Before coronavirus, Colin Torrens’ school provided a transition programme for Primary Seven pupils
School discos, end-of-year trips and signing each others’ school shirts are just some of the things that usually mark the end of a child’s primary school experience.
But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the class of 2020 has been robbed of these traditions.
Pupils are missing out on saying a proper goodbye to their childhood schools and some teachers are worried.
“After seven years at the school, many pupils will feel like they’ve just been cut out with no closure,” said Collin Torrens, principal of Lisnagelvin Primary School in Derry.
While the pandemic and lockdown have been a tough time for staff and pupils, it will be especially difficult for those moving on to a new school, he added.
“The children need closure, they need to be able to say their goodbyes and they need to end their primary education on a high,” Mr Torrens told BBC News NI.
“Otherwise that void is always going to be there.”
Like many others, Mr Torrens’ school uses the final term to help prepare P7 pupils for the gear-shift required for secondary school.
When schools closed in March on the orders of the Stormont Executive, there were a lot of concerns about how this could impact those not returning in the next school year.
“Before Coronavirus, the school would provide a transition programme for P7 pupils, whereby teachers would explore feelings and anxieties students may have about leaving the school,” he said.
This year, the school has had to send “transition material” home to parents and pupils to help them “deal with those fears and anxieties”.
Mr Torrens hopes that when restrictions ease, the school can give the pupils who missed out “a proper send-off”, such as the annual leavers’ assembly.
