A Thuismitheoirí, a chairde,
School Closure Update: At this moment we are still none the wiser as to when Irish schools will reopen. We are expecting another announcement from An Taoiseach this week and maybe we will be given an update at that point. As it stands we are remaining closed until further notice.
Schoolwork: We are all extremely impressed with the amount of work going on at home. 111 out of 112 of you have collected the work packs and are flying through the bits the teachers have assigned for the boys. Can I reiterate to please just have your children do what suits your family structure best. There is no pressure or expectancy on anyone to be getting everything done.
Next Steps:
1st, 2nd and 3rd Classes – On Sunday evening next, May 3rd, we will invite you once again to the school to update workpacks. For the Junior classes this will be to exchange English readers and to submit any work you would like corrected that you have not been able to submit on Google Classroom. Teachers will continue to assign work on Google Classroom as we go forward.
4th, 5th and 6th Classes – We appreciate that most of your children have all their schoolbooks by now and are regularly submitting work for correction on Google Classroom. Ms. Bergin would like to give 5th class their S.E.S.E books, these can be collected on Sunday, we will text you a time. For children in 4th and 6th there is no need for parents to come to school unless you would like to submit work for correction which you have been unable to do via Google Classroom and collect instructions for the coming fortnight. For those regularly engaging with Google Classroom teachers will continue to assign work through that platform.
Google Classroom: Thank you all so much to everyone that has embraced our new virtual classroom in the past 2 weeks. We are very happy with how it is going and we really enjoy having that ongoing connection with the boys. Please continue to engage to whatever level suits you best and keep sending in the photos, they are fantastic! If you haven’t signed up to Google Classroom and are interested in doing so just email me at principal@stcolmcillens.ie and I will assist you in whatever way I can. We have a limited number of laptops available for loan, if you would like to avail of this service please e-mail me to this effect. It will be necessary to sign a contract for the loan of the device, this will be arranged in due course.
A Puckaround With St.Colmcille’s
We are really missing our sport throughout this lockdown and this time of the year our classes would be busy playing hurling so if you haven’t seen by now we have a good fun challenge for you, dust off the Hurley and the sliotar and help us get a virtual few pucks with St.Colmcille’s going. I want the boys to get someone to video them catching a ball and then striking it away so it looks like they are taking a pass and then giving a pass. Post the video on Google Classroom, email it to principal@stcolmcillens.ie or whatsapp it to school mobile 0863506775, I will knit all the videos together for a whole school puckaround. The deadline for submitting a video is midday on Friday May 1st.
Standardised Testing
It has been announced this week that Standardised Testing for this school year is cancelled.
School Meals
We continue to have provision packs delivered from Glanmore Foods every Wednesday. If you are not availing of this service and would like to please email me at principal@stcolmcillens.ie to this effect.
Many thanks for taking time to read our newsletter and for all your continued support. We will all get through this challenging time together, while apart.
Stay well and take care of yourselves and each other.
Le mórmheas,
Conor Doyle