Dear Student,

I hope you had a good break, enjoyed the sunshine and are somewhat rested and ready to go in our new strange reality of distance learning for another term.

Over the past few weeks there have been highs and lows amongst our teachers and students, and for any who have suffered loss and bereavement of friends or family, we extend our thoughts and prayers to you, and want you to know that Ms McBride and I are here to help and support in any way we can. Just email us at [email protected] anytime.

To Ms Durkan, Mr O’Connell and their families we extend our congratulations on the arrival of their new babies. We wish them well.

Over the past few weeks a few things have happened in our school;

• We distributed all available PPE to local GPs and pharmacies, and with Cian’s help wiped and decommissioned 4 older ipads in the school, and with the help of Trim gardaí delivered them to the Neonatal Care Unit of the Rotunda hospital so that parents could remotely see their precious babies, as they cannot go in to visit at present.
• In addition to this over the coming week, we are hoping to commence producing shields/masks for distribution to local nursing homes. This project is in conjunction with Zurich Insurance who are supplying the materials and our practical teachers will use the equipment in the school to produce them. So all together we are working away to make a difference in our community.

Over the next week we will recommence our classes via distance learning. While we had great engagement by a large number of students before the holidays there were a few who were not engaging. We know also that it will be hard for you to get back into the routine of class work, but we strongly encourage you to do so right from the beginning.

• Teachers will be marking attendance for their online classes, and will be keeping a close record of work being submitted.
• They will be recording if work is not received on eportal.
• We will be asking Ms Calvey and Ms McGrath to check in by phone with families if we are not hearing from you.

You may be wondering why bother? You need to do this so that you will get the opportunity to complete as much of this year’s work as possible, so that you will be ready and able to move forward into the next academic year. You need to do this for YOU.

While we have been advised that the Junior Certificate state examination in June is cancelled, the Minister has advised that there will be class based assessments of work for JC students later in the year. You need to be online and learning now, if you are to be successful in that.

I attach a link here for Leaving Cert students information a link to the Minister’s announcement about the Leaving Certificate https://www.education.ie/en/Press-Events/Press-Releases/2020-press-releases/PR20-04-10.html you will see at the end of that press release there is a FAQs document which may be of some help also. The Department of Education and all the partners in education are meeting and working out how that will work. When we are advised we will share that information with you.

For Leaving Cert students there will be a lot of uncertainty about college, admission, susi, apprenticeships etc. While Ms Durkan is on leave and will not be available to answer your queries, we have engaged another guidance teacher who will be available to our Leaving Cert Students at set times online over the coming week and weeks ahead. We will write to you with more information about that soon.

If you are feeling stressed, depressed or having difficulty around the Leaving Certificate please write confidentially to Ms McBride or I at [email protected] and we can organise for you to have a meeting with the school counsellor (Kate) via phone with your parents agreement. We are here to help, and continue to care deeply for you, even if it is from a distance.

Finally, before we sign off and wish you well for the next term, can we reiterate our wish that you continue to engage with us online on a regular basis. We are here to teach you, support you and get you safely through this difficult period. We wish you and your family ongoing safety and good health of both mind and body in the challenging term ahead.

Best wishes and Kind regards

Ms McBride and Ms Deegan