Dear parents,
We have had a number of queries in relation to communicating Covid 19 cases to parents. Schools are not allowed under GDPR to communicate Covid positive cases to the school community. Great efforts have been made by all to keep our school community safe. The Department of Education has instructed schools o act ONLY on information from HSE. Parents have informed us if they are self-isolating/ if there has been a positive case within a family/if they are on restricted movements etc. Thank you for being responsible and keeping sick children at home. It is the HSE Public Health team that will direct a school as to how it should handle a positive case. In any of the confirmed cases to date, the HSE has not contacted the school in relation to close contacts so the HSE has deemed there were no close contacts in the school setting. Senior management in school can not close the school/ send a class home/ reveal the name of a positive case or alert that class or year group. If we are contacted by HSE Public Health team, they will instruct us on the actions needed and they will contact parents regarding close contacts and an official letter will be sent to all parents. Further information can be found at www.hpsc.ie and www.gov.ie