General

Christmas is upon us and it is the season to be merry. The children have been practicing some Christmas tunes and songs recently and we hope to record these in a ‘socially-distanced’ manner over the coming week. Teachers will inform each class individually of the arrangements.

All pupils are presently taking part in a ‘Leg it to Lapland’ challenge where we collectively walk/run the 4,070 km distance to Lapland. The challenge is going well; we have 3,052 km covered to date, and we hope to finish the challenge before the holidays.

We will hold a Christmas Draw in the school on Friday, 18^th December. Tickets are €2 each or three for €5. Prizes include a Christmas Hamper, a Christmas Cake etc. You may send the money in on any day during the week, if you so wish.

Christmas Annuals for the pupils are available to purchase from the class teacher, if you so wish. They are €2 each.

We are scheduled to close at 12 noon on Tuesday, 22^nd December and to re-open on Wednesday, 6^th January 2021.

I wish to inform you that Master O Donnell has recently been appointed as Deputy Principal and we wish him well in the post. Every Principal needs a good carer!

Finally, I wish to thank you all for your co-operation in relation to Covid issues over the term. It has been greatly appreciated and has contributed greatly to the wellbeing of all.

Take care,

Yours sincerely,

John Devenney.

Dear Parent/ Guardian,

I would like to update you on a few school related issues. The pupils appear well settled and, despite Covid restrictions, are working well at school. We normally hold face-to-face Parent-Teacher meetings at this time of year. You will appreciate that we are unable to meet as before but we propose to host telephone calls with parents over the coming weeks. Your child’s class teacher will be in contact to arrange this over the coming weeks. We remain available to chat to you if you have any concerns or queries at any time. The best way to do this is to phone the School Office in advance and, to avoid disruption to teaching time, the class teacher or Principal Teacher will return a call at a later stage.

We also request that the School Office is contacted if you are to collect your child early for an appointment and we will bring your child to the gate. We are unfortunately not accepting unplanned School Visitors at this stage. We also ask that you contact us at the earliest opportunity if you have any Covid concerns that may impact on our school community.

We have a pupil with a nut allergy in our school. Parents and pupils in the individual class have been notified but, in order to minimise the health risk, we respectfully request a whole school approach in this regard. Therefore, we request that nuts and all associated products do not part of your child’s lunch. We have also been informed that there has been a recent case of head lice in the school community and we ask that you monitor your child/children’s hair for unwelcome visitors regularly over the coming months and, if necessary, to treat accordingly.

Our Christmas Show will be quite different this year. Unfortunately, there will be no in-school concert but Christmas preparations are certainly going ahead. Carols, tin whistles, fiddles and accordions were heard in the school corridors earlier this week and we will be in touch in December regarding our Christmas arrangements.

Yours sincerely,

John Devenney.

September/ October Newsletter

We’ve reached the last day of September and our pupils and staff are adapting well to the new norms. The pupils have settled quickly into a school routine and even seem to be enjoying the return to school! We were fortunate to host our First Communion Day before the Level 3 restrictions came into place and we felt that both ceremonies were lovely events. Many thanks to everyone who helped organise the event and a special word of thanks to the Communicants who seemed to have a great day.

We appreciate your support and co-operation to date in these challenging times. Fortunately, we have had no confirmed cases thus far of Covid among pupils or staff. However, in preparation for such an eventuality, I have posted a note on how the school proposes to deal with such instances (see separate post on School News below) and it is in everybody’s interests to alert us at the earliest opportunity of any Covid concerns you may have. I also appreciate that many of you are keeping your children off school if they have minor coughs, head colds etc and we are grateful to you for this. This is leading to an increase in staff sending homework via email and we would be grateful if you could forward an e-mail to us that could be used for home-school communication or future Learning from Home communications in the event of an unexpected School Closure . We would appreciate if you sent this info to us at kilmacrennanschool@eircom.net by Tuesday, 6^th October. Please let us know if you have updated your mobile contact numbers.

We kindly request that any outstanding fees owed for the School Book Rental are paid as soon as possible. We provide all School Books for Junior and Senior Infants at a cost of €60 per child and we operate a School Book Rental system for Third to Sixth Classes at a cost of €35 per child (family maximum of €60). This fee includes art and photocopying expenses etc.

We request that names are refreshed regularly on all school items
such as lunchboxes, school jumpers, coats and stationery and, in fairness to
all, that pupils maintain Healthy Lunches. We request that you do not provide
sweets, crisps, chocolate, fizzy drinks, glass bottles etc. Please check our
School Lunch Policy for further details.

We wish to remind you that the School Car-Park is for Staff and School Buses only. The car-park is somewhat busier as we now have a second school bus on the school
grounds each day and we request your co-operation in this regard.

We hope that you appreciate that we are unable to meet with parents
in face-to-face meetings as before but we remain available to chat to you if
you have any concerns or queries. The best way to do this is to phone the
School Office in advance and, to avoid disruption to teaching time, the class
teacher or Principal Teacher will return a call at a later stage. We also
request that the School Office is contacted if you are to collect your child
early for an appointment and we will bring your child to the gate. We are
unfortunately not accepting unplanned School Visitors at this stage.

Please feel to contact me if you have any queries,

Yours sincerely,

John Devenney.

Dear Pupils & Parents
Our return to school is quite close now. All pupils will return on Wednesday, 26th August and we are looking forward to seeing you all. However, in order to comply with Covid guidelines, we will introduce a number of changes to our practices.
Segregated arrival of pupils
Pupils in Junior Infants, Senior Infants, Third and Fourth Class are to enter the school grounds through the Lower Gate.
All other pupils are to enter via the Main Gate.
In order to facilitate an easier transition for our new Junior Infants, we request that they arrive at 9.30am for the first week. The class teacher will welcome and collect the pupils at the school gate. The Junior Infant classes will end at 12 noon until Friday, September 4th and at 2pm daily from Monday, 7th September onwards.
There will be no pre-school play in the morning and pupils from individual classes will be directed to a specific yard zone upon their arrival at school. No footballs or play equipment is to be brought to the school by pupils. The school will provide any necessary equipment.
Sanitising/ Hygiene
We will use all three entrance doors at the front of the building for entry and exit purposes. There will be sanitising stations at these points. There will be further sanitising points at entry to classrooms and for classroom toilets.
Pupils are also encouraged to bring a labelled zipped toiletry bag to school, each containing personal hand sanitiser and hand towel.
The school has made arrangements for an enhanced cleaning regime.
Staggered breaks
We will introduce staggered breaks, with pupils from Junior Infants to Second Class on break from 10.45am until 11am, and from 12.15 until 12.45pm.
Pupils from Third Class to Sixth Class will have breaks from 11am-11.15am, and from 12.45 until 1.15pm.
Different classes will have different yard zones.
Parental Contact
Any parental contact with the school will be via telephone contact with the School Office.
Parents are not to call to the school during the school day other than for pre-arranged pupil collections. Please appreciate that telephone calls with staff cannot be arranged during teaching time.
School Issues
We request that school books/ labelled stationery etc are brought to school on opening day, and are kept in school. School uniforms are to be worn daily. Class teachers will explain homework arrangements upon our return to school. As such, schoolbags should not be needed daily. Pupils will bring lunch boxes each day. We will operate our School Book Rental System as normal.
We will have eight individual class groups this year but one of these classes – First Class- will be housed in the School Library.
Classes will operate pods and we will seek to maximise distance between pupils.

Bus Issues We request that children who travel to school by bus adhere to best practice guidelines.

Medical Issues
It is important to keep your child at home if they are feeling unwell. If a pupil becomes unwell at school, we will inform parents. Your child will be supervised in an Isolation Area until he/she is collected.
Please inform the school if you feel your child falls into a Covid ‘Medically at Risk’ category and we will seek to accommodate any specific needs.
In the event of a family having returned home following a foreign holiday, please ensure that you follow any necessary quarantine requirements before a pupil returns to school.
The wearing of face masks is not obligatory for children. However, if a child wishes to wear one, then they may do so.
We feel that these changes are in the best interests of the safety and well being of our pupils, staff and wider community and we request your assistance in complying with them.

Please feel free to contact me at kilmacrennanschool@eircom.net
if you have any queries.
Many kind regards,
John Devenney.

Issued by the DES

Advice during COVID-19:

Back to school Advice for parents

Most students will be looking forward to going back to school and will feel happy and excited. Some may feel a little anxious about returning. That’s a normal response at a time of change. Most will settle back in soon once they get used to the new rules and routines. Remind them of the positive aspects of returning – like re-connecting with friends and re-engaging with school activities.

Coronavirus COVID-19 Public Health Advice

Everyone has been working very hard to ensure a safe reopening of schools for staff, students and their families.

New rules and routines to follow to keep everyone safe:

> Good handwashing and hygiene practice – important for all students. Make sure your child knows to use a tissue to cover coughs or sneezes or to cough or sneeze into their elbow.

> In senior primary classes and at post-primary – physical distancing procedures will need to be followed by all. > Primary school – younger children may not be required to practice physical distancing, but they may be organised into pods. There may also be new rules about drop off and pick up.

> Staff in all schools, and post-primary students, should wear a face covering where a physical distance of 2 metres cannot be maintained.

Advice during COVID-19: Back to school Advice for parents Coronavirus COVID-19 Public Health Advice

New rules and routines to follow to keep everyone safe: > Encourage your child to walk or cycle to school if possible and safe to do so.

> Teachers understand that it hasn’t been easy for young people to study at home during school closures. Remember, we all have a role to play in getting everyone back to school safely.

For more see gov.ie/backtoschool