Latest News
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
We hope that everyone has a wonderful, safe and happy St. Patrick’s Day. Enjoy the long weekend. We are so glad that we were able to have our very own school parade this year. Thank you to the Sacred Heart of Mary Sisters and the residents of St. Joseph’s Care Home for the lovely welcome.
Updates
The school will be closed tomorrow, Thursday 24th and Friday 25th February for the mid-term break.
The Department of Education has not yet sent updated guidance to schools about changes to Covid-19 measures. From what we have heard in the news, the girls are no longer required to wear face masks from Monday February 28th onwards. If they wish to continue wearing a mask, that is absolutely fine.
All of our other Covid-19 measures will remain in place until we have guidance from the DE.
Enjoy the mid-term break and as always, thank you for your support and co-operation in keeping our school community safe.
Friday 18th February – Things to Do on a Stormy Day
Girls, you did not expect to be at home today. Do your best to help out and to be kind to your Mam and Dad, sisters and brothers. Keeping busy is always a good idea so here are some suggestions for you to help pass the day. For the older girls, if you would like to, you can post a record of some of the activities you do on Seesaw. (Mams and Dads, we know that you will be having a busy day, so please don’t feel under pressure to post anything.) Most importantly, stay inside until the storm is over and stay safe.
Start the day with a nice, healthy breakfast.
Now, make a plan for the day. These activities might give you some ideas:
LITERACY
- Books and Reading
Sort the books you have into two piles – fiction and non-fiction. Choose a book to read. You can read it yourself or for someone in the family. Create an illustration for your book. Write a summary of a chapter or of the story.
- Nursery Rhymes, Poems and Songs
Entertain each other by saying all the Nursery Rhymes and poems you know, or sing your favourite songs out loud.
- Writing Time
Try some free writing. Give yourself 15 minutes and just enjoy writing whatever comes into your head.
Sit near a window and take a good look outside. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel? Now try writing an acrostic poem ‘STORMDAY’.
NUMERACY
- Board games and card games
Board games and card games are fun ways to improve our Maths skills. Find the Snakes and Ladders, Ludo, Frustration, Connect 4 or any other board games and have some fun.
- Kitchen Time
Can you help in the kitchen by making sandwiches or a fruit salad for lunch? If there’s time, maybe you could do some baking. (Ask Mam or Dad first and if it’s not a good time, then that’s okay).
- Hit the Button
GET CREATIVE
- Check out the ideas in the booklet at the bottom of this page
SPHE & HEALTH AND WELLBEING
- Exercise and Inspiration
Put on your favourite music and have a dance party. www.thenostalgiamachine.com has favourites for all the family. Why not learn about the amazing winter sports at the Beijing Winter Olympics? The Eurosport channel is broadcasting many of the events.
- Tidy Up Time
We always feel better when the space around us is tidy. Help everyone out by tidying your room – make the bed, hang up your clothes, sort out the drawers, match up your socks.
- Quiet Time – After a busy day, try these relaxing exercises.
Flower and Candle
This is a simple relaxation technique that encourages deep breathing.
Pretend you have a nice smelling flower in one hand and a slow burning candle in the other.
- Breathe in slowly through your nose as you smell the flower.
- Breathe out slowly through your mouth as you blow out the candle.
- Repeat a few times.
Lemon
This relaxation exercise releases muscle tension. Pretend you have a lemon in your hand.
- Reach up to the tree and pick a lemon with each hand.
- Squeeze the lemons hard to get all the juice out – squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.
- Throw the lemons on the floor and relax your hands.
- Then repeat, until you have enough juice for a glass of lemonade!
- After your last squeeze and throw, shake out your hands to relax!
Lazy Cat
This exercise releases muscle tension.
- Pretend you are a lazy cat that just woke up from a lovely long nap.
- Have a big yawn.
- And a meow.
Now stretch out your arms, legs and back – slowly like a cat – and relax
MAKER-STATIONS-HOME-PACKSchool Closed Tomorrow Friday 28th February
The Department of Education has directed schools in Waterford to close tomorrow, Friday 18th February. This is becuase Met Eireann has now issued a Status Red wind warning for Waterford. We appreciate that this is short notice for families. Please stay home and stay safe.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Wishing everyone in our school community a happy St. Valentine’s Day. Thank you to Ferrybank Community Group for the lovely Facebook message.
Information from the HSE
Schools have been asked by the DE and the HSE to share the following information:
COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years
The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) recommends parents and guardians consider vaccinating their 5 to 11 year old children.
COVID-19 vaccine is particularly recommended if children:
· Have a health condition that puts them at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19
· live with a younger child or adult who is at risk of severe illness if they get COVID-19 e.g. another child with complex medical needs, or an immunocompromised adult
The vaccine that will be offered to children aged 5 to 11 years is Comirnaty® Children’s formulation. Children in this age group will be given a smaller dose of the vaccine than adults. Parents and guardians can register their child for their vaccine online at https://vaccine.hse.ie/. As part of this stage of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, information for people considering vaccinating their children including information about the benefits and risk of vaccination and information about how to get vaccinated is available on https://bit.ly/HSEC19511
A cartoon strip has also been developed to help children understand what will happen when they go to a HSE clinic to get their COVID-19 vaccine https://bit.ly/C19Cartoon511 Page 2 of 2
Getting COVID-19 vaccines with other vaccines
NIAC advises that children aged 5 to 11 years wait at least 2 weeks between getting a COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines, like the flu vaccine or 4 in 1 and MMR vaccines. Children aged 2 to 17 years can get the free nasal flu vaccine through participating GPs and pharmacies until the end of this month. Information about the flu vaccination programme is available on the HSE website at www.hse.ie/flu. A list of pharmacies giving flu vaccines is also available on https://bit.ly/PhFluFinder Children in Junior Infants may also be due their 4 in 1 and MMR vaccine, school teams will work with your school to ensure where possible the vaccination programme continues and children whose parents have consented for them to receive 4in1 and MMR vaccine can do so.
Consent
Only parent(s) and legal guardian(s) are entitled to provide consent for vaccination for students under 16 years of age. A video covering information about consent is available from our office YouTube Channel at https://youtu.be/vE1X5AcwNgE
