Summer Holidays 2020
Posted on Friday, June 19, 2020Dear Parents and Guardians,
As we come to our final week of school year 2019-2020 I want to thank you all most sincerely for your support and cooperation with the school since March 12th. We could never have envisaged what lay ahead on that Thursday when the Taoiseach announced schools would close.
It has been a very challenging few months but there has been great positivity and support from home. All our pupils are blessed to have such kind parents who always do their best for their children. Next Friday signals the beginning of a well deserved summer break.
We are still awaiting clear direction on September and that probably won’t come until later in the summer. The very worst case scenario is that the 2m distancing rule will still apply. The Minister of Education recognises that our classrooms are small and overcrowded and if the 2m rule applies we could only teach a few pupils at a time in school and continue somehow to teach online. This is the very worst case scenario.
The best case scenario is that we will be able to take all our students back and have a strong focus on handwashing and cleanliness. We would have to put some procedures in place to ensure proper distancing on corridors and during 2pm infant collection for example. Hopefully this will be our reality in September and we should have guidance on this in August for all schools.
For now, we’ll finish off our school year properly. On Monday, 6th class will have their graduation at 2pm on Zoom. As this is an unusual year, we have tried to make it extra special for Eva, John, Damien, Rebecca, Orla and Gráinne. We will also see them in the Autumn preparing for their confirmation and I still hope to organise a little outing for them then.
For the rest of our pupils, we have one week left. We will continue with our work and focus on wellbeing and setting goals for our summer break. There is a page on our website here with activities and ideas for the summer. Parents might like to refer to it when the days get long.
This week we will also tidy out our school bags. The rental books will be returned to the school in September. We ask that you would hold on to all your copies and workbooks as we would like to see them in September to set targets in our teaching. We will be looking at their handwriting, spelling, Maths and it will help us plan what to focus on.
This does not mean families should fill up every workbook in a panic this week! We won’t be assessing how much was done, we will be looking to see what we need to work on as teachers.
This has been a very trying year on staff as well and I must commend our teachers Mrs Barrett, Mr Barrett and Ms McGrath for all their care and attention to their students in their teaching. You’ll see very little activity at the school in July as we are taking a full break from school.
We will hopefully have clearer guidance in August and I will be available by email [email protected] for any queries from then on. Eyrecourt NS will reopen on Tuesday 1st of September but I will be in contact in the last week of August with a clear outline of how the school will open.
Kind regards,
Éilis Treacy
Principal
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