September - eNewsletter

** Please Note: You cannot respond to this email address - please use glounaguillaghns@gmail.com

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Another week has just flown by - I can’t believe we are already more than halfway through September. Thankfully the weather is staying fine, and the children are getting out to play most days. The boys and girls seem happy to be back at school and are settling well into a daily routine.

Welcome:

Welcome back to all the children of Glounaguillagh National School. We extend a very special welcome to our 13 new Junior Infants. At present, our total enrolment is 140 students.

We welcome Ms. Caitríona McCarthy who will job-share with Mrs. Fiona Doyle for the coming school year. We also welcome Mrs. Karen Joy to our Special Education team in place of Ms. Maria O’Sullivan. We thank Maria for her support and assistance over the last number of years. Finally, we welcome Mrs. Joan Broderick who is with us while Mrs. Teresa Foley is recovering from recent surgery. We wish Teresa well in her recovery and look forward to having her back with us soon.

Dates for your diary:

Please find attached a school calendar for the year 2021/2022.

2021-2022 School Times:

The school opens each morning at 8.40am

Morning break takes place at 10:30am

Lunch break takes place at 12 noon

School finishes at 1.30pm each day for Infants

School finishes at 2.30pm each day for the rest of the school

Covid-19 Protocols:

The management and staff of the school are very appreciative of the efforts that parents are making to make our school a safe place for all our pupils and staff. We continue to do our best and ask that parents continue to follow these guidelines:

• Please keep your child at home if they are feeling unwell or display any Covid-19 symptoms. Seek advice from your GP about the need for testing.

• Parents are asked to wear face masks when in the vicinity of the school.

• Only pupils and staff are permitted to enter the school building.

• Pupils and staff will continue to be vigilant about hand washing and hand sanitising.

• Pupils should have warm and rainproof clothing so that regular breaks for fresh air can continue to take place as the weather disimproves.

Absence from School:

We are fielding lots of queries around Covid-19 and school attendance. We appreciate how confusing it can be for everyone so have included a poster below with the most up-to-date information from the HSE in relation to this. If in any doubt at all, please contact your GP.

Please continue to let us know if you are keeping your child at home sick or if they are experiencing any Covid-19 related symptoms.

Drop-Off Box:

The “drop-off box” will continue to be left outside the school during the school day for any forgotten items, i.e., lunch boxes, books, etc. If possible, please email/ring the school to inform us that an item is in the drop-off box.

Contacting the School:

If you have a query, the office may be contacted via telephone 0669769402 or by email glounaguillaghns@gmail.com. A reminder that the office is not manned during class time. You can leave a voicemail or email us with your query and your child’s class teacher will respond as soon as possible.

The school will continue to use Aladdin to send whole-school text messages to inform parents of any important information/events. If you have changed your mobile number recently, please contact the office to update your number. We may, on occasion, need to contact you via phone-call during the day. Therefore, it is vital that we have up-to-date mobile numbers and emergency contact numbers.

We will continue to send a monthly email update via Aladdin. If you need to change your email address for any reason, please email the school office.

We will continue to restrict the admission of visitors to the school. In this respect, we ask that all visitors to the school make an appointment prior to their arrival. We ask all parents/guardians to please respect this and not to come to the school without an appointment.

Sacraments:

Confirmation – Congratulations to the Class of 2021 who received the Sacrament of Confirmation on Friday last. We thank Fr. Kevin, Mrs. Galvin, Mary Ralston, Catherine McGrath and Edel Moriarty for the lovely ceremony. It was great to see all the boys and girls again and for them to meet up with friends they haven’t seen for a while now. We wish them all the very best in secondary school.

First Communion – Congratulations to the children in 3rd Class who made their First Holy Communion recently. Again, we thank Fr. Kevin, Ms. O’Sullivan, Mary Ralston and Catherine McGrath for making the occasion so special for the children. We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating their special day with them.

The beginning of the school year is timely to reiterate a number of points with which we would appreciate your co-operation: -

Uniforms:

Neat dress for school is very important. Please ensure that children wear the agreed uniform i.e., navy and white. Please ensure that jumpers are clearly labelled otherwise it is impossible to determine ownership. PE for Junior and Senior Infants will be on a Thursday going forward. PE day for the remainder of the school will continue to be on Fridays– on PE day, pupils wear their plain navy tracksuit and runners. Leggings are not appropriate for school. As the weather is unpredictable, make sure your child brings a waterproof coat/jacket (with a hood) to school each day.

Absence Notes:

While certain absences are unavoidable, such as when a child is sick, it is important to remember that the school must inform the statutory Educational Welfare Services of the Child and Family Agency if your child has missed 20 days or more in the school year. Following an absence, please complete an absence explanation note. All families have been provided with a booklet of these. If you need a replacement booklet, please let us know. The absence notes at the back of the Homework Journal (1st – 6th Class) can also be used.

Lunches and Allergies:

We remind parents that fizzy drinks, chocolate bars, chocolate spread, biscuits, sweets, lollipops, crisps and chewing gum are not permitted in lunchboxes. Due to allergies, we ask that kiwis and nuts or products containing nuts are not included in lunchboxes either.

Book Bills:

Bills for your children’s books will be distributed early next week. As always, we endeavour to keep these as low as possible by reusing as many books as possible from year-to-year, while still ensuring that your child has access to new and up-to-date material. The cost of your child's pupil personal accident insurance cover as well as a contribution to cover art and craft materials and photocopying costs for the coming year will be included in your book bill. We will continue to use the Aladdin system for online school payments this year.

Parking:

The safety of the children around drop-off and pick up times is always on our minds. We would ask parents to be please be mindful on approach to the school and to park responsibly when dropping your children to, and collecting from, school.

Website:

We remind you all to check the school website www.glounaguillaghns.ie regularly for up-to-date information. Each month the school newsletter will be available on the website and we would really encourage you to read it, so that you can get a flavour of all of the activities and events that are available for our students.

Regards,

Sinéad Pigott

Principal