Dear Parents/Guardians, 

I hope you are all keeping well and taking good care of yourselves. 

I would like to update you on a few items as follows: 

Active Home Week 

This week should have been our Active School Week so we are asking that you now mark this by doing as many activities as you can in your own home. Our work focus for your daughter this week reflects this emphasis. To get the ball rolling, the staff recorded their own dance video which you may have already spotted on the website. I can tell you that a lot of work and retakes went into this video! We hope you like it. Maybe your daughter could consider sending us in a similar clip of her doing these dance moves for the website.  

Check out the new activity challenges also for this week. They are located under the Learning from Home Tab.  

Communion 

We hope that our girls who were due to make their First Holy Communion last Saturday were able to mark the day in some special way with their families. We know that they were disappointed that their big day was postponed but I’m sure it will be extra special when it gets the go ahead in the future. The 2nd class teachers made a little video for them which was put up on the website on Saturday. Do check it out in the 2nd class section of Learning from Home. We hope you liked it girls! 

STEPS: Engineers Ireland 

The STEPS Young Engineers Award Ceremony will be premiering  live on May 20th at https://www.engineersireland.ie/Schools/Get-involved/Young-engineers-award 

During the ceremony they will be announcing the winners of The STEPS Young Engineers Award, runners up and highly commended projects. I’m delighted to say that some pupils in Ms Dudgeon’s 3rd class will feature in this. Well done girls! We are very proud of you all. It would be lovely if as many pupils and their families as possible could tune in and support them next Wednesday. The whole event promises to be a lot of fun.  

School Reports 

These will issue to you in June and will be based on your child’s performance from Sept ‘19 to March ’20.  Your child may well have made significant improvement in many areas since March, both academically and socially and we ask you to bear this in mind when viewing the reports. Standardised test results in English and Maths are not available this year as such testing always takes place in May as per DES guidelines. 

Reports will be dropped into your home with a copy of the booklist for next year.  

Payment for Books for September ‘20 

We have set up an online payment system to help facilitate smooth payment for books and to assist parents in the current climate of restricted movement due to Covid-19. We request that you read the notice carefully that will be sent out in the near future in relation to this. You will just need to make your payment for the books online and we will look after the rest and ensure your books are ready for your daughter in September. 

Uniforms 

It is most important that your daughter has a full uniform and tracksuit for September and that tracksuits are only worn on PE or sporting activity days. It is essential that all parents and pupils comply with the school’s uniform policy in order to maintain a high standard for our school. The booklist will give you details of outlets where these items can be purchased. 

Graduation 

We are keenly aware that our 6th class girls would normally be looking forward to their graduation at this time. We would love to mark this in the normal way but unfortunately are not permitted to do so. However, we will mark this occasion in the best way that we can. Further details will follow. 

Thank You! 

Sincere thanks for all the photos and work that you are submitting for the website and via Seesaw. Thank you so much also for the wonderful positive feedback you have given us on our engagement with you through distance learning. This has been a steep and fast learning curve for us all. When the schools closed suddenly on March 12th, we could never have imagined what lay ahead but we have worked together to rise to what was a very difficult challenge and so your kind words and feedback are very much appreciated.  

Take care and stay safe. 

Le gach dea-ghuí, 

Paula Dargan