Good morning. We made it!
Wishing you all a wonderful mid-term break. I look forward to working with you again from 22nd February.
Caitriona.


End of this half term
5 weeks of distance learning, a whole half term. Well done to all!
Well done to parents - you supported your children through Seesaw, Zoom, workbooks, activities and more. We know it hasn’t been an easy 5 weeks. You did really well. Thank you.
Well done to our children who adapted and learned and engaged and did super work.
And particularly, thank you to our school staff who again flipped their teaching and supporting methodologies and learned how to teach remotely, recorded videos and voice clips, hosted Zoom calls and made phone calls, created accessible lessons for Seesaw and wrote mid-year progress reports on top of it all. 
Particular thanks to Sarah C and Emma G who organised Environmental Awareness Fortnight for us all. We hope you enjoyed it. Take a look at some of the great engagement we’ve had - in the junior end and in the senior end.
What a great community we are. Thank you, one and all.


Mid-term break
If we were in the building today, we would be marking the end of the half term. It would be easy for the children to know that school is now finished and there won’t be school again for over a week.
I encourage you to do similar with your children today. Coming back to “class” on 22nd February will be somewhat easier if the boundaries of “school” and “holidays” have been clearly set. Pack the books and pencil cases away, close the Seesaw tab, announce the mid-term with some sort of a “Ta-da!”, be that a walk outside, a treat after dinner, a shout of “Hurrah!” or whatever works for your family. It is important for our brains to get that message in more than just plain words. Enjoy the celebration!


Next half term
There are a few changes coming in the next half term. First of all, we have 12 children and 10 staff members returning to the building on 22nd February for the reopening of special classes, the first phase of the partial return to school. We look forward to seeing the children and hope they enjoy being back in school.
Secondly, there will be the roll-out of the Department of Education’s supplementary programme for children in mainstream classes with additional needs. This is a home-based programme organised by parents with the support of the school. We will be sending information to parents of eligible children later today.
In the next half term, we will also be reviewing support plans for those children in mainstream classes who have support plans. We hope to work with parents in planning which objectives can be progressed during distance learning and which can be progressed when the children return to the building.
We will also have Seachtain na Gaeilge in early March, which Sharon, Stephanie and Trisha are busy organising for us.
We don’t know when more children are to be brought back into the building or whether that will be on a phased basis. Media reports around this are unhelpful and likely to raise false hope a number of times before they get it right. I encourage you to take them with a pinch of salt and to wait for a confirmed announcement before making plans.


News from around the school:

• Read the agreed reports from our Board of Management meetings
  
• 4th class have been learning about Children’s Rights
  
• 3rd class wrote wonderful Winter Poems
  
• 2nd class have been making beautiful Art at home
  
• Sarah C’s class Term 1 summed up
  
• Junior Infants learn animal facts - you might learn something here yourself!
  

Welcome back to the second half term!
We were very excited to see all of the children this morning and we are looking forward to a great half term.


Homework
We have now finished our competency-building phase for distance learning. We believe that everyone is set up and ready, should we need to move to distance learning. From this point, each teacher will set homework in their own way. Some will use Seesaw. Some will use Google Classroom. Some will use neither. Our skills page remains live on our website. Please feel free to use it at any stage, particularly if you think you and/or your child would find it difficult to switch to distance learning - let's get these difficulties sorted now, as a kindness to our future selves!


Covid positive, restricting movement or self isolation
Please let us know if someone in your home tests positive for Covid. The public health teams are very stretched and it is taking a few days for them to get through the contact tracing process. It would be super if we could do as we did before the mid-term break and let people know earlier.
If your child is restricting movement or self isolating, please send a screenshot of the test appointment to us via email so that we can record the absence accordingly. Starting next week, we will also send you some suggested activities for your child for their time at home.
If your child is absent for any reason, please let us know why. You can do that by completing the relevant line in the attendance section of the Aladdin app if you have the app.


Junior Infants
We are very proud of our Junior Infants pupils and of how they got on following the positive Covid result in their year group. The HSE identified 36 close contacts in the school. While we have heard from many parents that their child's test result came back as not showing Covid, we did not hear from anyone where the test result was positive. This is very encouraging for us. Of all classes, Junior Infants in their first term of school is the most difficult place to maintain distancing and sanitising procedures. That they got through this without spreading the virus is very encouraging that our measures are strong and working.
Junior Infants worked very well in the last week before mid-term, with some in school and some at home. If Junior Infants parents have any feedback on your experience e.g. what was great and should definitely be kept or what didn't work so well and you'd like to see reviewed, please respond to this email to let us know. We will be holding our review on Wednesday and would be glad of feedback before then.


Our focus this month
Our value this month is Caring. Keep an eye on our News page, where you can read each week about children nominated for the Golden Book thanks to their caring acts.
Our fundamental movement skill this month is Running. You can see posters for the fundamental movement skills here. It would be great if you practiced running (with good form, as shown on the poster!) outside of school.


Have a great week!
Caitriona.

Dear parents and guardians,
I am writing to you to forward correspondence from two groups - our PA and Kildare Education Centre (KEC).
Please find information attached on courses KEC have lined up for parents to help you with the various apps and platforms that children are using this year.
Please see message from Jessica, Chairperson of our PA, below.
Many thanks,
Caitriona.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Parents Association AGM

Join us at 8pm on Tuesday November 3rd for the AGM of the Parents Association. As this meeting will be short we will run straight into the next meeting of the Parents Association also.

Topics to be discussed on the night include:
- How our community can support others
- Creative Fortnight
- Collaboration with Students Council
- PA Communications

We were delighted that so many joined us for our first meeting & we look forward to meeting with you again!

Thanks so much,
Jessica

Dear parents and guardians,
Thank you so much for your wonderful support during this unprecedented half term. It was unusual and difficult but made so much easier by the wonderful teamwork displayed by our community. Thank you for your efforts and your hard work. We look forward to another successful half term after the break.


If your child tests positive for covid-19 over the mid-term break
If your child tests positive for Covid-19 over the mid-term break, please reply to this email to let us know.
While we are all taking a break next week, we will have someone check this account each day, just for reports of positive Covid-19 test results. This is so that we can notify others in our community who may be a close contact so that they can restrict their movement. We feel that this is an important action in preventing further spread of Covid-19. 
Emails on other topics will be addressed when we return after the break.


What have we been getting up to?

• Callie's award-winning portrait of her teacher is gifted to the school
• Student Council find their groove
• Listen to podcasts from Stephen's 6th class 
• Autumn art in Aoife T's 6th class and in Emer's 1st class
• Trisha's 5th class make Greek-style vases
• What's the matter in Martha's 3rd class?
• Autumn inspiration in Lisa's 2nd class
• Sarah C's 1st class do outdoor art
• Deirdre's Senior Infants learn about the post office
• Sarah L's Junior Infants write positive affirmations
• It's Halloween in Claire's class

Wishing you all a safe and healthy mid-term break.
See you all on Monday 2nd November.
Caitriona.

Good morning.
I note the announcement by the Departments of Agriculture and Education late last night about the recall of hand sanitiser distributed to some schools via the Department of Education procurement process and the decision by the Department of Education that affected schools can close today.

Thankfully, when the procurement process for such products for schools opened this summer, we decided to stick with the supplier who has always looked after us. Our Board of Management has always been clear that it is a priority for us to buy Irish, shop local, support jobs in the locality and keep small businesses going where this does not compromise the school. WipeOut, based in Dublin 24, has taken good care of our school since our early days when our invoice was not worth much. They give us products of a high quality, supply and fit dispensers free of charge and are prompt with delivery.

They set us up with dozens of hand sanitiser dispensers plus additional soap and hand towel dispensers during the summer and kept supply of products coming to us when there was a shortage in the country. We are more than happy with their service and saw no reason to change supplier this summer.
Therefore, it is with relief that I let you know that we do not have the recalled product in our school and we will be open today.

Have a good day.
Caitriona.

Dear parent or guardian,
This is in relation to the confirmed case of Covid-19 in our community that we notified you about on Thursday.

The HSE sent the following text to be forwarded to our school community:
A confirmed case of COVID-19 in Citywest Educate Together National School has been notified to the Department of Public Health HSE East.
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A public health risk assessment has been undertaken and the parents of any children and any staff deemed to be close contacts of the confirmed case are being contacted and advised accordingly. If your child is not identified as a close contact, your child does not need a test for COVID-19, they can continue to attend school, and no further actions are required at this time.

While your child has not been deemed a close contact, If your child develops any symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 infection (such as a cough, a fever, loss or change in sense of taste or smell), please do not send your child to school, contact your GP and begin restricting your child’s movements, as per public health advice.

Restricted movement means avoiding contact with other people and social situations as much as possible. It is also sometimes called ‘self-quarantine’.
Further information on COVID-19 is available at: www.hpsc.ie and www.gov.ie

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning.
Kind regards,
Caitriona Hand, 
Principal.

Hello everyone.
I hope you are all well.


Traffic lights just outside the campus
We have no update about when these will go live. If you and/or your children need to turn left after walking out the gate, best to cross at the pedestrian crossing inside the gate. I know this means there is two-way pedestrian traffic on the path but that is better than crossing the road without a safe place to do that.


Reminders for parents on the campus
Some parents in the junior end of the school have reported difficulties finding a place to drop off their children as other cars are parked for the full 10 minutes of junior school drop-off. 
If you do bring your car onto the campus at this time, please use the spot for the minimum time needed to get your child(ren) safely to school. Those with children in both junior and senior end of the school should not park and wait. Arriving after 8.30 means that both sets of children can be sent in during a short period of time. We know it's hard to judge the timing, especially if you are travelling a distance. If you arrive to the area early, I suggest that find a spot off campus to wait.
We have seen a little complacency with parents standing to chat with one another on the campus. We know that everyone is missing social interaction but we must stay focused. Please don't stand for a chat between parents on the campus. You can walk and talk, appropriately distanced, or share phone numbers so that you can chat over the phone.
When children see adults following the procedures and being cautious, that sends them a clear and strong message and makes it easier for them to follow guidelines also.


What's going on?

• Reminder about wearing costumes at school - this post was written in 2017 and is mostly still relevant. Of course, masks in that context refers to dress-up masks that cover the whole face rather than the masks we are all used to wearing now!
• New poster from our Parents Association
• Golden Book nominations for 9th October
• Student Council host their first meeting
• Artistic traits in Stephanie's 5th class
• Aoife's 4th class have been busy with weeding raised beds, time and student government!
• Dán álainn ó Rang Martha (Rang a Trí)
• Golden Time fun in Andrea's 2nd class
• Snails and slugs in Lisa's 2nd class
• There's a bakery in Laura's Senior Infants class!
• Éist le amhrán ó Naíonáin Shinsearacha Rang Deirdre
• Ruth M's Junior Infants and Sarah's Junior Infants run The Daily Mile and think about our Earth
• Claire's class have been busy learning how to cycle, shopping in Dunnes, working their muscles, doing Maths and following the story of Pete the Cat.

      

Good evening.
So, as expected, we'll be back in school tomorrow.
As I wrote earlier, our whole community has been wonderful at following all the covid-related measures and we have not seen complacency in any group.


Commitment from school staff
Within the school, we have resolved to continue like this for the foreseeable. In particular:

• We will continue to keep windows open in each room at all times.
• We will continue to go outside at yard time, regardless of weather.
• We will continue to allocate outdoor time for each class every day. Use of that time is at the teacher's discretion.
• We will continue to clean high-touch points in each classroom three times every day.
• We will continue to be vigilant for covid symptoms and continue to isolate and send home any person with symptoms. After being sent home, children and staff may only re-enter the school building 48 hours after their last symptom has passed and medical advice has been sought and followed.

Commitment from community
We ask you to continue with the measures you are undertaking on the school campus:

• Wear a mask.
• Keep your distance.
• Limit your time on campus.
• Keep moving; don't stop to chat or wait for someone - if you have time on campus, walk around the car park, following the one-way system.

Outside of the school campus:

• Reduce your contacts and those of your children e.g. choose one outside-of-school friend for each child to play with rather than letting them play with different children each day.
• Limit your time with other people and meet them outdoors if possible.
• Wear a mask, maintain distance, follow sneezing and coughing etiquette; remind others of these too.

Add a layer to the children's clothing
As the weeks go on, it is getting colder and classrooms will be colder than usual as we keep windows open.
We highly recommend that children wear an extra layer. It can be thermal underwear or simply a vest or t-shirt and tights under their clothes.


Morning arrival for senior classes
The children are great at keeping moving if they arrive early. They walk the loop of the car park, keeping moving, which is to be commended.
Unfortunately, it has become a social event and we now have dozens of children doing this. In the current context, it would be better to reduce this number.
If you only have child(ren) in the senior end of the school, please do not allow your child to enter the campus before 8.35am.


One-way system
This is one area where there does seem to be a little complacency.
Please follow the one-way system as you walk around the school.
If you meet someone going the wrong way, kindly remind them of the one-way system, asking them to turn around and follow the route.
It is never ok to walk across the car park. This is very dangerous. When children see adults do this, they are tempted to do it too and they are much more vulnerable doing it than you are.
It takes, at most, one extra minute to walk around by the path. Please do that.


School books and copies
We will take these back out of the bags tomorrow. Should we get a feeling in the future that there might be an announcement about school closures, we will pop the books and copies into the school bags. Again, do not touch them or allow them to be taken out of school bags at home.


I look forward to seeing the children again tomorrow.
Stay safe,
Caitriona.

Dear parents and guardians,
As our government considers the latest NPHET recommendation that the country is moved to Level 5 restrictions, we are ensuring that we are ready for whatever is announced, whenever that is announced.
As a school, we have been given no indication of what that will be or what it will mean for schools. We have considered 4 scenarios and have plans for each scenario. Once a decision is announced, I will email you about the implications of that decision for our school and for your child.


School books going home today
On the off-chance that the announcement is that schools in this area will be closed, we are putting books and copies in the children's bags today.
Please do not touch them. Please do not allow your child to take them out of their bag. Please ignore them altogether.
We expect to be back in school tomorrow. In that case, every touch of every book increases the risk inside the school. Please take care of others in our community by adhering to this request.
We know that this increases the weight in the school bag and we do not intend for books to stay in bags long-term. This measure is just until our government gives a clear decision on schools this week.


In the event of closure
If it is announced that schools are closed, do not allow your child to write in their books and copies. Teachers have plans for the use of the books and it will not be helpful to have pages already completed before the lessons connected to them take place. 


Maintain calm
I know that this is an uncertain time and that we as adults may be stressed and worried. Please take the time while your child is at school to sit with and process any stress, worry or anxiety you may have.
Our children need and deserve for us adults to be the rock that they can lean on. These worries are adult worries, not children worries. 
They have worries of their own. It is much easier for us to be open to them sharing their worries and for them to do that sharing if they see us as calm, unruffled and in control.
Please gift yourself some time today so that you can pass on that gift to your child(ren) after school.
The message we have given the children is that we are waiting for the Taoiseach to make a decision, that hopefully we will be in school together tomorrow but, if we're not, that's ok, you have your books and we will do distance learning. We were calm and upbeat with the children, down-playing any decision that may be coming. I hope that you will join us in that message.


As a community, I am so proud of what we have achieved to date. We will continue to achieve great things together, whatever will come.
I know that our Parents Association have been a wonderful help to parents over the last few months and that you are supporting each other. Please continue to do that.
I will write again after the government announcement, whenever that may be.
All the best,
Caitriona.

Good morning!


Homework
Homework continues to be preparation for Distance Learning. Continue with the Distance Learning skill you chose last week and continue to practice the daily activities. This week, the children will be practicing how to respond using Drawing - text box. Look through the slides on Seesaw that teach how to do that. Time spent on this on Monday and Tuesday will help your child become independent at it from then on.
Now is not the time to sit with any difficulty. If you or your child is finding anything about this challenging, let your child's teacher know. It is much easier to fix this now than it will be when everyone is at home.


Admissions for September 2021
Admissions for the 2021/22 school year opened last Thursday and remain open. If you have a child who you would like to start school next year and you did not previously pre-enrol them, you should complete a pre-enrolment form before 31st January 2021. If you did previously pre-enrol them, please respond to my email of last week about this as soon as possible.


Car park
We are very worried to hear from parents about unsafe practices in the car park. As our community have pulled together so well in every other aspect of reopening, we (school management and Parents Association) are asking every parent to reflect on your practices in the car park and to do the right thing, even if it takes a little longer:

• NEVER stop on a pedestrian crossing
• DO NOT park on a path
• DO NOT let children out in the driving lane - you must pull over into a Set Down spot
• ABSOLUTELY DO NOT let your child out at the corner just before the pedestrian crossing nearest the front door of the school
• ALWAYS stop and double-check for pedestrians at pedestrian crossings
• ALWAYS reduce your speed when on the school campus

Read all about it

• A special school assembly
• Our new Student Council
• An historic day
• Meeting our inspector
• Orla's class have completed one month of school!
• New wheels in Claire's class
• Sarah L's Junior Infants love to read
• Ruth McEvoy's Junior Infants go for a walk
• Laura's Senior Infants talk about feelings
• Eist le Rang Deirdre ag canadh amhrain alainn
• Emer's 1st class love going outside
• Lisa's 2nd class run The Daily Mile
• Martha's 3rd class study Roy Lichtenstein's artwork
• Aoife B's 4th class hold an outdoor debate and create their own timeline
• Sarah OT's 4th class enjoy PE

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