Londonderry school closed after Covid-19 outbreak

St Joseph's Boys' School in Derry/#Londonderry has been forced to close until Friday 20 November after a large number of staff are reported to be self-isolating due to Covid-19. Remote learning for pupils will continue during the closure.

In a letter to parents Principal Mrs Martina McCarron wrote:

“I am writing to inform that despite all the hard work of both pupils and staff to keep our school open after our return this week from Halloween break, we now have other confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the school community. This has had a major impact on staffing including teaching, non-teaching and ancillary staff and therefore a decision has had to be made to ensure the safety and wellbeing of both pupils and staff to move learning and teaching online until Friday 20th November 2020. School will reopen on Monday 23rd November.

“Following PHA advice and guidelines, we have contacted all those directly impacted to date. Therefore, if you have not heard from the school or PHA directly then you can be assured that your son has not been directly affected. I know this situation and the decision taken today will have an impact on all in our school community but Is necessary now to assure all of us are kept safe and well and teaching can still continue remotely to mitigate the impact of staff / pupil absences. The Board of Governors and Senior Team will continue to monitor the situation and our objective is to return the school to face to face teaching as soon as it is possible.”