Happy New Year

Welcome to our January newsletter. So far, it's been unseasonably mild, which has made the month go a little quicker than usual. However, it doesn't mean that it's been a quiet month in Carlow Educate Together! All of our classes have settled back into the new year nicely and we're delighted to see such happy young people running into school every morning. This February, we're looking forward to welcoming back Roisin from maternity leave and we have Friendship Week too! Keep an eye out for the details but one event that should be great fun will be a Day of Play! I want to welcome a new member of staff that you probably don't know - Frances is our new cleaning staff member. Frances started with us just before the holidays. We also said goodbye to Seán in 3rd class who has moved to another school. While we wait for Roisin to come back, Jenna is looking after 3rd class and even though it is only for a short time, I know already we're going to miss her. I hope you enjoy the updates below and until next month, keep happy, safe and learning.

Absences

Please remember to use our Aladdin App to explain any absences. An automated text messages goes out to families when they have missed 10, 15 and 20 days. Please do not worry about these messages if you have explained absences. After 20 days, whatever the reason, we must report to the welfare board of the numbers of children that have missed 20 or more days of school.

Parking

Thank you to everyone for your cooperation with regards to car parking in the school. Things are moving well at the moment and we are consistently able to empty the school within 9 minutes of the first classes coming out of school. Most people are now waiting until 2:30pm to arrive at the school so there are fewer cars on the main Athy Road. However, we still must keep pressure on the council to provide us with adequate facilities. You may have noticed that two schools in the county received council funding for car parking this year. Our Board of Management is making representations to the council at every opportunity and it is disappointing to see that our concerns seem to be falling on deaf ears. I would urge families to write to the council expressing your disappointment that our school has not been allocated extra car spaces.

Volunteering Opportunity

Can you volunteer 2hrs (or so) a week? Zieta is trying to get together a group of parents to volunteer in a classroom assistant programme. There are many children in our school that need some extra support who do not have access to an SNA. Our aim with this programme is to help bridge this gap and offer this support. If you are interested in joining please contact Zieta on 086 8472625.

Reminder: Irish Language Opportunities for Families

Our new Home School Community Liaison Teacher, Lorraine, has started in our school. We are delighted to have her! Lorraine has taught Irish in secondary school and is a great resource for our school to have. In light of this we are setting up a help group, “Ciorcal Gaeilge” (Irish Circle) for parents who want help with their child's Irish homework or just to practice or improve their Irish. We are offering a drop in service that will operate from the Parents’ Room on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1.45- 2.30

Collecting Children from other families

if you are collecting a child other than your own at any time, please make sure to speak to Siobhan first. If it is a case that you are picking up someone else's child at the end of the day, please let the class teacher know that you are doing so.

Upcoming Dates For Your Diary

February:

• 1st: School Closed Staff Training
• 8th: Clothing Collection Closing Date
• 11th-15th: Friendship Week
• 18th-22nd: Mid Term Break, School Closed

Breakfast Club

Our Breakfast Club is open for all children from 8:30am Monday to Friday. Come and join Gary and Laura for a slice of toast, juice and a chat before starting the day. There's no need to sign up - simply show up in the morning,

Cake Fridays

Join the Parents’ Group for their weekly Cake Fridays in the Parent Room after drop off.

Homework Club

If you wish to join the homework club, please contact Clare (clare@carloweducatetogether.ie).

Attendance and Lateness

We are monitoring attendance carefully this year.

Attendance this month is 92.4%. This is an improvement on this time last year. However, we need to be aiming for a 95% average.

Please ensure that your child is in school on time. The school opens at 8:30am for breakfast club and 8:35am for morning supervision. Classes start at 8:50am and all children must be in school by then. There are a number of children coming to school after 9am and classes are well underway by then. Our attendance team will be in touch to talk to families of children where this is proving to be a persistent issue.

Second Level Campaign

Please register your interest if you’d like Carlow to have a second level Educate Together school. https://secure.jotformpro.com/form/52224353965962. The group also has a Facebook Page, which we’d recommend you to join.

Volunteer

We’re always thrilled to have parents and families volunteering in the school. We had over 100 parents in school last year and we’d love to see more of you.

Nut Allergy

We have two pupils in our school with nut allergies. It is vital that no nuts ever come into our school. We cannot police every lunchbox so we are relying on you to cooperate with our nut ban.

Social Media

You can find us on various social media platforms:

YouTube – Search for Carlow Educate Together

Facebook – http://facebook/com/carlowetns

Twitter – http://twitter.com/carlowetns