Author: Mrs Hurley

Admissions 2022/23
Please note that applications for the 2022/23 school year will be open from Thursday, 13th January to Friday, 4th February 2022. Further information on how to apply will be issued closer to the time. If you are aware of anyone who may wish to enrol a child for next year, please let them know these dates.

Road Safety
Please continue to remind your children to be extra careful when walking or cycling home in the afternoons. Thank you.

Online Safety Talk
Garda Robbie Foran will give a talk this week to 4th, 5th and 6th Classes on the importance of being safe online.

Parent-Teacher Meetings
These will be happening in the next couple of weeks, in the form of a phone call again this year due to Covid restrictions.

Christmas Food Appeal
We will be organising an appeal again this year. Details to follow.

Covid Update
Though it may not seem like it from the outside, school life is more disrupted than at any stage in the pandemic so far and restrictions continue. We have had 19 confirmed cases since we returned in September. We are very grateful to parents for informing us of positive cases. Quite a number of children aged 12 have been vaccinated, though there isn’t any prospect of vaccines being offered to younger children in the near future. The current situation is that close contacts are not identified in schools and pupils do not need to stay at home providing they have no symptoms. Please continue to be vigilant and keep your child out of school if they are sick. Thank you all very much for your continued cooperation.

(Please note that if one of your household tests positive, members of that household will now be asked to restrict their movements for five days by staying at home. These measures are painful for us all, though they will help us in our efforts to keep classes and schools open.)

Thank You!
On a very positive note, our recent Halloween hike raised €4,864.55. Thank you so much for your generosity! It reminds us of what we will be able to do together once life approaches normality again. It can’t come soon enough.

Road Safety
Please continue to remind your children to be extra careful when walking or cycling home in the afternoons.

Football News
Jamie Julian, Tyler Noble and Will Duffy will represent Ballylinan u15 at the Féile in Croke Park on Saturday 23rd October. We hope that more of our boys and girls will get a chance to grace the hallowed turf in the coming years!

Tag Rugby Blitz
Our first outing in more than a year and a half took place today when our 5th and 6th Classes travelled to Athy. We asked that pupils wear masks when on the buses. Our activities and procedures remain very restricted but at least it was a start and of course they enjoyed themselves hugely.

Covid Update
We are seeing a lull in cases at the moment and how we all hope that it continues! Again we really appreciate your cooperation in not sending your child to school if they have symptoms. As you may have seen in the national media, schools are affected when the level of cases in the community is high. It’s important to remember that if your child is a close contact in a household setting then they will have to restrict their movements for at least ten days. Please keep this in mind if you are having visitors over Halloween.

Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine
Tá na páistí ag déanamh iarracht níos mó Gaeilge a úsáid i rith an lae. Féachaigí!

Donations
From time to time we receive donations from parents. While we thank them in person, they prefer their names not to be mentioned publicly. We thank them again! We have been delighted with your contributions to our Halloween Hike and if you have any cards yet to return please do so tomorrow. Money is lodged as we receive it – we don’t store cash on the premises – and once we have a final total we will let you know. Thank you all for your support.

Halloween Hike
We aim to leave the school tomorrow around 9:45 in the morning. We will walk down to the church and into the village, cross at Centra and again at the church before returning to the school, We will have school staff with each classroom group and helpers at the crossings.

Please note the weather is colder so some layers may be needed. Costumes need to be practical (i.e. survive a walk or a gust of wind). If teachers don’t think it’s safe they may ask for costumes to be ‘modified’ for the duration of the walk.

If you’re coming out to watch please be cautious in relation to road safety and also Covid safety. Any photos taken should be for your personal use only and should not be shared on social media without permission.

Mid Term
Schools are closed next week and will reopen on Monday, 1st November.