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Newsletter 23rd February

Dear Parents,

Sacraments
First Confession will take place in St. Anne’s Church, Ballylinan on Wednesday, 9th March at 7:30 p.m. Please remember there will be a parish programme mass in Ballylinan this Sunday 27th February at 11:30 a.m.

First Communion will take place on Saturday, 7th May at 11 a.m.

Confirmation (with Bishop Denis) will take place on Thursday, 28th April at 11 a.m.

Cumann na mBunscol
The postponed 2021 competitions are taking place during the month of March. We are delighted that our boys and girls will finally make a return to action! More details to follow.

Swimming
We are planning on making a return to swimming lessons for as many classes as possible. Because our year has been very disrupted they may not take the same format as previously but we will include as many children as we can before the end of June.

Covid Update
From next Monday, 28th February masks will be voluntary for pupils and staff. This is also the case for parents on the school grounds. Some pupils, parents and staff have good reason to be cautious and we will be mindful and supportive of each other (as always) in that regard. Masks will be advised on bus journeys.

Anyone with Covid symptoms should not attend school. We will continue to require parents to complete a return to school declaration after their child has been absent, though we plan to cease this requirement after St. Patrick’s weekend.

Revised arrival and departure procedures (times, doors etc.) will continue for the time being.

Mid Term Break
School will be closed tomorrow and Friday 25th. A reminder that we have a longer break at St. Patrick’s weekend; closed 17th – 21st March inclusive.

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Newsletter 8th February

Enrolments 2022/23
The window for enrolment for the coming school year has now closed. Applications from now on will be treated as late applications. Please contact the school immediately if you are aware of any other possible enrolments for the coming year.

Child Safeguarding
The schools’ child safeguarding and anti-bullying policies are available on the school website (click Policies and Procedures at the top of the page). The Board of Management welcomes comments and suggestions for improvement. If you wish to comment, please ring the school or email feedback.ballylinan@gmail.com . Thank you.

Covid Update
To date this school year, we have been informed that 30% of our pupils have tested positive for Covid-19. Since Christmas alone out of the 52 pupils in Junior and Senior Infants, we have been made aware that 48% of them have tested positive. This is obviously a very high level of cases. Thankfully the illness seems to be mild in general, but it is having a very big impact on the life of the school. Absences are running at three or four times normal levels with consequent loss of education and disruption for those affected. These children may well have contact with older or more vulnerable people. The more cases there are, the more likely it is that there may be a case of serious illness. Quite a number of cases have had no symptoms and were picked up through antigen testing of close contacts. If you are concerned about Covid, we recommend that you use routine antigen tests if your child has no symptoms. If your child has symptoms, public health guidance remains that they must stay at home from school. You might also consider getting your child vaccinated, see information below. Thank you all again for your cooperation.

School Attendance
Due to the exceptional level of absences this year quite a few children have reached a total of 20 days or more, a level at which we are required to routinely report to Tusla. You may see an alert on the Aladdin app. If many of these days are Covid-related, there is no need to be concerned as these were unavoidable. If you have any queries, please contact the school. Thank you.

Covid-19 Vaccine for Children Aged 5 to 11 Years  (info from HSE)
The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) recommends parents and guardians consider vaccinating their 5 to 11 year old children.
COVID-19 vaccine is particularly recommended if children:

  • Have a health condition that puts them at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19
  • Live with a younger child or adult who is at risk of severe illness if they get COVID-19 e.g. another child with complex medical needs, or an immunocompromised adult. The vaccine that will be offered to children aged 5 to 11 years is Comirnaty® Children’s formulation. Children in this age group will be given a smaller dose of the vaccine than adults. Parents and guardians can register their child for their vaccine online. As part of this stage of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, information for people considering vaccinating their children including information about the benefits and risk of vaccination and information about how to get vaccinated. A cartoon strip has also been developed to help children understand what will happen when they go to a HSE clinic to get their COVID-19 vaccine.

Coaching
Rugby and football coaching is ongoing for all classes in turn. We are hoping to resume swimming as the year goes on, with an emphasis on the older pupils first as they have fewer years left in our school. Hopefully things will fully return to normal in the coming years!

Calendar
Due to 18th March being declared a public holiday, we have an extra holiday to take. The school will now be closed on Monday, 23rd May.
View the school calendar.

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Public Health Update

Dear Parents & Guardians,

It’s wonderful that life has taken a step towards normality in the past few days. However, public health measures will continue in schools for the time being.

The virus is now so widespread that it is difficult for us to keep close track of it. Our best estimate is that 20% of pupils (that we know of) and 50% of staff have tested positive since last September. With the Omicron variant being so transmissable it is more likely that it will spread in a classroom. Some of our rooms have multiple cases at present and while it is not certain that it has spread in school, it is quite possible.

We will continue to notify you when we are made aware of confirmed cases in a class. We also ask you to continue to notify us; there are still people who are concerned about vulnerable people in their households.

Your cooperation has been outstanding so far and we fervently hope that the end is in sight for restrictions in schools. As we are not there yet, we ask for your continued support for a few more weeks.

Here’s hoping that the public health outlook will continue to improve. Thank you all again for your support, we really appreciate it.

John Threadgold
Principal

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Return to School (January 2022)

Happy New Year to you all. We are pleased that our pupils are returning tomorrow. However, please remember the following public health advice:

If your child has symptoms of the virus, or lives in a household where someone has received a positive or “detected” test result either on a PCR or an antigen test then they should not attend school. We have been asked to remind all staff and children that if they have been told by the HSE that they are a close contact of a case of Covid-19, they need to adhere to the advice on the HSE website in relation to restricted movements and testing.

We have had almost universal compliance with public health guidelines that all staff and pupils from 3rd Class upwards wear face coverings. This is to continue for the time being. Thanks so much to everyone for your cooperation. All these measures contribute to keeping the school up and running.

Please complete the ‘return to school declaration’ on the Aladdin app when asked to do so. This serves as a reminder to parents that we are not living in normal times when it comes to illness in school.

Many of you are experiencing staff shortages in your workplaces. Schools have been under serious staffing pressure since last September and the situation is extremely difficult. We have managed to keep classes open every day this school year so far. Our priority is for this to continue, but we have to say this cannot be guaranteed and there is a possibility that a class may have to be sent home if there are no staff available. We assure you that this will only be as a last resort. We will try everything in our power to keep all classes open at all times as we have managed to date. We hope that if we can get through the next few weeks, things may improve somewhat.

Please remember that while we are very fortunate to have a warm, spacious school we must keep the building well ventilated so windows are open more than normal. An extra layer of clothing may be necessary.

We are very grateful to parents for informing us of positive cases (including over Christmas). This helps us to keep relevant people informed and to manage the virus in the school as best we can.

Please remember that books are to be brought back to school tomorrow.

Let’s hope and pray for a better 2022 for us all.

John Threadgold 
Principal