25th February 2021

Dear Parents/Guardians
It gives me great pleasure to officially inform you of the re-opening of our school doors to all classes in our school. The Taoiseach announced this week that a gradual reopening of schools will begin next Monday, 1st March 2021. This gradual re-opening is broken down into two phases, on the 1st March 2021 Junior Infants, Senior Infants, 1st and 2nd classes will return and, on the 15th March 2021, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th classes will return. Our staff are very much looking forward to being back in the classroom again and engaging with their students in a face- to-face context.

Like before, to facilitate a staggered arrival, children can arrive between 9.10am and 9.25am each morning, using the entrances Zones that your child used before lockdown.

We must redouble our efforts to keep our school safe. During lockdown, we fitted new ventilation systems in each classroom to improve the safety of all. I appeal to you that parents/guardians do not enter the school grounds and that groups of parents do not congregate at the school gate or carpark. As much as we would all love to say hello and have a chat, your continuing efforts to be disciplined and “drop and go” will help to keep our school safe and open.

Please cooperate with our staff who will be on hand to help. We need to continue to be extremely cautious with this disease, especially with the new variants. If your child is ill or has any Covid 19 symptoms, please do not send him/her to school. Keep your child at home and seek your GP’s advice. If your child has been abroad, do not send your child back to school until he/she has completed the full quarantine period. We are currently updating our Covid 19 Response Plan, and this will be found on the school website over the coming days where you will find further details. As per this plan, if children display Covid 19 symptoms, we will continue our practice to isolate these children and we will call you to take them home. Please be patient with us. We do not do this lightly. We do this to keep everyone safe and our school open.

You will be required to complete a “Return to Educational Facility Declaration” before your child can enter the school. This form will be available on our website in the Blog section. This form must be completed and returned with your child on the first day back.

To comply with quarantine practices, I would ask that all books and materials for school are wiped with disinfectant spray or wipes and are zipped into your child’s bag this Friday in preparation for use on Monday 1st March 2021. The school will also operate an enhanced cleaning schedule throughout the school day. The children will be supervised sanitising their hands the moment they enter the school building.

Returning to school is a hugely important step for our students. While they may be excited to see their teacher and all their friends again, I am sure that for some, it may be a time of heightened anxiety. Please see the short video clip https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/a04fc-advice-for-students-andtheir-families/#back-toschool-advice which explains to children what to expect on their return to school.

I very much look forward to welcoming the children back and seeing their friendly smiling faces properly. I would like to thank you, most sincerely for your dedication, cooperation and understanding to the school staff over the last two months. Without this positive and supportive home-school link, we would not have been able to achieve what we have. Many thanks

Yours sincerely,
Mrs Martine Doherty

Principal

Link to Letter: Letter to Parents 25th Feb 2021