A letter from the Principal.

29th March 2020

Dear Parents/Guardians,  

As we enter our third week of school closure and with further restrictions now in place as a result of the COVID19 pandemic I hope that all in our school community are safe and well.

It is clear now that the school will not reopen until 20th April at the earliest and in truth we really have no idea when life will return to normal. These are difficult times for everybody and life at home has changed so completely for us all.  While it may be exciting for many of the children to be at home from school at this time, many may be worried about what they are hearing and seeing on the media. With access to grandparents and loved ones restricted many may feel concerned so your reassurance and support is their main need. The health and wellbeing of all is our main concern at this time and school work is secondary and must not become a cause of worry.Remember everyone is in the same boat and teachers will resume work with their class from where they stopped.Children are resilient and they will bounce back.  

However, we can support you in supporting your child’s learning at home in as far as is possible. You cannot replicate the classroom setting at home but you can encourage your child/children to engage with some learning each day.    

Teachers have uploaded work on the website that you might find useful for your child for the coming week. Please view this as a guideline to what could be done and dip into it as suits your child. Indeed some girls may still be working on the work given out by teachers on 12th March and in that case just continue on. While we would encourage everyone to engage with some learning at this time we understand that circumstances differ from household to household.  Howevera little structure is important and we would like pupils to keep contact with school work however small. Doing a little every day is good enough in these exceptional and challenging times.

Encourage the girls to READ, READ, READ and ensure that they get some exercise every day. Children learn differently and there is a multitude of ways to engage them in gardening, housework, baking, art, drawing, knitting, lego, board games, playing cards etc. Remember to look at where you live, look at what you have and use it to your advantage. Not all learning comes from a book!! Also it might be worth tuning in to RTE as they begin children’s lessons this week (11am to 12pm). Finally there are lots of links here on website that areexcellent for engaging and interesting ideas.

Should the closure continue beyond the 20th April then suggested updated work will be uploaded each Sunday night for as long as is needed.

Take care everybody.  I can’t wait to see have everyone back in school safe and sound!!.

With all good wishes,

Mary Andrews