3rd Update: Reopening Eyrecourt School
Posted on Thursday, August 20, 2020Dear Parent/Guardian, Staff Member,
In this update, I will outline further preparations undertaken for September 1st. We had another Board of Management meeting on Wednesday 19th and some key decisions were made.
Cleaning
Our cleaner Helen finished with us during the summer due to her own family and work commitments. At this Board of Management meeting Deco Cleaning Services Ballinasloe were appointed as school cleaners until Christmas. The school will be "deep cleaned" this Saturday. When we return in September, the school will be cleaned every evening. Additionally this company use a "fogging" machine to sanitise the school 3 times a week. An explanation of this process will be in next week's update.
Booklists
As so much time was missed last year and to alleviate pressure on families, the photocopying and art costs on the booklists have been updated as follows:
First child/Oldest in family €40
2nd and subsequent children €20 per child
This money is vital to purchase art materials and photocopy content for the pupils. Schools are grossly underfunded and unfortunately we need these monies to run our school. However we do recognise that while pupils were at home last year, there was no photocopying and art materials used during this time.
Books can be paid for by bank transfer. Contact Patricia next week for bank details [email protected]
We still accept cash but would prefer to be "cashless" as much as possible. We always support parents who have difficulty paying and offer a payment scheme where an amount per week can be paid. Contact Patricia for details of this.
Pupil Hygiene
Uniforms were discussed in last weeks update and since then it has featured in the media.
Experts say hard plastic surfaces are more of a risk of carrying the virus. It would be important to wash your child's lunch box each evening. We encourage our pupils to have a tidy lunchbox that fits in their school bag. This is especially important this year as pupils will be walking around their classroom less and should be able to store their belongings beside them.
Pencil cases are also a problem. We ask that you have one pencil case to leave at school and one to keep at home. Children will need their own colours/crayons/colouring pencils as they cannot be sharing with other children. They don't need to be new! They just need their own little set for keeping at school.
This update is short as we have our staff meeting next Monday and will have a lot more details and information for next Thursday's update. We will also be having another board meeting to finalise all the little details before our return.
In the meantime, it is really important that you all look forward to the return to school. Try not to get caught up in the frenzy on social media and rest assured that the Board of Management, Principal and Staff of Eyrecourt NS are researching and following all guidelines outlined for schools. We hope our pupils look forward to seeing their friends and while there will be some adjustments in the school, we will return to learning, playing and having fun as usual.
As always, if you have any concerns, please contact me on [email protected], I will be in school most of next week so I am contactable there as well.
Until next week,
Kind regards,
Éilis Treacy
Principal
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