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Newsletter 8th January 2021

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year to you all. Unfortunately we are back where none of us wanted to be, making the best of a bad lot with children and parents stuck at home. We all dearly hope that this will be for a shorter time than last year.

The teachers will be in touch with you in the coming days regarding how we can try to keep the children learning while away from the school.

We know from last year that it is very difficult for pupils to be apart from their friends and routine and for parents trying to balance the demands of working from or running a home while trying to encourage their children to stay in touch with their schoolwork. It’s also hard for teachers trying to provide some form of education remotely, when the very nature of teaching is based on the relationship in the classroom.

From next week, your child’s teacher will be regular contact through Aladdin. They will set some work to be completed each day. Teachers will provide feedback and will be in touch with some audio and/or video messages on a regular basis. Each teacher can also be contacted by email.

We know that not everyone has an ideal situation at home. We are aware of quite a few cases of the virus currently in the immediate school community and hope that everyone makes a full recovery. While we want to make your life as easy as possible, we cannot open the school until that decision is made for us. Nonetheless, it is important that your child engages with the work provided so that we can pick up quickly when we do return. How we all wish that to be as soon as possible!

Don’t forget to turn off all screens for a period each day and get out into the fresh air when you can. Our physical and mental health are linked.

Care for yourselves as best you can and stay safe.

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Newsletter 11th November 2020

Contact email Addresses
We are conscious that contact between school and home is more difficult with Covid restrictions in place. Here’s a reminder of our contact details.

Is Your Child in 5th Class?
Please remember to contact secondary schools well in advance to ensure that you are fully up to date with their enrolment procedures and what’s required of you.

Gaeilge
Táimid ag déanamh iarracht níos mó Gaeilge a úsáid i rith an lae. We’re trying to use a little more Irish during the day. Tá na páistí ag déanamh sár-iarracht.  The pupils are making a great effort. Bainigí triail as!  Éistigí linn:

Healthy Lunches
We encourage the eating of healthy lunches. We ask you not send sweets, crisps (and similar snacks), chocolate, fizzy or energy drinks to school please. We also ask you to think carefully about the quantity of food as children may feel they need to finish everything; that is not always the case.Please remember…

Christmas Appeal
While it won’t be a ‘normal’ Christmas this year, we will do what we can to celebrate the season. We will be holding our food appeal as we have done in previous years with some changes due to Covid restrictions. Details to follow.

HSE Advice Updated
Thank you all again for your caution and attention to health matters. If you’re wondering whether you should keep your child at home or not during the pandemic, see this link to the latest HSE advice.

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Newsletter 22nd October 2020

Thank You
A big thank you to our parents for being cautious and very responsible in relation to the virus since we reopened at the end of August. Lots of you have kept us informed or rang us for advice on what you should do. We really appreciate this and while we may not always have a black and white answer or may have to point you to medical advice, by being open and honest with us you are protecting us all. Increasing virus levels in the community will inevitably feed through to schools so we must all take as much care as we can. Please continue to follow public health advice at ALL times.

Book Collection
A reminder that this was just a precaution; we are expecting to reopen on Monday, 2nd November after the break next week.

Our Support
We are very conscious that some of our parents have had their business closed or their workplace significantly affected. All we can say is that you have our support and to let you know that we will do everything we can to keep the school up and running and make life as normal as possible for your child. These times will pass and – though they may seem far away at present – there are brighter days ahead. They can’t come soon enough!

Home-School Communication
We have reached Halloween with school going reasonably smoothly considering the restrictions that are being placed upon all of us. The children are coping well and we are working as best we can given the circumstances. Naturally it is more difficult than in previous years for us to be in touch with each other. Do remember that if you need a word with your child’s teacher you can ring the school and we will get back to you. Email addresses for each teacher will be issued after mid-term and you will be free to use these also. You may continue to submit explanations for absences through the Aladdin app.

Is Your Child in 5th Class?
Please remember to contact secondary schools well in advance to ensure that your child can be enrolled in good time.

Gaeilge
Táimid ag déanamh iarracht níos mó Gaeilge a úsáid i rith an lae. We’re trying to use a little more Irish during the day. Éist le na páistí thíos. Listen to the children here. If you click on the ‘Gaeilge’ tag underneath, you can hear more. Good to see some getting the message!

Halloween
We will be dressing up for Halloween tomorrow! Remember also that Junior and Senior Infants are to be collected at 12:15 and all other children at 12:30. Thank you for your support as always.

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Newsletter 5th October 2020

Calendar

Our dates for the year are in the ‘Calendar’ menu at the top of the page. We all sincerely hope that they work out as planned!

Homework
Over the next couple of weeks we will gradually reintroduce some homework and some teachers will begin experimenting with using the Aladdin app for same.

First Communion
Well done to the boys and girls of 3rd Class who (finally!) made their Communion on Saturday last. Thanks to their teachers Ms. Cunningham and Ms. Goff for preparing them. The rain held off and we hope people had a nice family day.

Healthy Eating
We encourage the eating of healthy lunches. We ask you not send sweets, crisps (and similar snacks), chocolate, fizzy or energy drinks to school please. We also ask you to think carefully about the quantity of food as children may feel they need to finish everything; that is not always the case.

Outdoor Activities
Much to our disappointment there will be no Cumann na mBunscol football competitions this year. We are gradually reintroducing our coaching activities during the year; cycling safety for 4th and 5th Classes; rugby and football for other classes. Swimming looks unlikely at this stage but we will keep it under review.

Allergies / Epipens
If your child has an allergy and we have an epipen here in the school please contact us immediately to check that it is in date.

Anxiety Webinar
Triple P Parenting Programme are delivering a webinar which will offer parents of children 4 – 14 years of age tips and strategies to help their children manage their anxiety. Parents have a crucial role to play in mitigating the potential long-term negative impacts of the pandemic on children, particularly in relation to mental health.

Date:                     Wednesday 21st October 2020
Time:                     7.30 – 9.00pm
Booking:             Online Booking
All information is confidential and your image or any identifying details will NOT be on screen.

Facilitators:         Sinead Higgins and Deirdre Dowling

COVID-19 Matters
Though quite a few parents, pupils and staff have been tested for the virus, we have not as yet had a confirmed case in the school. It is of course possible that there will be a case at some stage and it is prudent for us to be prepared. The school is a controlled environment. There are measures in place to combat the introduction or spread of the virus. These are based on:

• Physical Distancing
• Hand Hygiene
• Respiratory and Hygiene Etiquette

• Mask Wearing, where necessary

In the case of a positive result, Public Health will, by law, be informed. This may take a matter of hours due to legal and volume of work issues. The person tested, or their parents, may well be informed before Public Health. In some cases a social media discussion ensues and anxiety levels can be raised among the school community.

The Public Health Department of the HSE is the agency responsible by law for dealing with positive cases of COVID-19.

Once notified by the HSE testing regime, Public Health Doctors assume total control of the situation and will carry out a risk assessment. Based on questioning the person with the positive result, they will ascertain if they were within the school setting when they contracted the virus. If not, there may be no need to contact the school.

If the person was within the school setting when they contracted the virus, Public Health will contact the principal to carry out a Public Health Risk Assessment. This is a set of questions to see who might have been exposed to the virus and who needs to be excluded or tested. This risk assessment will be unique to each school.

The principal and board of management have no function in the risk assessment, other than to provide whatever information is required by the Public Health Medical Officer.

The principal and board may be asked to assist Public Health by sending a message from them to the relevant families identified in the risk assessment.  Public Health will not contact other members of the school community.

The principal and board are not permitted to inform members of the school community of the identity of the person or persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 for doctor–patient confidentiality and GDPR reasons.

Thank You
Huge thanks go to everyone in the school community for their patience and goodwill in helping the school to reopen and to remain open in these challenging times. To you the parents for your cooperation with our new routines, to the pupils for putting up with reduced opportunities for play and fewer chances to do the things we normally enjoy and to our wonderful staff for their generosity and flexibility in making things work. It’s good to be open! Ní neart go cur le chéile.

Reading Scheme Missing Books
We are missing a number of our reading scheme books. Please check if you have one. They are marked with sticker that has a letter and a number on it. If you have one, just return it immediately. Thank you.

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Newsletter 21st September

Morning Arrangements
Please note that we will be reverting to our usual starting time of 9.15 a.m. from next Monday 28th September. Pupils may arrive at any time between 9 and 9:15 and they will go straight to their classrooms through the entrances they have been using in the past few weeks. The only change is that they need to be in school by 9:15. Naturally it will be busier as we approach that time so we again ask for your patience while the new routine becomes established. We would encourage you to do a ‘practice run’ this week in preparation for next week. Thank you.

Cycling / Road Safety
4th Class will begin their cycling safety course this week. We will try to reschedule lessons for 5th Class who missed out earlier in the year. While on that theme, we are concerned about road safety and physical distancing. There are a lot of children making their way on foot and by bicycle towards the church from the school in the afternoons. They are near to traffic on that road and there have been a couple of very narrow escapes in the past week or so. If you are collecting your child then please bring them in the car with you from the school – it will reduce pedestrian traffic on that road for a short but very busy time. Naturally the school is not responsible for what happens on a public road but we are concerned and really don’t want our pupils to come to any harm. Thank you.

Attendance
This week we will open the attendance function on the Aladdin Connect App. Each day your child is absent, you will receive a notification via the app after the teacher has called the roll. You will then be invited to submit the reason for your child’s absence, (illness, urgent family reason, holiday or other). You will also have the opportunity to write a short note to the teacher if you wish. Until such time as you submit this information, your child’s absence will be recorded as unexplained.

If you record an absence promptly it is not necessary to contact the school. You should however phone the school if you have concerns about Covid 19 symptoms, or you wish to discuss the reason for absence directly with the teacher.

If you have not yet downloaded the Aladdin App, please do so. Please ring the school if you have any queries. Thank you.

Confirmation & Communion
Confirmation for last year’s 6th class (finally) took place recently. While it wasn’t normal, it was well organised by Arles parish and we hope all concerned had a good day. Communion for 2020 will (finally) take place on Saturday, 3rd October with strict limits on numbers attending. We hope that our pupils and their families have an enjoyable day despite the restrictions.

Allergies / Epipens
If your child has an allergy and we have an epipen here in the school please contact us to check that it is in date.

Electronic Payments
Our system is up and running and we’re working out the niggles and errors. If you have any queries please contact the school.

Jaydn’s Buddy Bench
In memory of our beloved pupil Jaydn Kelly who died a year ago, a lovely ‘buddy bench’ has been installed in the playground. It’s a nice way to remember him and we are grateful to all those who made it happen and would prefer their names not to be mentioned. Thank you.

Calendar 2020/21
Is now available at the link at the top of the page.