Category Archives: Covid 19 School Updates

Welcome back everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely week off and that you are all keeping well and safe.

This morning we start back on Seesaw. We would encourage you to get involved as much as you can. If you weren’t engaging as much as you could before the midterm break, use this as an opportunity to start fresh and get back on track.

There has been a lot of talk in the media about schools reopening over the next few weeks. We have not been told anything official yet but be assured we will let you know as soon as guidelines are issued to us.

Looking forward to lots of engagement online over the next few weeks,

Best wishes,

Mr Cronin

January 2021 Covid letter

11^th of January, 2021.

Dear families,

With the news that schools are going to be closed for another while, we are anxious that we need to continue with teaching and learning in St. James’s Primary School. We also want to keep the connection between home and school. This pack aims to let you know how we will be interacting with you and your child(ren) for the coming weeks.

Seesaw

Seesaw is the app that we will use for school work. Your children will be familiar with it. Each day your child’s teacher will assign 3 tasks for your child. There will be descriptions and tutorials included to make the learning as independent as possible for your child. Your child’s login details were sent out earlier in the school year. If you have misplaced the password, please contact the school by emailing: info@saintjamessps.com

When your child is doing their Seesaw activities, it is important that they take their time and only respond to the activity in the way that the teacher has asked.

Zoom

Your child’s teacher may organise Zoom video calls with the class or groups within the class. These will be pre-arranged and the teacher will email you with the arrangements. The purpose of these calls is to check in with the pupils and to create the social links which are very important to children. Before Zoom calls take place, please ensure you have read the following guidelines.

1. Set up the device in a quiet space with no distractions or family members in the background.
2. Join the class with your microphone muted.
3. Raise your hand before speaking, just like you would do in class.
4. Kind words to be spoken at all times.
5. Speak in your normal speaking voice. No shouting.
6. Listen to and respect others when they are speaking.

How do I contact the class teacher?

As we will not be in the school building, you can contact the class teacher on their school email addresses below. Please be patient with regards to responses. Our teaching staff will be working during normal school hours, but this may change due to the family commitments of teachers and staff also. The class teacher may also contact you through email or by phone.

When will the children’s work be available?

The work will be posted from 9.30am onwards. There is no time limit on the lessons to allow the family flexibility, particularly where parents may be working from home and where there are multiple pupils in one household. We hope that the children would be able to engage in some way each day.

How could I organise the day for my child?

The best thing you can do is set up a routine from the beginning and stick to it. A normal school day sticks to routines and the children would adapt to a set routine. Involve them in deciding the timetable for the day. Below is a sample of a routine:

I don’t have enough devices for all of my children!

Please don’t worry. The children can login at different times during the day so maybe they could share the device around. Older children can even get involved with helping their younger siblings. If you are having issues with devices, please contact us as soon as possible.

Will the school office be open?

The school office will not be operating with normal times for the next few weeks. The best mode of communication is through the school email address info@saintjamessps.com

Any other questions?

If you have any other questions or have any personal circumstances that we may need to know about, please contact us. Similarly, if you are in need of materials (pencil, pen, paper etc.) or are having any other difficulties, please get in contact. We want all children to access education during this time. You can contact me through the school email address at info@saintjamessps.com  you can also contact Ms Dodrill our Home School Community Liaison at hscl@saintjamessps.com

We all have our own personal circumstances which can impact on our wellbeing during this time. First and foremost, look after yourself and your families. The same message has been relayed to the staff. This is going to be a difficult time for everyone, involving long days, early mornings and late nights. The best thing we can do is keep the lines of communication open as much as possible and set expectations for ourselves which are achievable and realistic. All we can all do is try our best and give it our best shot.

Best wishes and take care

Mr Cronin

Further Suggested Activities

*Marks activities that could be done independently by your child.

English

Maths

Irish

Other activities that your child could engage with:

– Wellbeing booklet

– *Artwork

– *Creating video tutorials

– Photography

– Learn how to make your own lunch/bed

– Complete a project on an interesting topic

– Life Skills: Allow your child the opportunity to do chores, make food, dress beds etc. Develop their independence skills.

Welcome to our blue room!

When your child is unwell in school they are taken to the blue room while they wait for an adult to come and collect them. These are guidelines that were given to every school in the country by the Department of Education and Skills.

These are pictures to show your child so they know what will happen if they get sick:

Below is the list of what class lines up on what snake and at what time. We have painted dots on the snakes one metre apart for children to stand on.

Please remember that siblings come to school at the same time as the eldest sibling. Junior and Senior Infants finish at 1.25pm. Siblings from 1st Class up can leave at the same time as the eldest sibling.

Start: 8.45am

Home time: 1.25pm

Red – Junior Infants, Ms. Kealy *

Dark Blue – Junior Infants, Ms. Feehily *

Yellow – Senior Infants, Ms. Flannery

Light Blue – Senior Infants, Ms. Tobin

*For the first week Junior Infants will be in from 10am-12pm.

__________________________________________________________________________

Start: 9.00

Home time: 2.10pm

Red – 1st Class, Ms. Fisher

Dark Blue – 1st Class, Ms. Bell

Yellow – 2nd Class, Ms. Gallagher

Light Blue – 2nd Class, Ms. Hurley

__________________________________________________________________________

Start: 9.15am

Home time: 2.20pm

Red – 3rd Class, Ms. Atkinson

Dark Blue – 3rd Class, Ms Clarke

Yellow – 4th Class, Ms. Shackleton

Light Blue – 4th Class, Ms. O’ Neill

__________________________________________________________________________

Start: 9.30am

Home time: 2.30pm

Red – 5th Class, Ms. Breen

Dark Blue – 5th Class, Mr. Cushen

Yellow – 6th Class, Ms. Larkin

Light Blue – 6th Class, Ms. Dodrill

We would ask that parents DO NOT cross the double red line or enter the school. Don’t forget to wear a mask when dropping and collecting your child from school. Please also read the following if you have not already.

The staff of Saint James’s Primary School have been working extremely hard this past week to get the school ready for the return of our wonderful pupils. We hope that you can show this post to your son or daughter to show them what school will look like when they return!

Coming to school in the morning time:

Firstly, we have painted these lovely snakes on the ground for our children to line up on. You have been sent a text with what time and what colour your child needs to line up on. We would ask that parents DO NOT cross the red line in the picture. There will be teachers there if you have any messages to pass on but for now no parents will be allowed to enter the school without making an appointment.

                                 Entering the school:

As you can see inside the school looks a little bit different. Natasha and Pauline’s desk has perspex on it and the floors now have tape and arrows to show you which direction to walk. We will all stay on the left when going to and coming from class.

Entering your classroom:

There is now a hand sanitiser station at the entrance to every class and toilet in the school. Pupils will be asked to sanitise their hands when entering and leaving each area. This is extremely important and everyone will need to be very patient to make sure everyone can clean their hands.

                                  What classrooms will look like:

We have organised each classroom into “pods”. A “pod” is a group that a child will sit with. We have made sure that where possible each pod is one metre away from the next pod. We will also ask children to stay inside the yellow tape and not to share anything with children in other pods.

                       Other things you might see around the school:

These stickers will also be around the school. They are reminders to keep our distance from each other and to stay as safe as possible.

We are really looking forward to our pupils coming back on Monday the 7th and we hope that these pictures will help calm any nerves or fears that any pupils may have. It will be the same school just a little bit different as we all want to keep safe.

The following documents are more information for parents on safely returning to school:

Advice for parents EN

Information from HSE for parents

Please  read the following policies on re-opening schools.

The government’s roadmap:

Roadmap for School Reopening 27 July 2020

Our school’s policy:

St.James’s Covid 19 Policy Statement

Please take a moment to look at the school calendar for the upcoming school year.

Parent Calendar 2020-2021 PDF

Congratulations to all the boys and girls who graduated from our school today. It is only goodbye for now as I am sure you will all come back to visit when things are back to normal! Enjoy your day and well done guys!!

This week is Wellbeing Week! We want you to take photographs of your favourite wellbeing activities. Enjoy the week & we can’t wait to see what you get up to!