Holy Family National School,
Rathmore
Co. Kerry.
Tel. No: (064) 7758492 / Mobile:
(086) 1806018
e-mail: hfnsrathmorekerry@gmail.com
hfnsrathmorekerry
blog
27th
August, 2021
Dear Parent(s),
We are really looking forward to welcoming the
children back to school on Monday 30th August.
All information that we have in relation to re-opening
the school safely is on the School blog. Again, all guidelines are coming from
the Department’s Covid 19 Response plan and below are some of Holy Family
National School’s arrangements for the coming year which you will note are very
similar to last year.
Drop off and Collection
Routines:
The Board of Management, the In-School Management Team
and the staff have been working to ensure a safe return to school for all. It would be helpful if you reminded your child(ren)
of the following prior to re-opening.
·
Children are to be dropped off in the set down area in the
morning where staff will be available to direct them to the correct entrance.
·
We ask that children are dropped off between 8.55 a.m. and
9.10 a.m. Children should not be dropped to the school before these times.
·
The following are the entrance and exit doors for each class:
o Both Junior Infants classes
- Front Door
o Senior Infants- Staff Door
(On the left of the building near the staff car park)
o First Class- Staff Door (On the left of the building near the
staff car park)
o Second Class- Front Door
o Third Class- Front Door
o Fourth Class- Back Door (Follow the footpath beside the staff door to
the rear entrance)
o Fifth Class- Back Door (Follow the footpath beside the staff door to
the rear entrance)
o Sixth Class- Staff Door
(Follow the footpath beside the staff door to the rear entrance)
·
Parents who wish to accompany infants to their assigned door
should park in the lower car park.
·
Parents are to treat the roundabout as a drop off area only
and should not obstruct traffic by leaving their vehicles.
·
Parents are asked to maintain a distance of 2m from other
people at all times while in the school grounds.
Home time collection:
·
Both Junior Infants classes will always be collected at the
front door at 1.50pm. (Collection time for the first two weeks is 12 noon).
·
Senior Infants will go home at 1.50 pm as usual. Children
will be brought to the staff entrance where their parents can collect them.
·
For Junior and Senior Infant collection time parents will be
asked to form socially distanced queues using the queuing system provided.
·
Fourth, fifth and Sixth classes will exit via the rear
entrance under the supervision of their teachers and proceed in their class
bubble to their transport.
·
Second and Third classes will exit via the front entrance
under the supervision of their teachers and proceed in their class bubble to
their transport.
·
All lines will be supervised by staff until they reach the
lower car park to maintain social distancing.
·
In the interest of health and safety children should not
congregate in the car park.
Break Times for Pupils:
·
We will not stagger our break times as we have sufficient
play areas for our eight classroom bubbles.
Both Junior Infants groups will be together.
·
All areas of the school playground will be used at break
times with children playing with their own class bubble in designated areas.
School Uniform:
Our normal school crested uniform is still required. Some parents were concerned that
uniforms and track suits might have to be washed every day but Department
guidelines do not state this. However,
as our tracksuit legs are worn with our school jumpers, should you wish to
purchase additional generic navy tops (unlabeled, round neck sweatshirts -
available from numerous outlets in the area) these can be worn with the school
crested tracksuit on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to allow for additional
washing if you wish. Please see an example of these on the school blog. The
school uniform should be worn to school only and taken off in the evening
immediately after school. Lighter raincoat style jackets that can be stored in
the pupil’s bags should be worn as cloakroom areas are normally very congested.
Children should have a separate pencil case for home
and school and lunch boxes and drink bottles should be washed daily.
Hand Washing and Using Hand
Sanitiser:
·
Hand washing, use of hand sanitiser and coughing etiquette
are key elements of keeping safe. It would be beneficial if you could go
through the procedures of these with your children. Please see the HSE links on
the school blog for more information on hand hygiene, hand sanitising and
respiratory etiquette.
·
Teachers will also highlight and go through procedures for
hand washing, hand sanitising and respiratory etiquette in school. Hand sanitisers
are installed at each entry point and in each classroom and paper towels for
drying hands are available in all classrooms. Pedal bins have been placed in
each classroom for waste paper.
·
Children will be asked to use hand sanitiser on entering the
school in the morning. There are hand sanitiser dispensers at all entrance
doors. Children will also use hand sanitiser when entering the school after
breaks. There are signs in each toilet in each classroom encouraging hand
washing. Paper towels are available outside the bathrooms. Hand washing and
hand sanitising before and after eating will also be a part of our daily
routine.
·
Children will be encouraged to wash their hands at the
following times:
·
before and after eating food
·
after coughing or sneezing
·
after using the toilet
·
where hands are dirty
·
before and after being on public transport
·
before leaving home
·
when arriving/leaving the school /other
sites
·
after touching potentially contaminated
surfaces
·
if in contact with someone displaying any
COVID-19 symptoms
Movement within the school:
·
There is signage from the Department of Education that
encourages social distancing throughout the building.
Parents who need to come into
the school for any reason:
·
All visitors including parents will have to make a prior
appointment before entering the school premises. This can be arranged by
contacting the school office by phone or email. All adults who enter will have
to fill out a contact tracing form which will be available from the office. All
adults must wear a mask and use hand sanitiser when entering the school.
Cleaning:
·
Extra cleaning resources are in place. Classrooms, tables,
chairs, door handles etc. will be cleaned each evening after school as per
Department Guidelines.
Parent Contact:
·
In order to ensure that the school remains open in these
difficult circumstances, it is imperative that parents do not send children to
school if they are showing symptoms of any illness whatsoever. We have created
an isolation room in the school, as well as a sick bay in each classroom. These
areas should only be used in the event of a pupil developing symptoms. Any
child who is sick will have to be sent home immediately as outlined in Covid 19
Guidelines. In addition, children should also not attend school if they have
been identified by the HSE as a contact for a person with COVID-19 and to
follow the HSE advice on restriction of movement.
·
It is vital that parents/guardians are contactable at all
times throughout the school day in case of children becoming ill.
·
All our procedures are under constant review so there may be
updates or changes to any of the above and we would appreciate your patience as
we navigate this process. We will text you to notify you of any updates which
will be available on the school blog. Thank you for your continued
co-operation.
·
We would ask that children do not bring any additional
equipment to school such as footballs, toys, hand sanitisier, etc.
·
For payments of Book Rental for each child and Photocopying
Arts/Crafts for each family we would appreciate it if you could use your
debit/credit card for these payments.
Each family will receive on Friday August 27th 2 payment
requests – one for Book Rental for each child and one for Photocopying
Arts/Crafts for each family. If the purchase
of books/materials/uniform causes financial difficulty for any family, please
don’t hesitate to contact me. Next week
we will send you a payment request for Pupil Personal Accident Insurance should
you wish to purchase for your child(ren).
·
Return to Education Facility Parental Declaration form is on
the blog and it would be good practice if parents filled in this each time your
child is absent. Please complete this
form for your child(ren) on their return next Monday.
·
Government advice on travel can be found on www.gov.ie
The page is regularly updated. It
is the responsibility of the parent/guardian to check the advice in relation to
the restrictions that are in place and act accordingly. Please exercise caution if in any doubt or
contact the school.
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to
contact me.
Paul Horan
Principal.
