Update - Wednesday 3rd June

Dear Parents and Pupils,

I hope you had a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend. It seems summer has arrived a little earlier than expected with beautiful days to lift our spirits. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous over the last few weeks and has afforded us the opportunity to spend quality time with family enjoying summer activities outdoors.

I’m sure that you all, like ourselves, have some ups and downs in these strange times. We can only continue to try do our best, keep up our hygiene routines, socially distance when we need to, get a bit of exercise and be kind to each other at home.

It continues to be a busy time for our school. I have included lots of information below. Please do take the time to read it.

A message for the children:

Click here to hear an audio message for the children. https://vimeo.com/425178610

Glounaguillagh N.S. @ Home:

I am really enjoying compiling our weekly magazine, Glounaguillagh N.S. @ Home. I am delighted to receive all the fabulous photographs, recipes, jokes, craft ideas and so much more. I would like to thank those who emailed their photographs and ideas again last week. Keep them coming! Click here to read the 6th edition of our magazine. https://www.glounaguillaghns.ie/news-1

Planning for the new school year:

The school is due to re-open for the new school year on Tuesday 1st September 2020. However, the 2020/21 school calendar is subject to change as a result the COVID-19 pandemic. We will keep you up-to-date with these changes. Unfortunately, at this time, we do not know when the school will open or under what restrictions. We expect some guidance on this in the coming weeks.

Book Collection:

Phase 1 of Ireland’s Roadmap for reopening Society and Business saw a little easing of lock-down rules. One of these allows our teachers to access the school building as required for the provision of remote teaching and learning. Phase 2, which will hopefully come into effect next week, will see a further relaxation of the rules allowing for movement within 20 kilometres of your house. Many schools are now taking the opportunity to return books and belongings to children that have been sitting in classrooms since March 12th. We too are planning to organize the return of belongings. We will be in contact with you when we have a structured plan in place, which will need to take social distancing measures into consideration.

Keep going!:

School in the month of June is very different from all the other months of the year. While there continues to be a strong focus on Numeracy and Literacy, it is traditionally the month of summer activities, school tours and of course the all-important school sports day and annual football league. As time goes on, and weeks have turned into months, I know that many of our children are finding learning at home consistently more challenging. It is proven that being outdoors in the sunlight improves our mood and helps keeps us feeling balanced and focused. My advice to you therefore at this time is to allow the home learning take place as much as possible outside. We hope that the use of Google Classroom / Seesaw makes distance learning a little easier for you. We are trying to make everything as engaging as possible for the children and will continue to do so. We encourage you to keep some routine going for the next 3 weeks to finish out the term with success!

Stay Safe!

Sinéad Pigott

Principal