Covid-19: Two weeks of remote teaching for Londonderry school
- Published
A Londonderry post-primary school is to teach its 700 pupils remotely for the next two weeks due to a number of Covid-19 cases.
The school building at St Joseph's Boys' School in Creggan will be closed until 23 November.
In a letter to parents, principal Martina McCarron said the confirmed cases "had a major impact on staffing".
Ms McCarron said the school that it was managing a "very challenging situation".
Statistics from the Department of Education (DE) show the number of pupils in self-isolation rather than in school has risen steadily across Northern Ireland since the start of term.
'Ensuring safety of pupils and staff'
In the letter, Ms McCarron said: "Following a number of confirmed cases this week in St Joseph's Boys' School and after taking Public Health Agency advice on self-isolation, the school building has been forced to close.
"This has had a major impact on staffing, including teaching, non-teaching and ancillary staff and therefore a decision has had to be made to ensure the safety and well-being of both pupils and staff to move learning and teaching online. School will re-open on Monday 23 November."
She recognised that the move "will have an impact on all in our school community, but is necessary now".
In a statement to BBC News NI, Ms McCarron said staff will ensure learning continues for pupils.
"We are taking ongoing advice from the PHA and will continue to monitor the situation on an ongoing basis with the aim of getting our pupils back into the school environment as quickly as possible," she said.
Absence prevalent across NI
Meanwhile, new statistics from DE show that fewer than 85% of pupils were in school in Northern Ireland in the week before the extended half-term which began on 19 October.
The department said 5.6% of pupils were marked as self-isolating or shielding, 2.4% were learning remotely and a further 7.3% were marked absent.
That is the lowest rate of pupils in school since the school year began on 24 August.
Education Minister Peter Weir had previously revealed that more than one in 20 pupils were self-isolating in the week before half term.
That was in response to an assembly question from the Alliance MLA Chris Lyttle.
The department has now published details of the proportion of pupils who have been recorded as self-isolating and not in school since the start of term.
By the first week in October more than one in ten pupils across NI were not in school
Pupils or school staff are advised to self-isolate for 14 days if they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.
Pupils self-isolating at home are still expected to complete work provided by their school or be taught remotely, and so are not marked as absent.
In the first full week of term (7 September until 11 September), 1.1% of all pupils were marked self-isolating or shielding, 0.9% were learning remotely from home and a further 8.4% were marked absent.
By the first full school week in October more than one in ten pupils (88.7%) were not in school - 3.7% were marked as self-isolating, 1.3% were learning remotely and 6.3% were absent.
In the following week - the final one before half term - only 84.7% of pupils were in school.
More than one in 10 teachers (89.3%) were also not in school in the week before half-term, although over half of those not in school were working remotely.
However, the proportion of teachers in school in the week beginning Monday 3 November - the first after half-term - had risen to 92.7%.
There were also 93.6% of non-teaching staff working in school in the week after half-term.
The Public Health Agency (PHA) previously said there had been 2,030 Covid-19 cases in total in about half of Northern Ireland's schools in the first two months of the school year.
- Published23 October 2020
