School re-assembles to bid farewell to sixth class students
A rural primary school has taken advantage of the heatwave by having an early graduation ceremony outside – to give their departing sixth class pupils a socially-distant send-off.
The twelve pupils at Cloughanover National School outside Headford gathered with their parents, siblings and teacher Deirdre Coleman on Bank Holiday Monday for the event that was unlike any other held to mark the milestone.
Their principal Paul Brett said they did not want to let the pupils leave school without marking the occasion – albeit with all the constraints to ensure a two-metre distance between families.
“It’s 81 days since we closed and the pupils hadn’t seen each other face-to-face so it was lovely for them to catch up before they made the big transition to second level,” he remarked.
“We did a risk assessment and saw that the weather was forecast to be good and a lot of our families are living locally so many could walk to the school.
“We felt it was worth doing because it is such a massive milestone for them – they’ve missed out on confirmation, their final school tour, their last football and soccer tournaments; we wanted to give them the chance to say goodbye and get closure on their time in national school,” he added.
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