Dear Parents & Guardians 

Scoil Moibhi will reopen tomorrow 9th December.

We look forward to welcoming you all back after Storm Barra. 

Mrs Lynam

CMO letter 01/12/21

01 December 2021

Dear Parent/Guardian,

The ongoing efforts by parents and children to adhere to the public health advice during this pandemic has been fundamental to our work to drive down the incidence of COVID-19 in the community.

Our priority continues to be to minimise risk and protect as many people as possible from severe illness. As you are aware, the National Public Health Emergency Team monitors incidence of COVID-19 in all age cohorts and environments on an ongoing basis.

In a very short period of time, we have seen a significant and rapid deterioration in the epidemiological situation, and a resultant very high incidence in the as-yet-unvaccinated 5 – 11-year-old age group. This is a cause for some concern.

Schools are at the heart of our communities and they play a fundamental role in the social lives and wellbeing of our children; this is particularly true for children who have special educational needs, are disadvantaged or who may have been disproportionately impacted by school closures during the pandemic. It is therefore imperative that we move quickly as soon as we notice a significant change in incidence.

In addition to the general public health advice to reduce discretionary social contact and for at least the next two weeks, the following events and activities should be avoided:

• Indoor birthday parties and play dates – these should take place outdoors and should be kept small
• Sleepovers
• Indoor community gatherings involving children including communions, confirmations, nativity and other seasonal events

Further to this, parents should:
 Not let children attend school or creche if they have any symptoms of COVID-19. Help them to isolate at home and arrange a PCR test straight away.
 Reduce their own contacts. This means work from home unless it is essential to attend the workplace in person, it also means making difficult decisions to avoid indoor social gatherings.
 Meet others outdoors where possible.
 Wear a mask if you cannot keep a distance from others.
 Ensure that your child wears a mask if it is recommended for them.
 If anyone in your household is symptomatic, they should isolate and get a PCR test. You should not use or rely on the results of an antigen test if you have symptoms
 If your child is a close contact of a case in school, you may be asked to use antigen tests, supplied by the HSE, as an additional tool. If any stage your child develops symptoms of COVID-19 or an antigen test is ‘positive’ they should be isolated at home and parents should arrange a PCR test for them.
 One in five young adults are not yet vaccinated, please consider vaccination for any older children in your household not yet protected
I am keenly aware that these measures are not what any of us want to hear, particularly at this time of year. I know this is an additional burden at what has been a very difficult time for all of us, particularly those of us with young families.

That being said, parents have a key role to play in reducing transmission within and between households. At this time of year, young children often display respiratory symptoms, and we know that it gets increasingly difficult to isolate and arrange PCR tests repeatedly. But this remains an essential measure to protect families and the wider community.

When incidence of disease is as high as it at the moment across the country, it means that the force of infection is pushed down through the unvaccainted population and into our unvaccinated young children. While we know that most in this age group will experience a very mild form of this disease if they pick it up, for a small few, they may become severely ill. I am hopeful that if we all make a concerted effort to follow these measures for at least the next two weeks, we can make a real difference to incidence of disease in this cohort and in the wider public.
NPHET has recommended, on a temporary basis, the wearing of face masks for children:
 Aged 9 years and over on public transport, in retail and other indoor public settings as currently required for those aged 13 and over, with exemptions as appropriate; and
 In third class and above in primary school (guidance will issue to schools from the Department of Education on this).

This measure will be subject to review by NPHET in mid-February 2022.

I would also like to note that vaccines are doing an excellent job of preventing severe illness and disease in those who are fully vaccinated. This is really good news, and I welcome the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorisation of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for primary school going children (5-11 years). We anticipate receiving further advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) in the near future.

Many thanks for your continued effort to keep our schools and our wider communities safe.

Yours Sincerely,
________________________
Dr Tony Holohan
Chief Medical Officer

Why is the public Health Advice Changing?

The measures being announced today are proportionate, to maintain control of the virus, suppress its further spread and to avoid further restrictions.

Incidence of COVID-19 is the second highest it’s been since this pandemic began. The only time it was higher was in the second week of January this year.

This means that there is so much infection in the community, it is that little bit harder to avoid picking up this virus.

Vaccines are doing an excellent job of preventing severe illness and disease in those who are fully vaccinated; this is good news, and we expect an update on vaccines for primary school going children (5-11yrs) in the near future, from the EMA and subsequently NIAC.
1 in 3 children between the ages of 12 and 15 years are yet to come forward for vaccination, and 1 in 5 between 16 and 18 are yet to come forward. It is important that anyone who is eligible for a vaccine come forward to get it as soon as possible.

It does however mean that the force of infection is pushed down through the vaccination-eligible population and into our unvaccinated young children.

While we know that most in this age group will experience a very mild form of this disease if they pick it up, for a small few, they may become severely ill.

What is the updated advice for parents?

Parents have a key role to play in reducing transmission within and between households. We know this is an additional burden at what has been a very difficult time for all of us, particularly those of us with young families. At this time of year, young children often display respiratory symptoms, and we know that it gets increasingly difficult to isolate and arrange PCR tests repeatedly. But this remains an essential measure to protect families and the wider community.
Protecting our education system is one of our key priorities. For at least the next two weeks, we can do this by cutting down on our socialisation in other settings.

Therefore, parents should:
 Reduce your own contacts. This means you should work from home unless it is essential to attend the workplace in person, it also means making difficult decisions to avoid indoor social gatherings.
 Meet others outdoors where possible.
 Wear a mask if you cannot keep a distance from others.
 Do not let your child attend school or creche if they have any symptoms of COVID-19. Help them to isolate at home and arrange a PCR test straight away.
 If anyone in your household is symptomatic, they should isolate and get a PCR test. You should not use or rely on the results of an antigen test if you have symptoms.
 If your child is a close contact of a case in school, you may be asked to use antigen tests, supplied by the HSE, as an additional tool. If it any stage your child develops systems or an
antigen test is ‘positive’ they should be isolated at home and you should arrange a PCR test for them.

What is the updated advice for children?

Masks should be work by children:
 Aged 9 years and over on public transport, in retail and other indoor public settings as currently required for those aged 13 and over, with exemptions as appropriate; and
 In third class and above in primary school.

Unfortunately, we need to ask children to meet fewer friends over at least the next fortnight. This is a really tough thing to do, as this includes many of the events and activities that our young adults and children enjoy the most. For at least the next two weeks, these events should really not take place at all:
• Indoor birthday parties and play dates – these should take place outdoors and should be kept small
• Sleepovers
• Indoor community gatherings involving children including communions, confirmations, nativity and other seasonal events

If you are arranging a birthday party or a play date, this should be with a maximum of one other household and should take place outdoors. No one with symptoms should attend these events.

Children with any symptoms of COVID-19 should not go to creche or school. They should stay at home and parents should arrange a PCR test as soon as you can.

As we have said time and time again, we can protect ourselves, even if we are unvaccinated or have yet to come forward for vaccination by continuing to follow the public health advice. We know this works and that, together, we can break the chains of infection.

Face Covering for Schools update 01/12/2021

25 November 2021

Dear Parent,

This is an update on plans to provide for the use of antigen testing in certain circumstances in children who are asymptomatic and part of a classroom pod, where there is a confirmed case of COVID-19.

The most important way to protect against any onward spread of infection is that if your child has any symptoms of COVID-19, including a new cough, shortness of breath, high temperature, sore throat, they should self-isolate at home and you should book a COVID-19 PCR test for them. PCR tests can be booked here: https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/testing/get-tested/

Children who have symptoms should not use antigen tests, they should stay at home and organise a PCR test for Covid-19. If a parent/guardian has any concerns about their child they should contact their GP, as per normal.

From 29 November 2021, if a parent or guardian receives a positive (detected) PCR COVID-19 test result for their child, we are asking that they contact their child’s school principal immediately to let them know.

The principal will then tell this parent/guardian, that they will be contacting the parents of the other children in their child’s pod, to give them details of how they can order free antigen tests for their children using a Freephone number. The principal is requested not to share any personal information relating to any other child with parents.

Antigen tests are potentially an extra measure to help protect against transmission of COVID-19 (coronavirus). You do the tests yourself at home. The test sample does not have to go to a lab. You usually get your results in 15 minutes.

If just one pod is involved, only the children in this pod will be offered antigen tests. If there are two pods with separate confirmed cases of COVID-19, then parents or guardians of children in the whole class will be contacted and provided with the information on how they can request antigen tests.

You will need to provide your child’s name and home address together with the school’s roll number, which will be provided by the school when contacting the Freephone number to order the test.

These tests will be delivered free of charge directly to the parent or guardian at their home address and the child’s parent can decide if they want to do the tests. The HSE has prepared instructions and a video for parents. Full details will be in the antigen test pack.
The HSE advises that parents/guardians should carry out the first antigen test for their child on the day that they receive the test kit, they should do a second test 2 days later, and a third test 2 days after that.

The children in the pod of the confirmed COVID-19 case can continue to attend school as long as they have no symptoms and they do not have a positive COVID-19 test result (antigen or PCR). If at any time, your child develops symptoms they should isolate at home and you should book a COVID-19 PCR test for them. Do this even if the antigen test has a negative (not detected) result.

If an antigen test is positive, it is important that your child isolates at home and that you book a COVID-19 PCR test online at the HSE test portal.

A QR code will be provided to afford parents the opportunity to upload the result of a test result to inform the HSE. This information is very important to understand the Covid-19 pandemic.

School principals have been requested not to share any information with parents that might identify the positive COVID-19 case.

Participating in antigen testing is a voluntary programme, therefore it is not necessary for parents to share information with the school about whether they have requested antigen tests and undertaken negative tests.

Children who are well should continue to come to school whether they participate in antigen testing or not.

The decision to do antigen testing with your child is completely up to parents and guardians and will have no impact on your child’s education or experience in school.

The voluntary programme of antigen testing is an additional measure and does not replace the very important public health measures currently in your school.

We continue to ask that you remind your children of the importance of these measures to stop spread of infection.

Yours faithfully
Deirdre Shanley
Assistant Secretary

DoE letter to Parents re Antigen Testing 25/11/21 click to download pdf

------ 16th November 2021 Term 1 Updates ------

Good afternoon parents and pupils:

Can you please note the following dates and information for the remainder of Term 1:

1. November 19th: Aladdin pantomime in The Hills Cricket Club @ 11am

2. November 26th: School will finish at 12 noon for all children.

This is to accommodate an In-service compulsory training day for all teaching staff on the new language curriculum.   

3. December 17th: This year’s Christmas celebration will be pre-recorded as last years. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing Covid increase in numbers we will not be performing live. This year's school's Christmas concert will be live on Seesaw at 12 noon.

4. December 22nd: Christmas holidays: Half day finish @ 12 noon.

Reminder that an info leaflet has been sent home with the sixth class children this week regarding Skerries Community College. 

The School will be accepting applications for admissions from Friday 1st October 2021. 

The closing date for receipt of applications will be 1pm on Friday 29th October 2021. 

Please contact Skerries Community College for more information. 

Congratulations to the magic members of the Hills Cricket Team - Sam Clinton, Ryan Clinton, Brodie Clinton and Gary Costello. The boys managed to snatch the win on Friday 3rd September. Well done boys. 

Congratulations to the 'Communion class of 2019 - who got to celebrate last Friday! 

New school year start time: 

Drops Off: School Carpark @8.50-9am.

This is a drop-off zone only and gentle reminder that parents must make an appointment if they wish to enter the school. We thank you for your ongoing cooperation. 

Junior & Senior Infant Pick Up: School Carpark @1.30pm. 

All other classes: School Carpark @2.30pm 

Please be reminded to follow school procedures regarding pickups and entrance as safety is paramount.