Holy Family N.S. Rathmore Co.Kerry P51 N290

 

               Newsletter

                             Holy Family National  School 

                        Rathmore, Co. Kerry

                        Tel. 064/7758492

                        e-mail hfnsrathmorekerry@gmail.com

                                                                http://hfnsrathmorekerry.blogspot.ie/

                                                                                 30^th September 2021                    

Dear Parents,

It has been a thoroughly enjoyable return to school and we really appreciate your help in getting 2021-22 off to a great start for pupils and staff.  Please God the year will continue to be a success.

Below are reminders of 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:

·        We ask that children are dropped off between 8.55am and 9.10am.  School ends at 2.50pm. The school authority will not be responsible for the children on the school grounds outside of these times.

·        Parents are to treat the roundabout as a drop off area only and should not obstruct traffic by leaving their vehicles.  The centre lane should remain free always for emergency use in the event of an accident.

·        Parents are asked to maintain a distance of 2m from other people at all times while in the school grounds.

Home time collection:

·        In the interest of health and safety children should not congregate in the car park.

 

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.

Parent Contact:

·        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 close 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.

·        We would ask that children do not bring any additional equipment to school such as footballs, toys, hand sanitisier, etc.

·        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. 

·        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.

OFFICE HOURS

Maureen and Aisling are our school secretaries and are present Monday, Thursday and Friday 9.00am to 2.00pm and each day after school.

 

SCHOOL UNIFORM

Congratulations to pupils and thank you to parents for ensuring children are dressed in their proper school uniform including the wearing of black shoes.  Our normal school crested uniform is still required on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Tracksuit can be worn 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. From time to time children mislay their jumpers, cardigans and jackets during the school day.  To ensure that they find their own item of clothing please ensure that jumpers, cardigans and jackets are marked with child’s name.

 

HEALTHY LUNCHES

We are encouraging a healthy lunch. Chewing gum, fizzy drinks, chocolate, sweets and crisps, are forbidden.  We also ask that children in Junior Infants do not bring yogurts or yogurt products in their lunch boxes.

Our aim is to continue with the good work of the Food Dudes Programme, which we hope will return to our school, to increase and maintain children’s consumption of fruit and vegetables. We have a number of pupils in the school with severe nut allergies. It is very important that pupils do not bring items to school that contain nuts.  We ask parents and children to be vigilant as some products contain traces of nuts. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.

Children should have a separate pencil case for home and school. (lunch boxes and drink bottles should be washed daily).

 

ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICINE

Parents of any child who uses prescribed medication should request an Administration of Medicine Form from the class teacher.  The teachers store all medicine securely and children should not have any medicine in their bags.

 

 

 

 

E-PAYMENT SYSTEM

The ePayment system is up and running.  This year we would appreciate it if you could use your debit/credit card for all payments to the school.  Payment requests will be sent by text to your phones.  If you have to use cash for these payments, please put in an envelope and label it and give to class teacher. We thank all parents who have paid for Photocopying Arts/Crafts and Book Rental for this year.  If you have any difficulty with payments please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Horan.

 

 

LEE STRAND

Thank you to all who helped collect the required number of tokens for our homework diaries this year.  We are very grateful to Lee Strand who have provided free homework journals to our school for the past 7 years.    The tokens to be collected are only found on the 100% renewable Lee Strand 1 litre milk carton. Ten tokens are required for each homework journal.  It is a whole school effort and we are asking you to start collecting the tokens from the 1 litre or 2 litre Lee Strand Milk carton so that we can avail of free homework journals for all pupils next year.  As you collect the tokens you can send them in with your child/children.  Thank you.

 

TEAM TEACHING

Team teaching may involve withdrawal of groups of pupils from class and we do not ask for permission slips for this whereas if a child is withdrawn from class for SEN teaching we do require parents to sign a permission slip.  It is important that parents understand that if a child is being withdrawn for team teaching, it is not the same as being withdrawn for Special Education.  If you have any concerns please contact the Principal.

 

PARENTS COMMITTEE ELECTION

We will be electing new parent representatives for Junior Infants, First, Third and Fifth classes.  Ballot papers will be issued to these classes shortly.

The work done by the Parents Committee at HFNS should never be underestimated. The members of our Parents Committee require your help from time to time and I would encourage everyone to help out if at all possible. “Ní neart go cur le Chéile” “Unity is strength”, when parents volunteer to help out with the work of the Parents Committee it is much appreciated. Last year the Parents Committee subsidised playground markings, sports equipment and our Outdoor Classroom.  In the past they have also subsidised the Book Rental Scheme and IPads. We return to Music, Gymnastics and Swimming this year.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”. (Helen Keller)

 

MUSIC LESSONS/ VISITING TEACHERS

Henry Cronin will start music lessons with 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd classes next week. We wish Padraig Moynihan well in his retirement having provided lessons to many pupils in Holy Family and Presentation Convent Primary School.  We hope that lessons for 4^th 5^th.and 6^th classes will recommence shortly.  Every boy and girl from 1^st to 6^th classes are encouraged to learn to play a musical instrument.   Generation “D” tin whistles are available from the school @ €8 each.  If you wish your child to learn accordion or fiddle you would need to provide these instruments yourselves.  

Gymnastics lessons have been booked for all the children in the school and the Parents Committee will also sponsor this.

 

FIRST COMMUNION AND CONFIRMATION 2021

Confirmation for Holy Family N.S. took place on Saturday 18^th September and First Communion took place on Sat. 25^th September. Both events were beautiful days for the boys and girls and I wish to thank all school staff who put so much effort into making both occasions very special. Thanks also to Maura O’Leary for help with the music and Fr. Pat for making them very memorable days.

The Communion and Confirmation dates have not been confirmed for the coming year yet and we will be in touch when the Parish has made arrangements.

 

LIBRARY

The Mobile Library is hoping to return to schools this year and we will update you in due course. 

 

CHANGE OF ADDRESS, TEL. NO

If any of your child/childrens’ details have changed e.g. address, contact details, illness, etc. please contact the school as soon as possible.   Thank You.

 

MOBILE PHONE NUMBERS

We have a facility for texting parents. This is very important now that we have set up the e-Payment system.  If you have not received any text message from Holy Family N.S. please let us know.  The text automatically goes to the mother’s mobile phone unless we have been instructed otherwise.  Thank you.

TUSLA – THE CHILD AND FAMILY AGENCY

Please remember that schools are now legally bound to notify Tusla – the Child and Family Agency if pupils are absent from school in excess of twenty days.

It is important that a note be sent to class teacher explaining child’s absence for each day as we are now obliged to keep a record of all absences. Please also complete the Return to Educational Facility Declaration Form found on right hand side of school blog for each absence or alternatively you can write a note with the wording “Declaration – I have no reason to believe that my child has an infectious disease and I have followed all medical and public health guidance with respect to exclusion of my child from educational facilities. Signed and dated.

LOCAL HISTORY TOUR

Mr. Diarmuid Desmond led 6^th class on a Local History Tour on Thursday, September 16^th.  They began by visiting the local cemetery and church. The ordnance survey mark on the church dates back to the 1890s. They studied the stained glass windows and the plaque dedicated to Fr. Edmund Walsh P.P. who built it.

They then stopped at the Presentation Convent, Presbytery Gates and Forge. There were two forges in operation during the building of St. Joseph’s church in 1860.

The final stop was at the local fort, which is on the lands of Mr. John Coakley, Rathmore Townland. This fort was built over 3,000 years ago and is one of the biggest in Europe at 1.9 acres. They looked at the two souterrains, the lime kiln and the corn stone.

Sincere thanks to Mr. Desmond for a most enjoyable and informative tour.

 

INCREDIBLE EDIBLES

Well done to last year’s 2nd Class who worked hard to achieve a GOLD Incredible Edibles School Award. The boys and girls actively partook in the project and completed 5 different tasks where they successfully learned where their food came from and how to support Irish, as well as learning how to grow, cook and eat their own food! They received a certificate and gold rosette to acknowledge all the hard work they did. Thanks to Ms Julie O’Mahony for supporting that initiative.

SCHOOL BLOG

On the blog there is information for parents in the “Parent Zone” e.g. Internet Safety tips, how to help your children with homework, etc.  For the children there are useful links to websites in the Maths and English section.  Click the “latest posts” for most recent entries on the blog.  Pictures of recent class activities will be posted from time to time.

Also any new updates on Covid-19 or any review or changes to our procedures will also be posted on the blog.

This newsletter will be available under “Current Newsletter” to read on our blog.    http://hfnsrathmorekerry.blogspot.ie/ or google holyfamilynsrathmorekerry blog

If you wish to receive the digital copy of the newsletter only please inform the school office.  Occasionally when additional forms are attached e.g. insurance forms, you will still receive a hard copy.

BOOK RENTAL

Our scheme works very well and significantly reduces the cost of buying school books for families.  It is important to remember that children are not allowed write on or mark book rental books.

 

 

  

DANU AFTERSCHOOL SERVICE

If your child will be attending Danu Afterschool Service please send in a note to that effect so that we can put same on file. If anyone wants to avail of this service please contact 064/7758700.

 

 

DATES TO REMEMBER 2021 – 2022

School opened Monday 30^th August

**Staff Meeting Wednesday 13^th October School Closes at 1.40pm

Clothes collection Thurs. morning 21^st Oct – Drop off bags from Tues. 19^th Oct.

 

Closed Monday 25^th October to Friday 29^th October (Mid Term)

**Primary Language Curriculum Training for staff - Half Day Closure November 1^st School closes at 12 noon.

Closed Wed. December 8^th

Closing Wednesday 22^nd December at 12:00 to Wednesday 5^th January, 2022 (Christmas holidays)

Re-opening Thursday 6^th January, 2022

Closed Thursday 24^th and Friday 25^th February (Mid-Term)

Closed Thursday 17^th March (Public Holiday) and Friday 18^th March

Closed Monday 11^th April to Friday 22^nd April (Easter Holidays)

Re-opening Monday 25^th April, 2022

Closed Monday 2^nd May (Public Holiday)

Closed Monday 6^th June (Public Holiday)

Closing Friday 24^th June for Summer Holiday