COVID-19 Coronavirus Update 17 March 2020

COVID-19 Coronavirus

Dear Parent/Guardian,

As you are aware there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding appropriate arrangements for schools in Northern Ireland. Some of the advice coming from the authorities also lacks clarity, and so the current situation places all of us in an extremely challenging position.

I am also acutely aware that for some families school closure will present significant difficulties in terms of child care. As of this evening enough staff have confirmed with me that they are available for work in school tomorrow which means the school will continue to be in operation. I would, however, urge everyone to follow advice as best they can and if you have doubts about sending your children to school please be assured that there will be no issues in terms of attendance marks for pupils absent due to the current circumstances. I will issue a further update tomorrow regarding Thursday and Friday, which could include opening the school to selected year groups and/or calling a school development day to allow teachers to prepare resources.

Pupils who attend school tomorrow should wash hands on arrival and at frequent intervals throughout the day. They should as far as possible avoid contact with others and should not share school equipment.

There is much uncertainty surrounding the running of GCSE and A Level exams and no advice has yet been issued from the examination boards. In order to support young people coming to the end of Years 12 and 14 we will endeavour to supply the work still to be completed in an electronic format. We also aim to use online platforms to support pupils in other year groups during a time of closure. For this reason it is essential that everyone can access their C2K account and that pupils and parents are registered for the Show My Homework App which is likely to be the main platform for school to provide work in the event of a closure.

The school has deployed additional cleaning staff to operate throughout the day. They will disinfect classrooms regularly. Please do not be alarmed by this –it is purely a precautionary measure. I would also ask that visitors do not come to the school tomorrow, other than parents collecting children for appointments etc.

Please be assured that in the days and weeks ahead we will endeavour to do the best we can to allow education to continue in some form for the pupils of Larne High School.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Reid

Principal