IPPN

Published: 04 November 2021

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has asked the Department to assist in sending out a message through school communities to parents. Please see below its warning about the danger associated with eating edible products, such as jelly sweets, containing cannabis components. You may wish to draw this information to the attention of parents.

Secondly, in conjunction with the network of drug and alcohol taskforces throughout the country, the attached information leaflet has been prepared specifically for schools. It provides information on the range of supports that drug and alcohol taskforces can provide to schools, parents and students to prevent and tackle drug and alcohol use and to strengthen communications between local schools and drug and alcohol task forces.

As well as the contact details for each of the drug and alcohol task forces, it provides information on a range of valuable resources for schools and parents relating to drug and alcohol use.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) is urging parents and guardians to be extremely vigilant to the dangers of their children getting access to and eating confectionary, particularly jelly sweets, containing significant amounts of the psychoactive cannabis component called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This warning comes amid the ongoing seizures of these illegal food products by the Gardaí and Customs services, and a number of serious medical incidents whereby these THC-containing jelly sweets resulted in teenagers and young children suffering serious adverse health effects requiring hospitalisation. These jelly sweets are packaged to look like popular brands of jellies and have been found to contain toxic amounts of THC (up to 50mg/jelly). Depending on the concentration of THC, eating one of these jellies can mean an equivalent intake of THC that is 5-10 times higher than that inhaled from a single cannabis cigarette. Also, unlike the almost immediate effects of inhaling THC (smoking or vaping), ingesting THC through these jellies can take up to 30 minutes for any effects to be felt. However, while waiting for those effects, those who have eaten these products may overdose in the mistaken belief that they need to eat more sweets in order to feel the effects. Of particular concern to the FSAI is the inadvertent consumption of these jelly sweets by small children who may somehow gain access to what looks and possibly tastes like ordinary sweets. Unfortunately, given access to a bag of these jellies, children will rarely eat just one and therefore, overdosing is a very likely outcome as witnessed by the hospitalisation of a number of seriously ill young children in the early part of 2021.

The FSAI has become aware of reports about the availability of THC-containing jelly sweets in schools in Ireland and therefore, parents and guardians are asked to speak with their teenagers alerting them to the dangers if they eat them or if their younger siblings get access to them and subsequently suffer the serious consequences of consuming a toxic substance.

Published: 04 November 2021

Children First Awareness Week is taking place from Monday 1 to Saturday 7 November 2021. The DE has provided the following information for communication to the parent body providing a synopsis of Children First and advice on actions to be taken if a parent has a concern about a child.

Children First promotes the protection of children from abuse and neglect, by setting out what individuals and organisations need to do to keep children safe and how to deal with concerns about a child’s safety or welfare. Society has a duty of care towards children and everyone should be alert to the possibility that children they are in contact with may be abused or at risk of abuse or neglect. If you are concerned about a child or young person, you should contact Tusla social work department. Organisations classed as providers of relevant services under the Children First Act 2015 are required to complete a risk assessment and must have a Child Safeguarding Statement in place.

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Published: 04 November 2021

The Leadership Support Team has been fielding a number of calls this week in relation to the advisability of face-to-face Parent/Teacher Meetings for schools.

The Department of Education, HSE or HPSC has not updated the advice given to schools in November 2020. Until this is updated, current advice is that Parent/Teacher Meetings should be conducted via:

• Video-conferencing e.g. Zoom
• Telephone
• Written report

IPPN will update members immediately through the Live Resource Bundle and e-scéal if and when there is any change to this advice.

Published: 04 November 2021

In the latest Information Note issued by the DE, measures to increase the availability of substitutes for primary schools for 2021/2022 are outlined. These include:

Supply Panels - 100 additional teachers are being added to existing/new areas where significant challenges have been demonstrated in sourcing substitution. Where possible new bookings for the Supply Panels should be limited to absences occurring within a maximum of two weeks in advance.

Teaching Principal Release Days: Schools work together to combine their allocation of principal release days into clusters so as to form a full-time fixed-term post to cover each school’s principal release days for the 2021/22 school year.

Job Sharing teachers: Substitution restrictions for job-sharing teachers have been temporarily suspended which allows these teachers to work additional days if available to cover vacancies in their own and other schools.

Career Break: Teachers on career break can carry out substitute work without restriction.

Student Teachers: Colleges have been requested to be flexible with student teachers to facilitate their availability for substitution work.

Note: Non PME Student Teachers may not be paid for more than 5 consecutive school days’ employment at any one time. It is advisable that a school seek confirmation of the student teacher’s last working day to ensure payment by the Department of Education. A condition of employment is that the non PME student teacher’s contract will terminate if the school is in a position to employ a registered teacher.

Documentation Required by School:
Student substitute teachers may be required to provide the necessary evidence for verification and suitability checking, including:

• Vetting Disclosure (Circular 31/2016)
• Statutory Declaration Form & signed Form of Undertaking (Circular 31/2016)
• Garda Vetting (Non PME Student Teachers - To be completed by school)
• PME Students (Teaching Council Registration if applicable)
• Photo identification e.g. driving licence or passport
• PPS Number
• Contact details of relevant recent employers for independent reference checking.