https://goodcounselgns.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Face-Covering-for-Primary-Pupils.pdf
CMO-Letter-to-schools-FINAL_Dear Mams and Dads,
Late yesterday evening, the Department of Education sent a letter to schools about mask wearing for 3rd to 6th Class pupils. Lots of points are still unclear, and when we have had further guidance, we will contact you. In the meantime, we will continue with our policy of doing everything we can to keep the girls and the staff safe.
This week, teachers will talk to the girls abut mask-wearing. They will explain how to put on and take off masks safely and we will do everything we can to re-assure anyone who is feeling a bit upset or anxious. This little video may be helpful for you in talking to your children about mask wearing.
There is lots of discussion in the media, with lots of different opinions being aired so I would ask you please, to keep calm and wait for further updates from our school.
Thank you, as always, for your great support and co-operation. Things change every day, and it can be hard to keep up sometimes, but if we continue to work together for the benefit of the girls, I am sure that we can make our way safely through the next few weeks up to the Christmas break.
Yours sincerely,
C. O’Reilly
It’s been a very busy first term and 6th class have hit the ground running. I’m delighted with all the work and effort that they are putting into their school work each and every day. I can’t believe it has come to that special time of year again. The next few weeks will fly in and the girls are getting excited.
There is such variety every week and here is a mention of just some of the work the girls have been doing.
In English the girls have come to the final stages of their Report writing genre. They have worked on this over the last 8 weeks and are currently writing it in the Publishing Copies and typing it on a document on our tablets to be saved to a USB.
In Maths the girls have been doing some interest graph relevant to their own lives: a bar chart on their favourite foods; a multiple bar graph on rainfall last year and this year; a bar line graph on absences in 6th class; and a trend graph on weekly covid cases. All very interesting data and recordings.
They have been working on their Christmas Art projects and I will keep you posted with photos as we go along.
Fifth Class have been very busy in English, Science, SPHE and Art this week learning about the Human Digestive System, it’s parts and their functions.
The contents of your stomach after 24 hours!
The contents of your stomach going into the small intestine!
The nutrients of the food in your small intestine seeping through its walls, entering your blood stream to travel around the body, for the body to use appropriately.
Pod Two’s finished product – Well done girls! Great team work!
Visit our cool school Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) website to see all the latest from our future scientists and what they were up to during Science Week.
Without our Masks
Dear Mams, Dads, Pupils and Staff,
Over the past few weeks, photographs have been appearing on doors around the school. We realised that some of our pupils have never seen staff members without their masks so we thought it would be a nice idea to take photos of each staff member and put them up for the children to see.
Each door now has a photo of the person or people who work in that room, without their masks, and we hope that all the smiles will help the children to feel more comfortable as they come and go every day.
This week, the Minister of Education made a special appeal to families not to have play dates or birthday parties in their homes. This is not to spoil anyone’s fun – we all know how important it is that we do everything we can to try to keep schools open.
As always, we hope that you and your family are staying safe. We are very grateful to all of you who are so considerate in keeping the girls at home if they are unwell. Please continue to use the email address for your child’s teacher to let him/her know that your daughter will be absent.
Yours sincerely,
C. O’Reilly – Principal
Reminder
On Friday 19th November, the school will close early for all pupils.
Junior and Senior Infants @ 12.15p.m
First and Second Classes at 12.25p.m
All other classes at 12.30p.m.
This is to facilitate in-service training for the Staff in the Primary Language Curriculum.
Sacramental Preparation
Meetings will take place next week for the parents of children who are preparing for First Penance, First Holy Communion and Confirmation during the 2021-2022 school year. Invitations to the meetings were sent home with the girls on Wednesday. If you didn’t receive one, please contact the school office as details on how to register your child to receive the Sacraments will be provided at the meeting.
Amber Flag News from Mrs. Shanahan
Thank you very much to all our families for your contribution of €170 towards Pieta House. Our Amber Flag noticeboard is now up and running.
It’s A Boy!
We were all delighted to hear the news this morning that Ms. Fenton’s little grandson had arrived safe and well during the night. Huge Congratulations from all of us here at Good Counsel to Ms. Fenton and her family at this very special time.
Reviewed and Updated Policies
The Board of Management reviewed and updated two important policies:
The Child Protection Safety Statement and Risk Assessment and
The Anti-Bullying Policy
The updated documents will be available shortly on the website.
Covid Learning and Support Scheme (CLASS)
The Department of Education is very aware that the children were home learning for almost 7 months from March 2020 to June 2021. Because of this, it has provided special funding this school year so that schools can provide some extra support to all our pupils.
Ms. Claire Harney has joined our school team for the next 15 weeks so that we can offer some additional support to the girls. We are doing this in a variety of ways – small groups, one-to-one sessions and lots of in-class support. If you hear that your child is working with a different teacher, it doesn’t mean there is a problem, it just means that we are lucky enough to be able to give some extra attention to all the children this year. We hope that Ms. Harney enjoys her time at our school.
