Tyrone school principals in united appeal for caution

THE Principals of the Omagh Learning Community have issued a rare joint appeal to students to take every precaution possible to protect themselves and their families from coronavirus this Christmas.

Nine head teachers from the post-primary schools in Omagh as well as the Dean Maguirc in Carrickmore are urging pupils to take the simple health advice to guard against the spread of Covid-19.

Omagh Learning Community is a group containing the nine local post-primary schools which come together to co-ordinate resources and where possible provide shared education for several thousand local students.

John Dennison, who is the principal of Drumragh Integrated College said their primary focus was keeping both students and staff safe.

“Quite a number of our students have exams approaching in the second week of January and we just wanted to remind both them and their parents of the simple steps to ensure that they are safe and they can sit the tests,” he said.

“We want to keep everyone safe and felt that a timely reminder ahead of the Christmas holidays is useful.

“The fact that all the schools are singing off the same hymn sheet, as it were, helps in this process.”

Mr Dennison said it was also important that the statement acknowledged the work of students, staff and parents during recent months.

He added that they thanked parents and guardians for helping to keep schools as safe as possible for pupils and staff.

“Each school has been different in the responses that they have had to make since September,” he continued.

“It’s good that the principals have now come together to send out this message.

“It’s an important one to get out there and crucial to send out a uniformed message.”

In the letter, the principals are urging parents not to send their son or daughter to school if they have any Covid-19 symptoms, to wash hands regularly, wear face coverings on public or school transport and maintain social distancing.