January/February
Dear families,
Last night, we received confirmation from the Department of Education that schools will begin the next phase of reopening this Monday. This will mean that all children from Junior Infants to 2nd class will return to school on March 1st. The following information is very important so please make sure to read it carefully.
The most important thing of all is your family’s health, safety and wellbeing. As a family, you need to assess your own situation. It is only fair to be honest and quite clear that the government has provided no new safety measures for schools. NPHET believes it is safe enough to allow full classes of young pupils to return to school. However, you need to make the right decision for your family. From my point of view, I will support whatever decision you make as a family. If you are not planning on returning your child to school, please contact your class teacher directly to let them know.
You will need to fill in a Return to School Declaration form the day before your child(ren) return to school. This form also needs to be filled in any time your child(ren) are absent from school. We have enabled this form on your Aladdin App. Unfortunately, your child(ren) will not be able to return to school unless this form is completed. The form is available on your Aladdin App and will be enabled for filling out from 3pm on Sunday. PLEASE PLEASE make sure you have the Aladdin App downloaded by Friday so you can fill in the form. If you cannot download the app on your phone, please phone the school office and we will find an alternative way for you to self-declare.
Some of our staff will not be returning to work due to being categorised as medically vulnerable. This means that your child(ren) may have a new teacher or SNA for the time being.
We may be in a position to offer some limited remote learning from staff who are working remotely for vulnerable students during this phase of reopening. This will kick in once we know who has returned to school. Given that we have no extra staffing, this will be very limited. Class teachers will not be able to provide both onsite and remote teaching while schools are open.
Bring back all books and technology. Make sure to pack bags on Friday and don’t touch them until Monday to allow as much time for quarantining. After Monday, please try to avoid sending in bags as before.
School lunches need to be ordered through the app as outlined in the text earlier today. if you have any problems logging in contact Rhonda on rhonda@carloweducatetogether.ie and she will help you out.
Dropping off and picking up arrangements remain the same as before the winter break. Please remember that no congregation of adults should take place on the grounds. If you are on the school grounds, you must wear a face covering. If driving, please avoid exiting your car when dropping off or picking up where possible. If you have a new person picking your child up from school, please make sure to let the teacher know who it is and please ensure that you remind them of the traffic system in place.
In order to prepare for opening on Monday, staff will require some time to set up their classrooms. On Friday the school will be open to staff for this purpose. This will mean that there will be limited interaction on SeeSaw or Google Classroom on that day
Play Together have no confirmation yet of how they will be running. They will be in touch with families as soon as they hear from their representative bodies. For the moment, there is no provision for non-essential workers.
Buses will be running as normal so please make sure to get in contact with yuor drive if your circumstances have changed since before the winter break.
It is very important that you are extra vigilant about feeling sick. If your child feels under the weather in any way, please err on the side of caution. We need to keep this virus out of the school and we can only do that if we work really hard.
If you have any questions related to the school reopening, please get in touch with me and I will try and get back to you as soon as I can. As you can appreciate the next few days are going to be very busy. I will be hosting a live Q and A session on Facebook and YouTube tomorrow at 9:30am to go through this information and answer any questions.
Kindest regards
Simon