Effective from 26 August 2020

In case you missed the news last week, the Department of Education has clarified its policy on medical certificates for primary children not returning to school, which is quoted below.

Present policy, effective from 26th August, is that Medical Certs are now only required for those very high-risk children that remain at home and cannot return to school.

From the feedback that CFI has received to date, most primary age students with CF are returning to school. Please also see the guidance from Crumlin Hospital in the news section of this website and the recent open letter from Dr Ronan Glynn for more information. CFI will of course publish further guidance once available from the HSE or the Department of Education.

'Parents/guardians: In order to support connectedness with the school and their child’s peers, and to ensure that their child is not unduly disadvantaged by being at very high risk to COVID-19, parents are requested to obtain medical certification as early as possible that states specifically that their child is assessed as being at very high risk to COVID-19 and must remain at home and cannot return to school.

This information should be furnished to the school.

Parents and teachers should work together to establish the expectations related to the level of support that is necessary from parents/guardians and the supports the school will put in place to support parents in this role and to facilitate continued learning for these pupils.

Regular review meetings / check-ins with parents will be essential to establish how the pupils are experiencing remote provision.

You can find this on pages 5/6 of the document ‘Continuity of schooling: Supporting primary pupils who are at very high risk to COVID-19’ published in 26th of August here.