Carlow school among first to see students return

A school in Carlow is one of the first to welcome students back this morning after more than five months of closure.

First years at St Leo’s College will begin secondary school at 9am.

Many schools are opening this week with the remainder starting back next week.

It comes as new guidance has been issued for parents who’re unsure about their children returning to schools with colds.

The advice says a child can go to school with a runny nose but is “otherwise well”.

Dr Mary Favier from the Irish College of General Practitioners outlines when a child shouldn’t go to school saying “Any child who has a temperature shouldn’t go to school, any child who has a cough shouldn’t go to school, any child who has any of the symptoms that might actually suggest Covid, which would be for instance in the older child would tell you their taste isn’t usual or they feel unwell. Generally a child who is feeling unwell should stay at home until 48 hours after the symptoms settle. If you have any concerns about that child then you need to think should I ring my GP?”.

Meanwhile, there’s a warning that hundreds of teachers with serious illness who’re being forced back to work are facing “life or death”.

The ASTI has written to the Health Minister for clarifications on high-risk teachers working from home after receiving a surge in queries from worried members.

President, Ann Piggott, says there are teachers with health issues who can’t be expected to be in a classroom commenting “We’ve written to the health minister & we’ve also sent a copy to the education minister and the interesting thing is the HSE’s advice about high risk people is that they should work at home if possible and this is very possible so we would like to finalise this matter”.