Return to School (All Students), Monday, April 12th

Fri, Apr 9th, 2021

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I hope that you and your families are keeping well, staying safe and enjoying the longer evenings and improved weather.

As we prepare for a full return to school next Monday, April 12^th, I would like to update you on the following:

Covid-19 Protocols

All of our Covid-related protocols are still in place. These include mask-wearing, social distancing and hand-sanitising. Our school ran very safely and smoothly during First Term and, with everyone’s continued hard work and cooperation, we will hopefully finish out the school year the same way.

Return-to-School Health Declarations

A health declaration  form must be submitted by every student who returns to school next week. If a student is over 18 years old, they fill the Student Declaration Form. The Parental Declaration Form should be used by all other students.

• The forms are attached to this email and hard copies may be collected from the School Office.
• 5^th and 6^th Year students have already submitted their forms; there is no need to do this a second time.

Timetable

Since January, most students have been following a shortened timetable. From next Monday, all students will follow the full timetable.

Computer Rooms (Rooms 18, 22 and 34)

In recent weeks, full class sets of new laptops have been installed in Rooms 18 and 22. Likewise, Room 34 (Technical Graphics) has been refurbished and fitted with new desktop computers. This room, while primarily for use by technical subjects, will be available to all teachers, as required and as available.

Earphones/Headsets

Due to Covid regulations, a small number of teachers may not be able to return to the school building at this time. These teachers will continue to teach their classes online. Their students will attend these classes in Room 18/22/34, and will be supervised by another teacher while their regular teacher delivers the classes remotely. To avoid sound feedback, these classes will work best if all students are linked to the audio by earphones/headsets. Please ensure that your son/daughter has earphones or a headset with them everyday.

School Meals/Lunches

• School Lunches will resume, as normal, from next Monday.

• School Meals hampers are due to be delivered around now for families of students who had previously registered for same. Please note that as 6^th Year students have been back at school and receiving lunches since March 1^st, they were not entitled to these deliveries.

Calendar

Next week you will be issued with a calendar of key dates for the last term. The Department of Education and Skills has decided that Friday, May 28^th is the last day of term for all secondary schools. This is a week earlier than had been previously scheduled, to allow for work to be completed on the Leaving Cert Accredited Grades process. The dates that we had been working with for a number of end-of-year activities will, consequently, have to be changed.

I hope, as I know you do, that as we prepare for next week’s full reopening, all talk of school closures will soon be a thing of the past. The past year has been very difficult for all young people and we are anxious that there are no further interruptions this year, particularly for our 6^th Year students. Everybody has a responsibility to do their best to ensure that this will be the case. In particular, students must continue to behave, both inside and outside of school, in such a way as to minimise the risk of their being positive cases within the school community. I greatly appreciate your understanding and ongoing support in these challenging times, and I know that this will extend to this important point.

If you have particular concerns about your son/daughter and their return to school, do not hesitate to contact us at the school (01-2828126) and we will get back to you without delay.

With best wishes,

John Murphy,

Principal.