Dear Parents/Guardians,

As we complete our first full week of term, we hope everyone is feeling more settled and routines are becoming familiar once again. Well done to all our classes who have made a very enthusiastic start to the term. Our first assemblies will take place next Thursday and Friday morning at 9.10 a.m. This will be an opportunity to ‘meet and greet’ our staff, parents and children and welcome everyone to the school  for the new school term. Parents/Guardians are very welcome to join us for assembly and it is a good opportunity to get a flavour of what’s happening in the school as well as getting to know our staff and classes. You are guaranteed a warm welcome from everyone here. You will receive advance notice of our assemblies on our newsletter and we hope you will join us whenever you can.

We will have a coffee morning on Friday morning following assembly…. an opportunity to catch up with friends and meet new people who have joined us.

Classes attending assembly on Thursday morning are as follows:

Karen’s Junior Infants, Helen’s senior infants, Maeve’s first class, Sharon’s second class, Ann Marie’s third class, Therese’s fourth class , Ruth/Catriona’s fifth class and Donal’s sixth class and Sheena’s class

Classes attending assembly on Friday :

Yvonne’s Junior Infants, Shauna’s senior infants, Derek’s first, Eimear’s second, Muireann’s third, Jenny’s fourth, Sarah’s fifth, Claire’s sixth and Caroline’s.

School Attendance

Regular school attendance is essential for a child’s success at school. Children miss out on valuable learning when they are absent on a regular basis I have attached the information sheet from TUSLA, the child and family agency which outlines the important role Parents/Guardians play in ensuring your child’s regular attendance at school. Please take the time to read the information.

It is very important that when your child is absent from school for more than three days you contact the school  by  email, phone or by filling in the absence note on our website to let us know why your child is absent from school. This helps us to track absences and to enter the reason for the absence on our on line Aladdin system. If your child is out with a contagious illness, it will allow us to alert the rest of your child’s class to look out for signs/symptoms.

In all cases, you need to send in an absence note with your child following his/her return to school. Details of children who have 20 or more days absence in the course of the school year have to be returned to TUSLA at the end of each school year. While our overall school attendance is very strong we still have a high percentage of children who miss more than the 20 days. While we fully understand that children may be out for illness or other legitimate reasons, our records show too many unexplained absences. We can address this with your co-operation as outlined. Thank you in advance for your co-operation.

Autumn Fair

You will have received an email from Leigh Ann on our PTA during the week updating you on plans to have a community fun day ‘Autumn Fair’ on October 6^th [ just over a month away ]  . This time last year many of you will remember we had our 20 year celebrations. This was a wonderful community occasion which brought people together and generated a spirit of goodwill and friendship in the school that lasted for the entire school year! This year’s Autumn Fair is on a much smaller scale but nevertheless very important in building community as we start a new school year.  It has always been possible for us to organise events such as these due to the wonderful support and generosity of our school community. Let’s hope we can do it again this year and people will come on board to help! The more volunteers we have,   the easier it will be to get it together and it will be fun! Please contact Leigh Ann as soon as possible if you can help us and we will take it from there.

Learning support

Please read the attached letter on the revised model of allocating resources to children with additional needs in Primary schools. This explains how our Special Education Team [SET] work in our school. This year we have  seven teachers  working on our SET team….. Ian, Grace, Amanda, Martina , Siobhan, Elley[language and learning]  and Jennifer [ shared post with St. Andrew’s N.S.]

Ethical Core Curriculum

Each month we focus on a value of the month. During the month of September we will be exploring the value of Friendship and helping children to become more aware of the qualities of a good friend to support their own friendships.

Children will also be learning about one World religion each month. We begin with Judaism as there are three Jewish festivals in the month of September. Rosh Hashanah begins today.

Pupil Personal Insurance

We are no longer accepting applications for PPI as the scheme has closed since Wednesday 4^th September 2018.

 R.C classes

RC classes resume on 13^th September 2018 at 3.50.p.m.  Registration for 1^st to 6^th classes will take place in the hall during RC class from 4.10.p.m. until 4.40.p.m.

School Playground

Reminder to parents and guardians that children are not permitted to be on the playground before or after school.

Children are only insured on playground when accompanied by their class teacher.

Wishing you all a lovely week-end,

Yours sincerely,

Mary

As you may already be aware, the Department of Education and Skills has set out new guidelines for the allocation of Resource/Learning Support (renamed as Special Education Support) in schools. In essence, within this revised model, pupils with the highest levels of need will continue to have access to corresponding levels of support. At the same time, it also offers schools the flexibility of accommodating the needs of children who may only require occasional or temporary support.

Therefore, this year the Special Education Support Team will be employing a range of teaching approaches alongside class teachers. This will include in-class team teaching and co-operative teaching strategies as well as the withdrawal of small groups and individuals for more focused support. The Special Education support teachers will continue to provide extra support and encouragement to children in the areas of Numeracy, Literacy, Language and Emotional and Social development.

At each class level we will seek to ensure that every pupil’s needs are met and for all the children to be entitled to access support as and when appropriate. This may mean that additional support is offered to a child for a short period of time if he/she is experiencing specific difficulty in any of the curriculum areas mentioned above or for more sustained periods, if necessary. Where this support takes place will depend on the particular level of need identified (e.g. either in the mainstream class or in the support classroom setting). This model of support continues to ensure a focus on high attainment aspirations and on improving outcomes for all pupils. It also promotes pupil participation and active engagement in their learning and in the life of the school.

Due to the inclusive and flexible nature of this model we will not be seeking express permission for children to receive support but, as always, you will be kept informed by the staff if there are any particular issues concerning your child’s progress at school. And, of course, if you require any further clarification please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. For more information about the revised model of delivering support please refer to circular 0013/2017 onwww.education.ie. A helpful summary of the model can be also be found on our school website.