Sir, – In almost four decades of returning to school after summer holidays, this one gets the prize for the most challenging.
Wearing a mask or a visor all day long is the first barrier to open communication with pupils.
Maintaining pupils within their respective pods and bubbles means there is an absence of interaction between classes.
Sanitising stations and arrows to ensure social distancing are dotted throughout the building.
At lunch, it is the duty of the teacher to ensure that every child washes hands before eating. With a class of 27, this takes quite some time!
Staggered lunch breaks mean that on a staff of 15 teachers, you only ever get to sit down away from children to eat lunch with three of your colleagues, and often the same three.
That’s if you get to eat lunch away from the classroom. On three days you’re on yard duty, which means that you go back into class with the children and eat your lonely lunch at your desk.
In the first week I also had the pleasure of putting my class through preparations for first confession, which they missed in March.
The sixth workday of the week was on Saturday, when I was with them as teacher and musician as they received their first communion.
It has been the most labour intensive of school openings ever, and I have to say I have enjoyed almost every minute of it.
Teaching is a wonderful job as long as you’re prepared to work like a dog and put up with the constant jibes that teachers get from some cohorts who neither know nor appreciate the intensity of the job in ordinary times – not to mention Covid times! – Yours, etc,
MIRIAM
O’SULLIVAN,
Kilcummin,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.