CEIST Principal Zoom Meeting with Special Guest Professor Luke O’Neill

A special meeting of CEIST Principals was held over Zoom recently as a catch up with schools after the new term began. The meeting was hosted by CEIST CEO Clare Ryan and we were especially thrilled to have Professor Luke O’Neill of Trinity College join us for his take on how schools are currently coping with Covid-19. During this very informative talk Professor Luke O’Neill outlined his thoughts stating that in his view all schools are a very safe environment for students and staff once full HSE guidelines are followed. Our school principals then had a chance to put some questions to Luke. Some examples are listed below:

Is it safe to hold choir practice in school?

• Choir practice should be fine once it is held outdoors.

Are buses safe for students to travel to school on?

• In order to prevent the spread of infection all buses should try to have good ventilation in place. If ventilation system is unavailable keeping a number of windows open can be a good help.

Are Home Economics, Art and other classes which use equipment safe to run?

• Students should sanitise hands before class. All equipment should also be washed both before and after each class.

Are class whiteboard and desk safe environments teachers?

• All desks and screens should be wiped down with disinfectant wipe after each class so that the next teacher coming in is working from clean environment.

Is there a high risk for teachers to become infected with Corona Virus?

• The risk of teachers getting infected is low as the country is currently in Level 5 restrictions so there will be less community spread. Data shows that schools are a very low risk for spread of infection because schools are following all HSE preventative measures. The bigger threat comes from parents congregating outside the schools. All schools are frontline workers and should be prepared to take a risk for the higher good.

CEIST would like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Luke O’Neill for giving his time to speak with us and our schools. His professional insight and wisdom in vital during this pandemic. We would also like to thank all the CEIST Principals who took the time out of their school day to join us for this session. We are extremely grateful for the huge effort being made by all our schools during this time and are so proud of all our Principals for stepping up to the mark at this most challenging time.

Although we did not get a recording of this special Zoom meeting Trinity College have recorded a session with Professor Luke entitled “Managing Covid-19 in the Classroom”. Please click the play button below to view this video.