6th class students have been overlooked. While 6th year students were able to organise and achieve change, 6th class students have been easy to ignore. As a 6th class teacher, I know how desperate my students are for a return to school to finish off their primary school lives. 

A return to school in August/September would be easy to facilitate with a bit of creative thinking from all the stakeholders. The benefits of such a decision are outlined below

-> Delaying the incoming infants for two weeks would allow for the space and capacity to welcome back our 6th class students while also affording primary schools the chance to implement new safety procedures before our youngest and newest students begin.

->Delaying the 6th class students from moving to secondary school would also provide secondary schools with extra space in those initial weeks to practice implementing new health and safety protocols with a smaller student population.

-> A proper transition to secondary school programme could be covered.

->It would provide primary schools the chance to complete the RSE programme.

-> Allow primary schools to check in with the most vulnerable students before they leave for secondary schools.

-> Vitally, it would afford 6th class students the opportunity to complete all of the rites of passages that previous years would have done.

-> It would give our 6th class students something to look forward to over the summer without the dread of going into the unknown in September.

It is easy to just write off this 6th class group as having being collateral damage. However, with some political will, we can do right by these students.