Coronavirus: Pupils at five schools 'can work remotely'

Five schools in Northern Ireland have said pupils will not be marked absent if they do schoolwork at home in the final week of term.

Principals at two Londonderry primaries said they would be "annoyed if families could not enjoy the Christmas period like they had hoped".

Those schools have been joined by others in Belfast and Newry.

It comes as nine more Covid-related deaths were reported by Northern Ireland's Department of Health.

The department's death toll now stands at 1,059.

It also confirmed 397 new positive cases of Covid-19 on Monday, bringing the total number of positive cases in Northern Ireland to 55,444.

The Republic of Ireland confirmed 242 new cases of the disease on Monday but, for the second day in a row, no Covid-related deaths were reported by Ireland's National Public Health Emergency Team.

The Irish government relaxed its public health restrictions on 1 December, following a lockdown of almost six weeks during which the public were living under the state's highest level of Covid restrictions.

Learning remotely

Northern Ireland is 11 days into a two-week coronavirus circuit breaker, which has shut all non-essential retail and close-contact services, while hospitality businesses can only operate takeaway services.

Unlike the first lockdown in the spring, however, schools have remained open this time.

In letters sent to parents at Ebrington and Lisnagelvin primaries in Derry, the principals said they would prepare work for children to do at home if their parents wanted to keep them off after Friday.

They also said they could not condone absences.

St Ronan's in Newry and Braniel in Belfast have also decided to offer parents the chance to have their children educated remotely from 11 December.

Meanwhile, four year groups at one of Northern Ireland's biggest schools, Methodist College in Belfast, are learning remotely following 35 positive coronavirus cases being reported in one week.

Those were recorded among the sixth form year group, which will continue to learn from home until the end of the term.

The school recorded almost 1,800 pupils in 2019, including 535 in sixth form.

Principal Scott Naismith says they are working to identify how cases spread among pupils

The fourth and fifth year groups have been sent home for at least Monday and Tuesday while the school carries out contact tracing, but principal Scott Naismith said he hoped they would return on Wednesday "because of the large number of subjects they study".

"It's quite clear the situation that developed at Methody started over 10 days ago and it escalated over a weekend period and then on through last week, so there's a small amount of transmission taking place in school but again we've got a lot of mitigation measures in place to try and prevent the spread of Covid," he told Evening Extra.

"There's no single silver bullet that would address an issue.

"Our senior leadership started to work today on an evaluation of what has happened over the past 10 days and if we identify any of our practices and procedures that need to be changed or improved, then we will certainly do that."

No plans to close schools early

Glengormley High has become the first post-primary school to offer parents the choice of remote or in-school learning for their children from next week.

Education Minister Peter Weir has repeatedly said that there are no plans to close schools early for the Christmas break.

His department confirmed on Monday that "schools will be open next week and children will be receiving face-to-face teaching".

"This is the best form of education and our schools are the best place to provide this in a controlled and safe environment," a statement read.

"The minister believes that further disruption to childrens' education would lead to an increase in levels of stress and anxiety," it said.

Most schools end term on Friday, 18 December, but some will continue until early the following week.

The principals of the two Derry schools said that if pupils had to self-isolate for 14 days during the final week of term this could prevent families from enjoying time together at Christmas.

There have been a number of positive cases of Covid-19 at Ebrington Primary School

In a letter to the parents of more than 400 pupils, Ebrington Primary School principal, Brian Guthrie, said that he was "not in a position to close the school early, but are still concerned for our families".

"During the last week of term, the children usually take part in some fun activities which still promote their learning, but in a fun way through the use of Christmas worksheets and practical activities," he wrote.

"Whilst we cannot condone absences from school, we are also mindful of the mental health and well-being of all our families and, as such, would be annoyed if families could not enjoy the Christmas period like they had hoped.

"Therefore we are willing to prepare some school work alongside Christmas activities, in advance, and send them home on Friday, 11 December."

Education Minister Peter Weir has repeatedly said that there are no plans to close schools early for the Christmas break

Mr Guthrie said this would help "those who are in a position to do so and who wish to protect their family Christmas time, by keeping their children off school during the last week".

A number of schools have had to close for a period due to a number of Covid cases and some pupils have missed months of in-person teaching because they had to isolate after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive.

The National Association of Head Teachers has said it is close to asking for exams to be cancelled because of Covid complications in local schools.

However, the education minister has already said that exams will go ahead.

On Tuesday night's Coronavirus Catch-up, Dr Eddie O'Neill, the product manager for the StopCovidNI contact tracing application, answers your questions.

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