Dear Parents/Guardians,
I do hope that you and your family are keeping well at this challenging time. Thank you for engaging with us this week in terms of your child’s education. We have been very busy preparing for remote learning over the past two weeks. We do hope that we will all be returning to the classroom very soon.
We are very conscious of the additional pressure that remote learning has exerted on your home life as we too are experiencing similar challenges in our homes. We do not want to add to any anxiety that we may be feeling at this time, and want to let you know that we are here to support you in any way we can over the coming weeks.
Thank you for engaging with the remote learning provided by St. Thomas’ JNS during this school closure via Seesaw. Our remote learning provision includes weekly work programmes, daily work programmes, pre-recorded daily tuition videos and appropriate and engaging learning tasks appropriate to the age and stage of the children. We understand that the home learning environment may be challenging for many families for many different reasons. The following ideas might be useful for you, though we acknowledge everyone’s situation is different:
- Set up a daily routine that suits you and your family.
- Do not force learning and avoid stressful situations where possible.
- If it’s not working take a break and return later.
- Keep in regular contact with your child’s class teacher.
- Do not compare what you are doing with anyone else. This is not a competition.
- Make sure that learning is fun and enjoyable for you and your children.
- Take good care of your health and wellbeing and that of your family at all times.
As a junior school, we are very conscious of the importance of play for all our pupils. Play is an important part of a child's early development. Playing helps young children's brains to develop and for their language and communication skills to mature. They teach young children about communication, develop their motor skills and help with problem-solving. Play is also fun and can make us feel good!
Hopefully the closure period will be short and we will revise work when children return to school. If you have any questions or queries, please contact your child’s class teacher via email or Seesaw. Teachers are available Monday to Friday and will get back to you as soon as possible or within 24hours.
Your child’s class teacher will be in contact with you in the coming days regarding the collection of school books in a safe manner where this is necessary. Many books have already gone home. Some learning support/resource packages will be available for collection too. They will be given to the associated class teacher to distribute.
While the school is closed at the moment, the school office will be open Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9am to 11.30am. Therefore, if you have any queries for Maureen our secretary, please phone during those times. Alternatively, please email info@stthomasjns.com which is monitored daily.
It may be helpful for you to know that RTÉ School Hub is on daily at 10am and TG4 Cúla 4 Ar Scoil is on Monday to Thursday 10am.
Enrolment
Please be aware that the closing date for enrolment for Junior Infants is 29th Jan 2021. Please click here for further information.
Parent Teacher Meetings
Parent Teacher Meetings will be held from Monday 8th Feb to Wednesday 17th February. Because of Covid-19, this year our parent teacher meetings will take place over the phone rather than face to face. Class teachers will be in contact with parents in due course to arrange times.
Parents working in Intel
Last year, parents working in Intel registered with the school as part of a volunteer donation. For every hour volunteered by an Intel employee, Intel will donate €10 to the registered institution (or school). This year again, due to Covid-19, Intel are allowing home schooling to qualify for volunteer hours and increased the cap to 5hrs per day. If you took part in this programme last year or working in Intel and interested in supporting the school please contact Ms. Foley c.foley@stthomasjns.com as it is only a matter of registering our participating parents. All assistance is greatly appreciated. Donations generated will be put to great use to enrich the education of the children of St. Thomas JNS.
Congratulations on successfully reaching the end of Week 1 of these current set of restrictions. Keep safe and keep strong and take every day as it comes. Working together we will all get through these strange times, for better days lie ahead. 'If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere'
Yours sincerely,
Teresa Moynihan