A principal’s diary: ‘Things are going pretty well. We’re turning the corner’

Bryan Collins, principal of Scoil Náisiúnta Naomh Feichín, Termonfeckin, Co. Louth, shares his diary of the first full week back at school in 2022 as the school grapples with staff and pupil absences due to Covid.

Sunday (January 9th)

Getting motivated to start prep work for the week ahead isn’t always easy, especially if that’s late on Sunday afternoons. For primary school principals, particularly over the last two years, we’d be lost if we didn’t get the ball rolling well before Monday morning. Consequently, with apologies to my long suffering wife, Eimhear, last weekend’s family time is curtailed when the laptop comes out and I log in to my work messages.

The inbox is full of messages from various companies extolling the virtues of their Hepa filters. Also, three messages from mums inform me of positive Covid-19 tests for the children on Saturday. Thankfully, the children’s symptoms are relatively mild. As two of the pupils had attended school on the previous Friday, I check the classroom pods and send texts to six families advising them that their children had been identified as close contacts, antigen tests were available and that they should monitor their children’s health over the coming week. Text messages are also sent to the relevant class teachers.

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On Sunday evening I get news that one teacher will be returning to work after her isolation period; I also get a call from a second teacher who has developed Covid symptoms and expects to be out of work for at least a few days. My sub search starts immediately but after an hour and a half and over 20 calls and texts, I concede defeat -- not for the first time.

Monday

The early morning drive to Termonfeckin along the River Boyne, with the sun rising over Mornington’s Maiden Tower, is my little piece of daily mindfulness. Arriving at the school I see that the playschool breakfast club is already up and running. A quick walk around to open all the external gates and doors as our caretaker, Gavan, is on his last day of isolation. One of our invaluable ancillary staff is out following a minor accident, so I’m already sensing that it’s going to be a hectic week!

I receive several offers from parents who kindly volunteer to help out in the office. Unfortunately, Garda vetting rules don’t allow this for the moment but I’m deeply appreciative of the offers.

Last week, as schools reopened after Christmas, we had 30 per cent of pupils absent. It was unprecedented. Today there is much better attendance: up by about 15 per cent on last week. With the cooperation of other staff members we are able to arrange cover for the one absent class teacher.

Lots of office and admin work during the day. Arrangements for Thursday’s Tusla meeting regarding a long-running school attendance issue. Also, I confirm arrangements for a GAA coaching programme and biodiversity workshop in May.

Tuesday

The normal flurry of early morning activity is followed by a relatively calm start to the school day. Pupil attendance numbers continue to improve and all teachers and SNAs are in work, apart from one supply panel teacher who’s likely to be out for about a week following a positive PCR test. I know that’s going to impact on some schools in our supply panel cluster.

The introduction of the new substitute teacher supply panels this year has been of great benefit to all of the schools in our cluster. The government also announces the reinstatement of “banked hours” until midterm. This is also a good news story. It has been a running sore for months as withdrawal of these hours in September severely reduced the support time available to pupils with additional needs.

Among the tasks I engage in this afternoon is an attempt to fix a problem with a floor cleaning machine, work on a system to deploy student teachers and review school financial accounts for term one.

Wednesday

My first call of the day at 8am is from an upset teacher who has tested positive on two antigen tests. I send out an SOS to several student teachers on the off-chance that somebody may be available, but I know this will be a fruitless quest. No point checking our supply panel calendar as these teachers are always booked up weeks in advance.

In desperation I called a retired principal and friend who kindly agrees to help out for the day, even though he had arranged to play golf that morning. Michael, you’re a star!

News comes in that another two pupils tested positive on Tuesday evening so I contact the parents of the five close contacts in the classroom pods and advise them to request antigen tests for their children. The most recent isolation guides for children are emailed to all school families to ensure they have the most up-to-date guidance.

In the afternoon some messages on the local principals’ WhatsApp support group suggest that changes to close contacts rules would be announced soon. Most updates regarding changes to policy affecting schools seem to come now, in the first instance, through mainstream and social media before any formal communication. This isn’t always a help and can often lead to misunderstandings and confusion in schools.

Thursday

Good news on the sub front this morning. We now have a student teacher available to cover the absences this week. She is immediately assigned to senior infants. A bad reaction to a booster shot has resulted in the forced absence of one of our teachers. No point looking for an external sub so I arrange for two special education teachers to take the class for a few hours each.

Much of the morning is taken up with a meeting to resolve a student attendance problem. Lots of support is provided by our Tusla Education Welfare Officer. Hopefully after the 90-minute discussion, we reach an agreement with the parents that their children should have a much better attendance record for the remainder of the school year.

CO2 monitors and ventilation levels are checked on a daily basis in different classrooms. As we’ll be shopping for some Hepa filters shortly, I’ll need to know where best to position these expensive devices. Unfortunately, the government grant doesn’t stretch to installing one device per classroom.

After school there’s a two-hour meeting of the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) board of directors. The leadership support team of IPPN has done Trojan work throughout the pandemic to support school leaders.

Needless to say, the shocking news of the death of young primary school teacher, Ashling Murphy, in Tullamore cast a dark shadow over the entire day. We all struggle to come to terms with such a terrible tragedy. Obviously, Ashling’s family, friends and everyone in the school community at Durrow NS are in our prayers.

Friday

The best day of the week and a realisation that, on balance, things have gone pretty well over the last five days. Attendance numbers for pupils have slowly crept up to about 90 per cent following an all-time low on the first day of term. Thankfully, there haven’t been as many absences among teachers and SNAs as I had initially feared and the first full week back after Christmas has been a success.

Hopefully we’re starting to turn the corner, but it will still be a matter of taking one day at a time and not planning too far ahead, for the moment at least.