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Newsletter 15th December

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

Covid Update
Thanks again to the children from 3rd – 6th Classes for their wearing of facemasks. We have had pupils either testing positive or being a close contact (typically of a family member) in the past week. We continue to be particularly grateful to parents who inform us of a positive case. Please continue to be vigilant, we really appreciate your support.

Flu Vaccine
The HSE is advising that your child can get the flu vaccine at your GP or pharmacy until the start of February 2022. It’s available as a nasal spray and there is no charge. If you’re interested, visit www.hse.ie/flu .

Admissions to Ballylinan N.S.
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. Thank you.

Christmas Food Appeal
Many thanks to you all for your generous support of our recent food appeal and to Ms. Goff for organising.

Sending Books Home
As on previous occasions and as a precaution, we are planning to send home books this Friday. We DO NOT have any inside information; we expect to be open next week and also to reopen after the holidays but experience tells us – unfortunately – that it’s best to be prepared.

Christmas Panto
We are treating the pupils to a performance of the ‘Red Riding Hood’ (The Helix Panto Online) tomorrow (Thursday 16th December). We want to make it a special occasion. The children can wear their Christmas jumpers or something festive tomorrow and we’ll have some treats for them too!

Nollaig Shona
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everybody associated with the school – but especially you the parents – a very happy and peaceful Christmas. As always, we are aware of some especially difficult family circumstances and will be keeping you in our prayers.

The school will close for the Christmas holidays at 12:15 for Infants and 12:30 for all others on Wednesday next, 22nd December. The children don’t have to wear their uniform on that day; they may wear something festive if they wish. We are scheduled to re-open on Thursday, 6th January 2022. Other planned closures are detailed on the school website.

Thank you all for your support as always. Nollaig shona daoibh go léir.

John Threadgold
Principal

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PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

Dear Parents,

We really appreciate your continued cooperation, we couldn’t have the school open without your following of public health advice.

We want our school to stay open and we want families to have a Christmas that is not spoiled by the virus. We know how difficult this is for you and how busy it is at this time of the year. We really need your continued help to keep disruption to a minimum. Schools near Ballylinan have had dozens of pupils testing positive in the past couple of weeks.

There are quite a number of (particularly younger) pupils in school with coughs and other symptoms. Some of them are just generally unwell and miserable and shouldn’t really be in school even under normal circumstances. Public health advice is clear; a child with symptoms should not be in school.  Please read the following carefully:

If your child has any symptoms of COVID-19

  • Keep them at home
  • Get a PCR test  (NOT an antigen test if showing symptoms)

The most common symptoms are:

  • fever (high temperature of 38 degrees or more)
  • dry cough
  • fatigue (tiredness)

Less common symptoms include:

loss or changed sense of taste or smell
blocked nose
conjunctivitis (red or pink eye)
sore throat
headache
muscle or joint pain (aches and pains)
skin rash
nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea
chills or dizziness

If your child gets a negative COVID-19 test result and has not had any new symptoms for 48 hours they can return to school. Your cooperation does make a real difference and all of the children – and their families – benefit as a result.

Thank you all.

John Threadgold
Principal

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Advent (Week 2)

The pupils from Room 2 (2nd Class) took part in a short prayer service to mark the second week of Advent. We lit the second candle on our Advent wreath.

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Newsletter 2nd December

Admissions to Ballylinan N.S.
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. Thank you.

Road and Online Safety
Garda Robbie Foran spoke recently to 4th, 5th & 6th Classes about the importance of staying safe when online and also about staying safe on the road. This is particularly important when pupils are cycling or walking home. Now that the evenings are dark, you could also ensure that your child wears a highly visible coat or jacket.

Advent Friends
As in previous years, each child in the school has been allocated an “advent” or “special” friend in the lead up to Christmas. We are asking that children should be particularly kind to the person without letting them know that they have been chosen. No cards or gifts are required; the pupils will make cards in school.

Covid Update
What can we say that hasn’t already been said? We are managing as best we can with quite a high level of pupil and staff absence in the past few weeks, mainly due to disruption from Covid. I would like to again thank the overwhelming majority of our pupils (and their parents) in 3rd-6th classes who have been wearing face coverings as required by the Department of Education. We wear them to help to reduce the transmission of the virus, especially to our elderly or vulnerable families and friends. It’s not so much something we do for ourselves, rather it’s a generous thing that we do for each other. A small but important Christmas gift, if you like. Thank you all.

Ballylinan N.S. Christmas Food Appeal
Every day in Ireland thousands of families struggle to put food on the table. We would like to continue to help in a small way by having a food appeal on Wednesday 8th December.
We ask the children from each class to bring in the following food items listed below. It is entirely up to each family how much they would like to contribute and every item counts.
We would particularly like to see the children themselves contributing towards the appeal. This could be achieved through the use of pocket money or taking part in the choosing and shopping for the item.
This year again, we are working with the charity Heart to Hand. (www.hearttohand.net) Heart to Hand is a non-profit organisation that provides food to homeless shelters, soup kitchens, breakfast centres, homes for distressed families & many more deserving organisations around Ireland. In doing so, those organisations save thousands of Euros from their food bill, which eases the burden of fundraising and enables them to provide other vital services to people in need.
If you or a family you know would benefit from a hamper this year, please contact Ms Goff at maryegoff.ballylinan@gmail.com. Please be advised that any enquiry will be handled discreetly and in the strictest of confidence.
Junior /Senior Infants : Pasta/Noodles/rice
First/Second Class : Biscuits /Teabags/Coffee
Third/Fourth Class : Tins of any food such as beans/peas/soup/
creamed rice/fish
Fifth/Sixth Class : Toiletries – toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap,
shower gel, shampoo etc
Many thanks for your ongoing support.