Beginning of Year News

A Thuismitheoiri agus a Chaomhnôiri,

Fàilte ar ais ar scoil to all pupils and staff. We are especially delighted to welcome our new Junior Infants and the children who have joined some of the older classes. We hope the years ahead will be happy and rewarding.

Contact details

Aladdin service is set up in the school. In order to ensure we have the correct details for your child, please inform us if you have changed phone numbers or address as soon as possible.

Book Rental

Sincere thanks to all who have paid all or part of the book fees already. If any parent is experiencing difficulty paying fees please inform the office in confidence. Fees can be paid in instalments. The renta! fees cover rental books, pupil personal accident insurance, homework diaries, photocopying materials and art and craft requisites. They are priced very competitively in an effort to keep costs as low as possible for all parents.

Student Council

The children will shortly be electing committee members in classes for the Student Council. We are looking forward to working with the new committee. We’d like to thank all children who participated last year and wish our new recruits the very best for the coming year.

Car Park

The car park is especially busy at the start and end of the school day. Please do not park along the footpath at the hedge at any time. When accompanying children up or down the hill, please use the footpath as this is a roadway and we need to show the children good habits from an early age. Parents should not drive up the hill  unless a prior arrangement has been made with the principal.

Arrival/Dismissal and Supervision

School starts at 9.00am with a staggered entry until 9.20am. Children come up the steps and walk in an anti-clockwise direction to their external classroom door.   Please note that the Board of Management does not accept responsibility for supervision of children before 8.55am. The infant day ends at 1.40pm and children are walked down the hill by their class teachers to meet parents in the car park. All other children finish in a staggered fashion between 2.33pm and 2.40pm and are collected from the carpark. Please note that, in order to keep everyone safe, all children must remain with supervisors until you come to collect them at the bottom of the hill and escort them to your car. Please inform all others, who may be collecting your child, of this arrangement.

Children*s Absence

In line with Tusla/NEWB (National Education Welfare Board) guidelines all children who are absent from school must provide a written note to the class teacher with the date & duration of every absence and the reason for the absence. Children who miss twenty days or more must be reported to the NEWB. You will receive an automated text from the school database system informing you when your child misses fifteen days and again when your child misses twenty days. Every school day counts and good attendance is vital for progress and continuity.  In line with HSE/hpsc protocols during the current COVID-19 pandemic parents are asked to complete a ‘Parental Declaration Form’ (see bulletin board) when their child returns to school after any absence.

Healthy Lunches

We have a policy of heathy lunches in the school and hope the children and parents  are mindful of this when preparing lunches for school days.

School Uniform

The children all look wonderful in their school uniform. We would like to commend you for your support of the uniform and trust that this will continue throughout the year.

Facebook

The school Facebook page is used to keep parents informed of activities within the school. As part of our Acceptable Usage Policy (available on the website) you are required to refrain from naming children or their parents in comments you might add to school postings. School staff will monitor this and remove all tags naming people.

School Closures

There are no school planning day closures for this term to allow the children to settle back into school life.  There may be closures in the next term to facilitate teacher training in the new curriculum.

Budget 2020

As the Budget looms we would like to draw your attention to the issue of class size. Class size in Ireland is the largest in the European Union. We have 5 children more in each class on average. If you get the opportunity to speak to any politicians, we would ask that you highlight this issue. We want a commitment from government that over the course of a number of years, the class size could be brought down to the EU average of 20 children to 1 teacher. Thank you for your support with this.

School Year 2020-2021

We hope that all connected with the Scoil Éanna community will have a healthy and happy school year.  This school year is very different from other school years but we aim to make it as normal and fun filled as possible for all pupils.  We have worked very hard over the summer to make our school Covid-19 compliant and as a result a safe environment for pupils and staff.  We know that with continued partnership and commitment the work of the school in the community will go from strength to strength – ni neart go cur ie chéile!