Dear Parents Issue: 09 March 7th 2022
I’m delighted to welcome everyone back to school and I hope you all had a lovely mid-term break.
IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
- Thursday March 10th – Staff training Term 2 (PLC webinar). All children go home at 1.15pm
- Thursday March 17th & Friday March 18th – school is closed for St. Patrick’s day
Congratulations:
- Well done to Orla Hannon who was a prize winner in the Athenry Pharmacy’s Christmas Art competition!
Best Attendance:
- Congratulations to Mrs Duffy’s Junior Infants on having the Best Attendance for the month of February.
Attendance:
- School attendance is very important so as to guarantee continuity of teaching and learning for all the pupils in our school. (Notwithstanding the challenges caused by COVID, we can all appreciate this).
- We are now expecting attendance to fall back to the normal high levels, given that the threat posed by the virus has significantly subsided.
- Please note the number of days missed by your child. If some absences are “unexplained” please provide an explanation on Aladdin.
- Please present a sick cert to teacher for any periods of extended sick leave.
- This information may be required by the education welfare officer at a later time.
COVID-19:
- Many of the Covid-19 public health restrictions were lifted with effect from Monday (Feb 28th). This does not mean that Covid-19 has gone away.
- There are still cases of Covid-19 being reported to the school almost every day. While the current variant is not a massive concern from a health perspective, it still highlights that Covid-19 has not gone away and will be with us for a while to come.
- If you contract Covid-19 there are still public health guidelines for us all to follow. Please see www.hse.ie for the most up to date advice.
- Here in Scoil Chroí Naofa the following will still be the cornerstone of how we operate into the future: hand sanitisation, high hygiene / cleaning standards, ventilation, good cough etiquette and staying home when unwell.
- Staying at home if you have symptoms: The requirement to stay at home if you have symptoms remains – for students and staff alike. One of the key messages to manage the risks of COVID-19 is to do everything practical to avoid the introduction of COVID-19 into the school. If infection is not introduced it cannot be spread.
- Hand Hygiene: We will continue to promote good hand hygiene. Hand hygiene can be achieved by hand washing or use of a hand sanitiser (when hands look clean).
- Face coverings/mask wearing: It is no longer a requirement for staff or pupils to wear a face covering/mask in school. Staff and pupils can continue to wear a face covering/mask if they wish to do so on a personal basis.
- Individual Yard Zones: We have removed the individual yard zones for play for the children. They can now play and mix freely with different class bubbles & pods in the school yard. There was great excitement last Monday when the barriers were removed!
World Book day:
- We celebrated World Book day last Thursday with a non-uniform day. Lots of the children came to school dressed as a character from a book.
- The school received World book day tokens for all the children in the school. Sincere thanks to Caroline Sweeney (mom of Isobel) who is organising with Easons book shop a delivery of the books to our school.
Outdoor Assembly:
- Last Friday (March 4th) we held a special “whole-school” outdoor assembly to mark our great achievement in getting this far in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was the first time that the whole school has come together in 2 years!!!
- Although as a whole the assembly was a celebration of our collective achievement in getting to the point we are now at, we also used it as an opportunity to remember in a special way all those we lost in the pandemic.
New Website:
- Heartfelt thanks to Mrs Cronin for all her hard work on re-building our school website! Check it out for yourself www.scoilchroinaofaathenry.ie! It went live on Friday. We are all very proud of it!!!
- The new website was developed by Mutually.ie
- It incorporates many of the suggestions made by both parents & staff when they completed the Google Forms survey earlier in the school year.
- Our school crest has been digitally remastered
- The new website houses all our Social media platforms on the landing page, just scroll down to link to Youtube, Twitter and the latest addition…….Instagram!!!!
- There is a translation feature at the bottom of each page
- The school blog is now called “School News”
- You should also check out the Parents Hub where you can find lots of things to do in the “Supporting your Child’s Learning” section.
- The Remote Teaching & Learning hub has been renamed and is now the “Home Learning hub”. This will be used in the event of any exceptional closures in the future. There are lots of links to useful websites, resources and padlets in both hubs so it’s worth a browse!!
Instagram:
- Scoil Chroí Naofa is now on Instagram: scoilchroinaofaathenry.
- We will be using it to communicate school news & activities with you all
- When you enrolled your child in Scoil Chroí Naofa you would have given your consent to have your child’s work / photography / video clip be published in relation to school events in (a) school print products, (b) local / national press (c) on the school website and (d) other school related agencies.
- As Instagram is a new medium for the school, can I please ask any parent who does not want their child or their child’s work appearing on the school Instagram account to please contact the office as soon as possible (but before Wednesday March 16th).
Children’s Books Ireland:
- In September 2021 Scoil Chroí Naofa was sent an email inviting us to fill out an application to apply for “free books” from Children’s Books Ireland.
- This initiative was held due to the lack of Government funding at the moment for school libraries.
- There were 5 possible categories of “free books” to be gifted to the successful schools.
- 400 schools applied and only 66 were successful.
- Our application was lucky enough to be selected to receive a gifting of “free books” in two of the different categories.
- The first category was “An Bosca Leabharlainne” – a box of 25 Irish language books handpicked by Laureate na nÓg Áine Ní Ghlinn. These include picture books, novels and short story books for all ages across the school and we look forward to using them to promote the Irish language
- The second book gifting we received was the ROAD Forward project generously funded by Enterprise Holding Foundations. From this we received 50 copies of the novel “Why the Moon Travels” written by Odin de Bhairduin for the senior girls to enjoy.
- You can find out more information about the book gifting initiative on the website www.childrensbooksireland.ie under the news and events heading.
Engineering Week:
- This week is Engineers week
- All the classes will be taking part in fun quizzes, challenges & experiments this week to give everyone a taste of what engineering is all about
- Classes will also be able to view “STEPS Engineers week” primary school engineering shows in their classrooms.
- Keep an eye on the website & social media platforms to see what fun experiences the children will be having!
Seachtain na Gaeilge:
- All the classes will be celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge next week.
Collection for Ukraine:
- 6th class are doing a collection for the people of Ukraine
- Closing date for the collection is Wednesday of next week (March 16th)
- Please see list of items attached below
- The 6th class girls will be at all the doors each morning to collect any items brought in, and again at 1.30pm when the infants are being collected.
- NB: No second hand clothing PLEASE.
Sport:
- We will be entering a camogie team into an inter-schools tournament being held in Clarin college on Thursday March 24th.
- Mr Kelly has registered the school to take part in the 2022 Spar FAI Primary School 5s soccer programme
- GAA Hurling / Camogie coaching is currently happening in Miss Dolan’s 1st class every Friday.
Parents Council:
- The next Cash for Clobber collection will take place on Tuesday March 22nd (after the St Patrick’s day long weekend)
- The 6th class girls are organising an Easter Bake sale as a Parents Council fundraising event
- The first Parents’ council meeting in 2 years will be scheduled for an evening after the Easter Holidays.
May Bank Holiday:
- The government introduced a new public holiday on Friday March 18th this year.
- As the school is already scheduled to be take this day as a school holiday, we are permitted to take a day in lieu of this
- It has been decided that for this reason the school will remain closed on Tuesday May 3rd. Enjoy the extra-long bank holiday weekend!
School Tours:
- We are delighted to announce that school tours will be going ahead in term 3.
- All the teachers have booked something for their class.
- Below is a summary of where each class will be going, when they are going and how much it will cost.
- The charge for each of the school tours has been put up on Aladdin. Parents have until the day of the school tour to pay this charge:
Date | Class Teacher | Venue | Cost |
Wednesday May 25th | Mr Kelly (5th & 6th class) Miss Murray (5th class) Mrs Monson (6th class) | Tayto Park Ashbourne Co. Meath | €35 |
Friday May 27th | Miss Feeney (3rd class) Ms Alani (3rd class) Mrs Greally (4th class) | Wildlands Moycullen Co. Galway | €45 |
Tuesday May 31st | Miss Dolan (1st class) Mr Hanley (1st class) Mrs McSpadden (1st & 2nd class) Ms O’Byrne (2nd class) | Let’s Go! Kingfisher NUIG Galway | €34 |
Wednesday June 1st | Mr McDonald (Senior Infants) Mrs Murray (Senior Infants) | Turoe Pet Farm | €23 |
Thursday June 2nd | Ms Tyrrell (Junior Infants) Mrs Duffy (Junior Infants) | Turoe Pet Farm | €23 |
Green Schools:
- Scoil Chroí Naofa has been successful in applying for a new bicycle rack. This will be funded by An Taisce. We expect delivery & installation in the coming weeks.
- The Green School committee (Mrs Greally’s 4th class) are working on a theme of Bio-diversity this year. They have registered to take part in lots of initiatives which involve growing herbs, vegetables & fruit.
- The girls in 4th class will be teaming up with Mr Kelly’s 5th / 6th class over the coming weeks to do lots of planting!!
Mobile Phones:
- No child should be bringing a mobile phone to school
- If (in exceptional circumstances) a senior pupil needs to bring a mobile phone to school, for the purpose of contacting a parent after school, then they must hand up the phone to their class teacher at the start of the school day.
- The phone will be returned to the pupil at the end of the school day.
Dates for Diary & School Closures:
- Tuesday March 22nd: School Photographer
- Monday April 11th to Friday April 22nd: Easter Holidays
- Monday May 2nd & Tuesday May 3rd – May Bank holiday long weekend
- Sunday May 8th: Confirmation
- Thursday May 12th: Staff meeting (Term 3). All children go home at 1.15pm
- Saturday May 28th: First Communion
- Thursday June 16th: Staff Training (PLC webinar) (Term 3). All children go home at 1.15pm
Community Links:
- Dramatastic: Musical Theatre and Drama
- Starting Monday Mon Feb 28th until Mon April 4th in Raheen Woods hotel
- Cost: €75 for 6 weeks (75min class)
- Junior class (Junior & Senior Infants): 3.15-4.30pm
- Intermediate class (1st, 2nd & 3rd class): 4.30-5.45pm
- Senior class (4th, 5th & 6th class): 5.45-7.00pm
- Contact Ciara on Facebook (Dramatastic Galway) or WhatsApp on (089) 4338244
Fergal Naughton
Príomhoide