on paper and card for up to three days. We are aware that a small number of schools are still asking the parents to come to school to collect packs of work every few weeks, although the majority of schools are working digitally. Whilst we understand that physical packs can be much easier to work with, we believe that health and safety considerations and the need to work within the emergency laws outlined by the government should be prioritised over issues of convenience. For this reason we will continue to distribute work digitally. It is regrettable that there is not consistency in approach from one school to another. We have asked for clarity from the Education Authority with regard to their position on this, in an email sent two weeks ago, but have received no response. Our policy will remain in place until we are instructed differently by the Education Authority or by a change in Government Laws. Please don't hesitate to email your child's teacher or phone the school if there is anything you are unsure about in the digital work packs, or if there is anything else you want to discuss. More important than any packs of work, we hope everyone in the school community is keeping safe and well, and we all look forward to a time when the school is full of children again.