Dear Parents,
As we come to the end of what has been a very fragmented second term, I wish to thank you all most sincerely for the support which you have given to the school in these very difficult and challenging times. We at Scoil Íosa are eternally grateful for your assistance in making sure that we have not recorded any cases of Covid19 since our return. We realise that this has entailed some considerable sacrifices for many parents having to arrange for childcare for children who may have displayed symptoms similar to those of the virus. Unfortunately the measures put in place in school are such that there is no margin for error and having come through the few weeks since our return to school, the fact that we remain Covid free is a vindication of our efforts. Make no mistake we could not have achieved this status without the help and support of our parent body.
For now I would like to bring the following to your attention:

End of Term Closure.
Reminding all parents that term 2 ends tomorrow and the school will close until Monday April 12th. Please note that we will be departing from convention in that there will not be a half day closure and all children will finish at our usual daily times.

Easter Egg Raffle.
Thanks to all parents who donated towards our Easter egg raffle held in aid of charity. Each class held their own raffle and unfortunately I do not have a list of winners at the time of writing.

Tentative Learning Arrangements.
In order to cover all eventualities, all teachers will send home the textbooks with the children on the final day of term. Past experience has taught us that the NPHET will have no hesitation in forcing the schools to stay closed for a period if there is any significant rise in cases of positive Covid tests. As such we need to be prepared in case the powers that be repeat their decree forcing closure. Please be assured that we have not been informed that a closure is on the cards and the sound bytes coming from government indicate that they intend us to reopen as scheduled. The new testing centres set up in Dublin and Offaly will inevitably lead to a rise in cases as all persons within a five kilometer radius of the centres have been requested to present for testing and this will lead to an inevitable rise in case numbers. As the questionable methodology of NPHET has been to lockdown nationwide even where cases are low, we must be prepared.

With Thanks,
K Dennedy