Dear Parents and Guardians,
Everyone in St. Attracta’s National School has been working hard to make sure that we are ready to reopen our school safely on Monday 31st August. We want you and your child to feel reassured and safe as we start into a new school year of teaching and learning.
What you need to know before we reopen
Lunches
Send in a healthy lunch and water drink every day for the first two weeks. From 14th September free school lunches will be provided. Individual water bottles will also be provided to each pupil daily with their free school lunch. Pupils are also permitted to bring their own water bottles to school also.
Pupil belongings
Children should bring their own pens, pencils, colours, etc., to school in their own pencil case to avoid the sharing of equipment. Label all items with your child’s name on them for ease of identification.
Pupils are not permitted to bring in their own footballs etc. Footballs will be provided to each class.
Class hi-viz vests
Children from Junior Infants to 3rd class will be given free hi-viz vests on Day 1. Every class will have a different colour vest. The vests will help children to remember to keep to their own class bubble at all times. Your child must wear it every day. Label this vest with his or her name.
Personal Hygiene supplies
Children should bring sanitising wipes to regularly wipe their own desk.
Children from 4th Class to 6th class are allowed to bring hand sanistiser.
Uniform
To allow for regular washing, the school tracksuit should be worn on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The school uniform should be worn on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Your child will let you know when PE day will be. School tracksuit will also be worn on PE days.
Collection of rental books from last year (if not returned already)
Place the books in a plastic/paper bag with your child’s name on the outside.
Send the bag with your child to school.
Return of school readers
Please return any readers your child may have received on loan from Ms. McBrien or any other teacher.
Payments to the school
For now, do not send money to school with your child. Our new e-Payment facility will be available from 16th September. You will receive notice when it is ready. Wait until then to pay for your child’s rented books, photocopying etc. School Attendance
When NOT to send you child to school
Do not send children to school with a high temperature, coughs or flu-like symptoms. Read the HSE advice here.
Visits by parents to the school
Parents will not normally enter the school building. Decisions by the principal to permit access will be on a case by case basis. Phone the office from 10am to 2.30pm to make an arrangement to visit the school.
Learning
English, Maths and Irish will be our focus. Assessment of where the children at ‘at’ will be a priority for teachers as we plan for next steps in their learning. For many children lots of revision and consolidation will be important over the coming weeks and months before introducing anything new. Do not expect your child to immediately move on to new books.
Parent-Teacher Meetings will take place in early November.
Pupil wellbeing will also be a focus for us. P.E. will be important.
Homework
With the exception of oral and reading work, written homework will not be assigned for the first two weeks of September. Books, copies, pencils etc. will normally be kept in school. These arrangements will be reviewed later in September.
Later in September it is very likely that your child’s teacher will use Seesaw / Google Classroom to assign homework.
What you need to know about our school’s Covid-19 Response Plan
Read our school’s Covid-19 Response Plan here. This plan sets out in detail how our school will operate for now. Our plan will be updated regularly I n line with national health guidelines. Scroll down further to read some important things you need to know from our Response Plan. Contact the school by phone from 10am to 2.30pm if you have any questions or queries.
- All classes will operate within a bubble system. Two staff members work in each bubble. A class bubble is a class grouping which stays apart from other classes during the school day.
- Every bubble will have their own entrances, exits and play areas.
- The start and end times for the school day remain unchanged. (Only Monday 31st will have staggered start times).
- The school is split into two groups with each group having different break times and supervision arrangements
- Break times are different for both groups.
- Within each classroom from 3rd to 6th, the children will observe social distancing of a minimum distance of 1 metre. Teachers have discretion to implement pods in their own classes.
- It is recommended that teachers wear face coverings, similar to those worn in shops or on public transport, when a physical distance of 2 metres cannot be maintained. All SNAs will be required to wear face coverings, or in certain situations clear visors, in the classroom.
- All staff members will wear visors.
- All rooms will be deep cleaned by school’s contract cleaners before we reopen.
- Daily cleaning hours have been increased.
- A Sanitiser person will be employed daily from 10.30am to 1.30pm to continually sanistise touch points e.g. door handles, stairs rail, i-Pads
- A range of hygiene measures will be implemented throughout the school buildings.
- Warm water and soap handwashing facilities in every classroom
- Wall mounted paper towels in every classroom
- Pedal bins dedicated for waste paper towels and wipes in every classroom
- Wall mounted hand sanitiser bottle at classroom entrances
- Pupils seating configured in line with DES guidelines (dependent on class level)
- Marked floors throughout the building indicated social distancing requirements Regular handwashing and sanitisation breaks will now be part of the school day and hand sanitiser will be supplied in all classrooms and throughout the school.
- The school will maintain a Contact Tracing Log. This will be used by all visitors to the school (including parents) to ensure that, if required by HSE, tracing information is available.
- Parents can phone the school between 10.00am and 2.30pm to arrange a visit.