8th January 2021

Dear Parents,

It is with great regret and a great sense of frustration and disappointment that I write this newsletter to you today. Despite our best efforts to ensure that our school is a safe place for our children, it has been decreed that we remain closed until at least February 1st due to the current spread of the Covid 19 virus in our community. Unfortunately it is now necessary to revert to ‘online’ teaching to ensure that the children have continuity in their schooling. We realise that this places great responsibility on our parents to ensure that the pupils engage with the work and to do everything possible to keep the children up to speed with their school work. We are also acutely aware that in reality it is a poor substitute for face to face teaching and learning. As you are aware, we were forced into this position previously at the beginning of the onset of the pandemic where in truth we were ill equipped to deal with the demands of online learning. At this juncture I can assure you that all staff members are well up to speed and all have undertaken a number of professional development courses to ensure that the children will be in a position to attain maximum benefit from our endeavours.

This time around we will be using the following teaching and learning platforms to provide the necessary content and support for the children:

· Junior Infants to Third Class inclusive will use the Seesaw app.

· Fourth to Sixth class will use Google Classroom.

All of the children have been set up on the relevant platforms and in most classes they have been completing work on them on at least two occasions weekly, so this should be an easy transition and one which involves minimal parental input. Please be assured that this time around we will not be bombarding parents with unnecessary ‘busy work’ and that the work apportioned will be very much in line with our curriculum. It is our intention to make this as simple and stress free for parents as is possible.

We ask that you as parents do not pressurise the children in any way and that a reasonable amount of time is apportioned for school work on a daily basis. The teachers will be uploading work on a weekly basis and it is expected that this work will be completed by the children over the course of the relevant week. Under no circumstances should work set by the teachers be completed in one go. We do not expect that the children will work for the duration of school hours, rather that they will keep their hand in with their schoolwork and do not fall behind. It is equally important that children get daily exercise and physical activity. The current World Health Organisation recommendation is that all children should get at least one hour physical activity daily. There are a number of ways in which this can be achieved with umpteen activity workouts and activities available online.

I realise that it may appear clichéd but we are all in this together and by following the health and safety advice and heeding the guidelines we can all ensure that this enforced break is short lived and that we may be able to return to school as scheduled on February 1st. Please keep safe, stay at home and limit social contacts. Our children need to be in their schools, with their classmates and with a concerted effort for the next couple of weeks, together we can work towards a return to normality. As always you can contact the teachers by email should you have any queries or concerns or if you seek guidance on any area of the work set by the teachers. The main conduit for our notices to parents will be via our school website www.iosaballyhaunis.com where you will be updated on a regular basis. In the meantime please note the following:

Collection of Books.

While all classes were given their textbooks prior to our Christmas closure, we are aware that a number of children were absent from school and haven’t yet collected their books. With this in mind, the school building will be open on this Tuesday (January 12th) from 11 am to 2 pm when parents or children will be able to collect textbooks\Copies etc from the school. Please note that Covid provisions will be strictly enforced with the following being mandatory:

Ø All visitors must wear a mask at all times while accessing the school site.

Ø Please queue in an orderly manner making sure to observe appropriate social distancing.

Ø Please keep interactions with other parents to an absolute minimum.

Ø When collecting the books please do so and exit the school as quickly as possible.

Ø Please use hand sanitisers provided when entering and leaving the building.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.

School Enrolment 2021-2022.

Enrolment forms are available on the school website for parents looking to enroll pupils in the school for the 2021-2022. These may be returned to school by post, by email or may be put through the school letterbox.

Modern Dance

In the past Nickie Sheridan has come into the school to teach modern dance/Hip Hop dance. Nickie has put together a number of dance videos which may be useful to families to help children achieve the necessary physical activity time. If anybody is interested Nickie can be contacted on Facebook (Nickie McDermott). The programme costs €10 for a four week programme.

Finally, I realise that these are difficult times for all and that nobody wants to be in this position again. Therefore it is important that we heed public health advice. Doing so will ensure that we are back in a proper school setting sooner rather than later. Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

K. Dennedy

On behalf of the staff of Scoil Íosa.