Northern Ireland

Social distancing guidelines need to change before school can re-open 'in meaningful way'

Scott Naismith has written to parents. Picture by BBC
Scott Naismith has written to parents. Picture by BBC Scott Naismith has written to parents. Picture by BBC

SOCIAL distancing guidelines need to change before school can re-open "in a meaningful way", the principal of one of Northern Ireland's largest grammars has said.

Scott Naismith, head of Methodist College Belfast, said the two-metre rule needs to be reduced for schools to be able to operate when classes resume later this year.

In a letter to parents, Mr Naismith has laid out some suggestions for how it will re-open, including pupils not attending every day and no games or sports lessons.

It comes after Stormont education minister Peter Weir last week said the first students in Northern Ireland would return to school in late August, with a phased return for the remainder.

He said the reopening of schools would begin with "limited provision for key cohort years in August" - students preparing for exams, such as GCSEs and A-Levels - followed by a "phased provision for all pupils at the beginning of September".

Mr Weir also said it would "not be a return to school as it was prior to Covid, but rather a new normal reflective of social distancing and a medically safe regime".

The BBC yesterday reported that in an email to parents, Mr Naismith said the social distance measure would need to be altered for school to resume "in a meaningful way".

He said a change from the two-metre UK guideline to one metre as suggested by the World Health Organisation was needed.

He added that with almost 1,800 pupils at the school, class sizes will have to be reduced and students will not attend every day.

Mr Naismith also suggested that pupils in years eight to 10 would temporarily take fewer subjects and formal GCSE, AS and A-level exams next year would have to "take account of the disruption caused by lockdown and the phased return to normality".

"At this point in time we cannot say when that normality will be, but we want to return to it as soon as possible," he said.