2020 Acting Principal's Address
Parents Association AGM 10th November 2020
Acting Principal’s Report
(i) Covid-19 Response Plan
Student Resource Timetable developed to reduce the weight of school bags. Student are asked to bring subject workbooks, skills books, novels, plays, necessary copies. Resource Timetable are available each Friday on website under ‘Parent’ tab.
Parents are reminded of the symptoms of Covid-19: A fever, A new cough, shortness of breath or loss or change to your sense of smell or taste. Please do not send your child to school if they display any of these symptoms. A very good document circulated to parents through iClass App from HSE, A Parent’s Guide to Close Contacts in Schools.
Hand Sanitiser: RSC has replaced all Virapro sanitising gel and is now using Alvodex, a DES approved sanitiser.
(ii) School Development Planning
Literacy Plan 2020-2021: Target group – Form 1, Focus
1. the misuse of common words
2. extent vocabulary by introducing a ‘Word of the Week’
3. Book Review Competition in 200 words or less.
LiFT Ireland – TY
Ms. McElwaine is facilitating this programme within the school. It is based on 8 core skills that effective leaders require. Students are given the opportunity to reflect on one of these skills at each lesson and set ways in which they can improve on this skill. TY students will then deliver this programme to Form 1 students.
Sports Hall
Cavan Monaghan etb is to start the process to appoint a design team to follow through on the construction of our Sports Hall.
Biodiversity Garden
TY Active Citizenship Module, currently designing a Wildflower garden to increase biodiversity on the school grounds.
Fees Policy for 2021-2022
The policy was reviewed by the Board of Governors. Tuition Fees will increase to €2900 for the next school year. Parents are reminded to check out the secgrant.ie website to obtain information about qualifying and applying for an SEC grant for 2021-2022. Three support videos have been produced to assist parents with the grant process. Parents are also reminded about other bursaries that they may qualify for, such as Protestant Aid, Benjamin Moore Fund, Bertrand & Rutland Fund etc…
(iii) Pastoral Care
A new Form 6 Academic Mentor Programme for 2020-2021.
Review of Wellbeing programmes currently taking place.
RSE modules missed in the school year 2019-2020 were taught during the month of October. Currently the SPHE Department are evaluating the programme with the students.
(iv) Update on School Events
· TY Graduation 2020 for students took place on Thursday 1st October.
· TY Parent Information session took place on Thursday 15th October.
· Extra-Curricular Activities & Hot Food facility on-hold – Level 5
· BOM Meeting took place on 1st October, second meeting is due to take place on Thursday 3rd December 2020. Minutes from the previous meeting available on the website.
· Successful Admissions event for 2021-2022, deadline for receipt of offers of acceptance Friday 20th November.
· Architects in Schools 2020- 21 Programme: We were delighted to welcome Cillian Briody, Architect, to our school. Cillian worked with our Transition Year students on reconfiguring some areas within the school. This project was funded by Irish Architecture Foundation.
· Mini Companies: This year, because of COVID 19 restrictions the RSC mini companies cannot avail of the many face to face sales opportunities which previous groups have always enjoyed. Like all businesses, they have had to find new, innovative ways to reach their customers. Look out on social media for information about their wonderful products. They are currently developing an e-catalogue that will be forwarded to all parents shortly.
· Team Hope Shoebox Appeal: We are not able to prepare shoeboxes as we normally would this year. So instead we are holding a fundraiser and going to donate the money online. This year more than ever there will be a need for shoeboxes. So, if you wish to help this fantastic Christian charity, please visit www.teamhope.ie/christmas-shoebox-appeal.
· LC Examinations to take place from Monday 16th November 2020.
· Error on School Calendar - Christmas Holidays will commence on Tuesday 22nd December 3:45pm
(v) Staff Matters
· Camille Mazzoni, FLA, took up her position in October. All students, in groups of 2 or 3, can develop their spoken skills with Camille.
· 8 members of staff took a First Aid refresher course on Friday 16th October. This was facilitated by the Order of Malta on Friday 16th October.
(vi) Student Matters
· Student Council elections have taken place.
· Deputy Head Boy and Girl were announced, Ben Ritchie and Rebecca Cherry.
· Form 5 Prefects organised a very successful Covid-19 compliant breakfast morning for all Junior pupils. All money raised went to SOSAD Cavan.
· 10-week Assessments took place during the week of 2nd – 6th November 2020. Parents will be informed when assessment reports are published on VSWare.
· Form 5 Examinations taking place leading up to Christmas holidays.
(vii) Parent Communication
· Form 6 Parent-Pupil-Teacher Meeting Wednesday 25th November using Zoom
· Possible form 2 Parent-Pupil-Teacher Meeting before Christmas using Zoom.
· Form 1 CAT 4E and NGRT assessments took place, reports to follow to all Form 1 parents shortly.
· New School iClass App to be downloaded to mobile phone, more effective communication (Messaging, Newsletters, Absent notes). Monthly Newsletter
· Please use iClass app to report appointments and illness.
(viii) Buildings & Maintenance
· Work is ongoing in relation to fire safety upgrades.
· 4 new windows for front of school building to be installed in the next few weeks.
Parents Association AGM 17th September 2020
Acting Principal’s Report
(i) Covid-19 Response Plan – distributed to all parents along with the student guide V1.
Covid-19 – A Collective Responsibility
We have been preparing our school for the safe return of our students and staff since the end of July. Making the necessary physical changes and re-imagining everything that happens in the school from the moment we open in the morning until lock up time in the evening. I am delighted at how our staff, students and parents have responded to these changes.
These changes were outlined in the Student Guide to returning to school V1 and includes:
Physical Distancing falling into two categories: (i) Increasing separation and (ii) decreasing interaction…..
Collecting of copies/tests, the procedure in the school: material collected in a plastic box left for 72 hours, teacher corrects work, left for 72 hours and returned to students.
Two zones within the school, Senior & Junior, one-way systems in operation, students assigned a specific seat within their base classrooms, limited movements - only for specialist subjects and PE, staggered breaks i.e. senior and junior pupils are never on break together, sanitising stations in each room, self-clean policy.
Wearing of Face coverings essential to avoiding the spread of the virus. The DES issued clarification on the use of face coverings in Post-Primary schools today:
· Cloth face covering is a requirement
· All students should behave as though they have the virus but are asymptomatic, therefore cloth face covering must be worn unless the wear can maintain a two-metre distance from his/her peers.
· A visor may be worn by some students/teachers; For staff it could be considered when staff members are interacting with students with hearing difficulties or learning difficulties.
· Exemptions from wearing a cloth face covering requires a medical certificate
· (person with breathing difficulties, a person who is unable to remove a face-covering without assistance, any person who has special needs and who may feel upset or very uncomfortable wearing the cloth face covering or visor.
Student Resource Timetable been developed to reduce the weight of school bags. From next week we will be further limiting textbooks, students will be asked to bring subject workbooks, skills books, novels, plays, necessary copies. Resource Timetable will be available on website under ‘Parent’ tab. Parents need to check pencil cases and other material that is not required.
WIFI & New Classrooms
We are most grateful for the funding received from the DES. This has allowed us to install WIFI throughout the whole school building and purchase 48 Chromebooks. These laptops can be used in any classroom and allows for better integration of ICT in our teaching, learning and assessment. We have also reconfigured the boarding dining hall into a new spacious classroom, reconfigured some of our dormitories into teacher workspaces and a new Learning Support room and finally repurposed our library into a new music room
(ii) School Development Planning
Blended Learning Plans
· Blended Learning = Face-to-Face + Digital (Google Classroom)
SIP 2020-2021 – After Halloween Break
1. Effective Feedback … Form 1, 2 & 3
2. Higher Order Thinking …. Form 2 & 3
3. Digital Strategy …. WIFI installed throughout the whole school, 48 chrome books were purchased. Teachers have received further training in G-suite and other digital teaching learning and assessment software. A class set of ipads are also available.
4. Literacy Review team established a focus for 2020-2021 (Common Spelling errors & Oral Literacy – linking to Student Accountable Talk) this will be introduced after Halloween.
Peace IV CASE Project for Students
Year 4: more digital component required for this year, still to be decided upon.
(iii) Pastoral Care
Restorative Practice – rolled all in Form 1 & 2 classes for 2020-2021
Yearhead Changes: Mr Dermot Plunkett is YH to the Junior School & Ms. Yvonne Sheridan is YH to the Senior School.
Child Safeguarding Statement & Risk Assessment: Annual review taking place, thank parents for engaging with the review. Statement goes before BOM for consideration on 29th September.
RSE Education 2019-2020: Missed modules will be delivered in the weeks leading up to the Halloween break, commencing on Monday 28th September. Parents will be emailed a letter outlining the list of topics that will be covered during these classes.
Student Care & Support Team – weekly meetings. Team consists of a team of 6 teachers: 2 Year Heads, 1 SET teacher, 1 Student Wellbeing coordinator, 2 Senior Management.
Child Protection, PC - DLP, AG - DDLP
(iv) Update on School Events
· LC Class 2020, Virtual Graduation on Zoom, Thursday 24th September at 7pm.
· TY Graduation 2020 for students to take place during Term 1
· Extra-Curricular Activities & Hot Food facility on-hold.
· Form 6 received a ‘Make It Happen’ day delivered by Supergeneration.
· BOM Meeting Tuesday 29th September
· NO Open Day & Open Night – An enrolment period that will run from Monday 5th October to Friday 23rd October 2020.
· Creative Schools Project – I am delighted to report that RSC was selected to be part of the Creative School Project for this academic year. We hope to give you regular reports on this project throughout the school year.
· LC Subjects: Business is a new subject that is now offered at Senior Cycle.
(v) Staff Matters
· Sarah Bates (French & English), Grainne McCaffrey (Irish & Business) & Fiona Henry (Maths) have joined the teaching staff.
· Camille Mazzoni, FLA, due to take up her position on 14th October.
(vi) Student Matters
· 46 new students into Form 1.
· Form 6 LC Results 2020, I would like to congratulate our 38 students on their most impressive LC results and wish them well in the next steps of their journey.
· Form 1 vaccinations will not take place during school time. (Tdap, Men A, HPV). Probably take place during the Halloween holidays.
· Form 5 & 6 Prefect System in operation.
· Student Council elections due to take place later this month.
(vii) Parent Communication
· Form 1 Parents Information session, Tuesday 15th September 7pm.
· Up-to-date email and mobile numbers
· Use of mobile phones during school day, reminder
· Parent-Pupil-Teacher Meetings, are suspended at the moment
· VSWare for Child’s timetable, Term Reports.
· Appointments only to school.
· Revamping our website, New School iClass App to be downloaded to mobile phone, more effective communication (Messaging, Newsletters, Absent notes)
(viii) Buildings & Maintenance
· Work is ongoing in relation to fire safety upgrades.
· Nothing further to report on sports hall.
· New student shelter to be installed over the next two weeks
Acting Principal’s Address 16th June 2020
(i) School Development Planning
· A BOM meeting took place on Thursday 11th June agreed minutes on website.
· The Board ratified the Annual BOM Report, available on website.
· FLA – Foreign Language Assistant Scheme 2020/21. The school has applied to be considered for this scheme – No reply yet.
· Statement of Strategy for School Attendance – ratified 11th June 2020
· Annual Review of Anti-Bullying Policy – 11th June 2020
· Homework & Study policy - ratified 30th April 2020
(ii) Pastoral Care
· Planning to hold a LC Graduation for the 2020 class when it is safe to do so.
· A huge thank you to all parents for all your help and understanding during these unprecedented times. It has not been an easy time for families, and I am most grateful for your engagement with the school.
(iii) Update on School Events
· Proposed School Calendar 2020-2021 on website along with booklists and uniform lists.
· All Summer Assessment Reports are now available on VSware.
· Collecting Day or Boarding items – Monday 29th June 2020, email to follow. A significant amount of materials, uniform items and books have no labels.
· Calculated Grades for Leaving Certificate 2020
Currently these estimated marks are been reviewed before they are added to a specific database on esinet.ie
(iv) Staff Matters
· The current acting senior management structure will remain in place for the next academic year. Emer McElwaine will remain in her role as acting Programme Coordinator
(v) Health & Safety
· Work is due to take place during the summer months on upgrading the doors throughout the day school in line with fire safety regulations.
(vi) Buildings & Maintenance
PE Facilities
Tender documents are currently been developed to build a 406 sqm sports hall. Delay due to QS demands.
School Year 2020-2021
(i) A roadmap was published on Friday 12th June.
(ii) The amount of time students will attend school will depend on social distancing in place, 2m or 1m
(iii) Awaiting further guidelines here
(iv) Possibility of blended learning, home classrooms for each class, students remaining within their class groups throughout the entire day, staggered breaks, staggered collections and pick-ups, lots of unanswered questions around bus transport to and from school.
(v) The Minister for Education and Taoiseach are hopeful that schools will open for all student in late August/early September.
Boarding House Closure
Reasons:
§ General reduction of boarding pupils;
§ Impact of COVID-19;
§ BSA - Requirement that only 25% of students would be permitted to return;
§ Increased costs to ensure health & safety of staff and pupils;
§ Requirements for separate bathroom & washroom facilities – currently dormitory style with shared facilities;
§ Would require essential and expensive redevelopment works – but limited space, limited capital; Effect to reduce the overall numbers that could attend the Boarding House post Covid-19;
§ Need to hire an on-site nurse;
§ Reviewing socio-economic profile within school a significant proportion of parents would be unable to meet an increase in fees beyond Band 1 SEC grants. This currently is €8466.00
What alternatives have been considered?
§ Development of the site to comply with health & safety – too expensive, no space, no capital.
§ Increase fees for boarding students – would make fees too expensive for the average parent of the average child.
§ Seek Government Grant – cannot apply as School does not pay rates.
For those students who qualified for a Boarding SEC grant:
We have received confirmation from Dr. Walsh, SEC, that the family can use this grant to fund their child staying with a Host Family in the area, so that they can continue their education at the DAY school. The School will be working with Geraldine O’Donnell, Irish Host Families on this Boarding-out option, should any parents wish to avail of it.
Parents Association Meeting 14th January 2020
Acting Principal’s Address
(i) School Development Planning
A BOM meeting took place on Thursday 21st November, agreed minutes on website. The third meeting is due to take place on Thursday 13th February 2020.
Meetings took place with the Student Council on 19th November 2019 and 10th December 2019. The Student Council held a very successful Christmas Bingo Fundraiser on Thursday 12th December 2019 and used this event to talk about Road Safety and distribute material from RSA to each student.
Staff Meeting took place on Monday 13th January 2020
Student Academic Tracking
Athena Tracker a new software package that tracks a student’s ability against attainment is now in operation.
CPSI Inspection
Second Inspection took place on Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th November 2019. Report due to be published mid to late January on DES website. Report details that school is fully complainant with all nine checks.
FLA – Foreign Language Assistant Scheme 2020/21. The school has applied to be considered for this scheme
(ii) Pastoral Care
· RSE policy review – ratified by BOM on 21st November 2019
· Homework & Study policy review team currently working on this policy review
· All Form 2 students are taking part in the FUSE programme and have completed 5 of the 6 lessons.
(iii) Update on School Events
· Past pupils Career Event took place on Thursday 9th January 2020 for Form 5 & Form 6 pupils.
· Minor Girls Soccer Team have finished second in their group and progress on to the Ulster Cup
· Junior Hockey Girls - 5 wins out of 5 games played.
· U14 Boys Football 3 wins out of three matches played. Next match Ulster Semi-final.
· TY Activities: Work Experience 11th – 15th November 2019, Driving Lessons, School of Life Etiquette Workshop, Trip to Young Scientist Exhibition, P.A.L
· 15 mini-companies running in the school.
· Young Americans Performing Arts Workshop takes place for TY students from Thursday 30th January to Saturday 1st February 2020. The event concludes with a two-act performance on Saturday 1st February at Loreto College Cavan’s Sports Hall. Two shows will take place on Saturday 1st February. The first show starts at 4pm and the second show starts at 7pm. Tickets are priced at €12 for adults and €6 for students. Limited tickets, priority given to TY families.
· Pre-Examinations scheduled to take place from Wednesday 29th January to Friday 7th February 2020.
· 20-Week Assessments, Form 1, 2 & TY (Continuous Assessment) 10th – 14th February 2020.
· Mid-term break Monday 17th to Friday 21st February inclusive.
· 12th March 2020 – Music Department Springtime Concert 7pm.
(iv) Staff Matters
Amber Mackay, past pupil, one-month teaching placement, Music & Religion, DCU.
Isla Poyntz - maternity leave.
(v) Student Matters
Form 5 Christmas Assessments results should be available for parents to access early next week.
Currently completing Leaving Certificate subjects & levels for SEC
(vi) Parent Communication
· Form 2 & 5 Parent-Pupil-Teacher Meeting – Monday 2nd March 4:15pm – 6:45pm.
· 19th March 2020 – Parent-Pupil-Teacher Meeting Form 1 & TY – 4:15pm – 6:45pm.
· For up-to-date student achievements, follow RSC on Twitter, Facebook or log onto our website for regular updates.
(vii) Health & Safety
· Day pupils can remain behind on the premises if doing extracurricular activities or afterschool study.
(viii) Buildings & Maintenance
Work on new Deeds is on-going
Funding for PE Facilities
On 23rd December
Tánaiste announces support for post-primary schools serving border communities
The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade, Mr Simon Coveney T.D., is pleased to announce dedicated funding for the provision of modern PE Hall facilities in a number of post-primary schools in the border region.
The three schools are Monaghan Collegiate College, Corlatt, Co. Monaghan, Royal School Cavan, College Street, Cavan, and Royal and Prior Comprehensive School, Raphoe, Co. Donegal. The first two schools come under the patronage of the Church of Ireland, while the third comes under the patronage of The Donegal Protestant Board of Education.
These schools serve border communities and the lack of adequate PE facilities for the children attending these schools has been raised in the context of the Government’s ongoing engagement with minority communities in the border region, particularly in isolated rural areas.
The relevant Education and Training Boards will assist the schools in the delivery of these projects.
The Tánaiste welcomed this dedicated funding as an expression of the Government’s ongoing support for our border communities.
Cavan County Council have secured initial funding of 837k from the Sports Capital Programme. This money is phase one funding to develop a Regional Sports Facility for County Cavan.
Their plans include:
Indoor Facility (7000 sq. m), Sports Centre & Gym, 400m 6-lane track with grass insert, outdoor multi-sport and multi-lined 3G pitch and a swimming pool.
Following feasibility studies part of the Royal School Cavan land along with other lands in the area were deemed to be the most suitable area to develop this facility.