News Archive – Scoil Mhuire na Trócaire

17^th April

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope you and your family had a lovely Easter and some well-earned rest. Thank God the weather was so good, I’m sure the break from schoolwork cleared the heads and hopefully children will come back to their new “home learning” refreshed and ready to do their best again.

We want to keep the lines of communication open with you and your child so thank you for creating a new Gmail address for your child. If you haven’t had time to do that yet, please read my letter from 3^rd April (see below) and follow the steps outlined. I would also be grateful if parents could email me at dsweeneysmntardee@gmail.com so that I have an up-to-date parent email address for all families. If you have any questions or concerns, you are welcome to email me or your child’s teacher.

Our teachers have prepared suggested learning activities for the week of 20^th-24^th April, these are posted below, and your child’s teacher will also email the work. We encourage you to maintain some routine for children and so the activities teachers have prepared can provide a structure to help you keep children’s brains ticking over while at home. However, I know I speak for all our staff when I say that we are not expecting you to run a school at the kitchen table every day. Trying to work, parent, keep children entertained and juggle all your other commitments is challenging at the best of times, so trying to educate children as well can cause undue stress for you and your child. Please just do your best, a little bit every week will help children maintain their skills and knowledge. Children the world over are in the same boat and our teachers will bridge any gaps in children’s learning when we get back to our classrooms.

Please talk to your child about the need to balance online activities with other ways of learning and with exercise and creative play. Online activity needs to be monitored and now is a good time to have that chat with your child.

Agree some simple rules around devices, where and how long your child can be on devices, device-free mealtimes, games they can play etc.
Talk about the fun stuff as well as the potential bad stuff they may encounter online. Talk about the fact that people may not always be who they say they are online. Talk about being kind online.
Keep informed about the apps and games your children use and how to set privacy settings and parental controls. Check out Webwise.ie, cybersafeireland.org and commonsensemedia.org to learn more.
Visit https://sites.google.com/cybersafeireland.org/csi-stuck-at-home/home which has a hub of recommended educational apps, games and resources.
The most important thing is to let your children know they can come to you about online content that makes them uncomfortable or that they’re not sure about. If they think this may result in them losing their device this will lessen the chances of them coming to you….it’s best to talk over the problem calmly and to help your child learn how to prevent it happening again.

So that’s all for now. I’ll email all the girls this week so tell your child I’m looking forward to hearing from her with all her news!

Kind regards,

Mrs. Sweeney

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Thank you for setting up your child’s new school Gmail address. We want to communicate with our pupils and parents by email in a positive, supportive way. As this is a new way of communicating with pupils, we would like to offer some guidance for families:

We ask all families to supervise their child’s online learning work. Please monitor your child’s emails to teacher to ensure you are happy with the content.
When/If requested by teacher, pupils may email their work or projects to teacher for feedback.
Every Friday teachers will email new Home Learning Activities which will be the suggested work for the following week. This work will also be posted on our school website.
Teachers will endeavour to reply to pupils’ email correspondence in a timely manner.
Please email teacher during school hours.
Email correspondence between your child and her teacher is strictly confidential and should not be copied or re-distributed in any manner.

Thank you for you very good work to date supporting your child’s home learning activities.

Mrs Sweeney & staff

Information for Parents: How to Register/Login for Online Schoolbooks

Most of the schoolbook publishers have opened access to their online books and activities so we recommend that you sign up to these if you can as we have included lots of resources from these websites in our work.

We will try to send direct links to resources to make things easier for you but unfortunately sometimes the link may not work, and you may need to search for the resource manually on the website or copy the link into your browser.

Please follow the instructions to access schoolbooks online here: Schoolbooks Online Instructions

3^rd April 2020

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope that you and your family are keeping well. Three weeks have passed since we’ve been in school and it’s safe to say that we miss being in our classrooms. In the likely event that school closures will extend beyond 19^th April our teachers are busy preparing learning activities for after the Easter holidays and are working hard to make this work as accessible as possible. The suggested work will be forwarded to you by 17^th April.

Please don’t be under pressure to get all the suggested work done or to follow the routine of a school day – just do what works best for your family. Families face new challenges these days and have new priorities. I’m sure many parents are working in front line services, in health care, in shops, delivery services and many more – we are so grateful to you…thank you. We hope the Easter break will give children time to relax, to play and to take a break from the more formal aspects of schoolwork.

In the coming weeks our teachers would like to further support you and your child with the home learning activities, so we want to set up an email contact between your child and her teacher. All pupils will need parental help and supervision with this form of communication and realistically younger pupils will need their parents to manage emails.

Set Up Gmail for your Child

Steps to follow:

At your earliest convenience please create a new Gmail account for your daughter. You can do this on any device – a phone will do, but a PC, laptop, iPad or tablet is best.
For help with this Google “Create a Gmail account” or click here
Create your child’s new Gmail account with your child’s initial, surname and class followed by smnt@gmail.com

for example

Mary Smith in 6^th class would use msmith6thsmnt@gmail.com
Tina Murphy in Junior Infants would use tmurphyJIsmnt@gmail.com
Use JI for Junior Infants, SI for Senior Infants, 1st for First class and so on.

Remember to write down/remember your password!
You can install the Gmail app on your iPhone, iPad or android device.
If you have more than one daughter in Scoil Mhuire na Trócaire you need to set up a new Gmail account for each of your daughters.
When you have your new Gmail account set up please send an email to your child’s teacher using her address from the list below. In the email please write your own name, your child’s name and the teacher’s name.
Please send a separate email to me at dsweeneysmntardee@gmail.com and make sure to include your name, your child’s name and her class.
If your child attends Ms Lynch or Ms Sheridan for extra help with English, maths or other support please email the relevant teacher as well, once again stating your child’s name and class.

When all the emails are collated your child’s teacher(s) will send a “Welcome” email to her class. We will also email a list of guidelines that will help everyone to engage positively with this new system. This remote learning is new to all of us, but we will work through any teething problems together. We await further clarification from the Department of Education about school closures and we will contact you as soon as this information is announced.

Thank you for your attention to this letter and I wish you and your family a happy and safe Easter.

Kind regards

Mrs Sweeney, Principal.

Class	Teacher	Gmail address
Junior Infants	Mrs K Rust	krustsmntardee@gmail.com
Senior Infants	Ms D McGeeney	dmcgeeneysmntardee@gmail.com
Senior Infants	Ms D Haughian	dhaughiansmntardee@gmail.com
1^st Class	Ms E Farrell	efarrellsmntardee@gmail.com
2^nd Class	Mrs M O’Malley	momalleysmntardee@gmail.com
2^nd Class	Ms J Clinton	jclintonsmntardee@gmail.com
3^rd Class	Ms Greenan & Ms McClean	3rdsmntardee@gmail.com
4^th Class	Ms S Mason	smasonsmnt@gmail.com
5^th Class	Ms E Sheridan	esheridansmntardee@gmail.com
5^th Class	Ms R Clerkin	rclerkinsmntardee@gmail.com
6^th Class	Ms O McKenna	omckennasmntardee@gmail.com
Sp. Education Teacher	Ms C Lynch	clynchsmntardee@gmail.com
Sp. Education Teacher	Ms C Sheridan	csheridan145@gmail.com
All parents to email Principal	Mrs D Sweeney	dsweeneysmntardee@gmail.com

25^th March 2020

Dear Parents/Guardians

I hope you and your family are keeping well during these very tough and worrying days. As stated in our previous letters and texts, the priority for all families is to keep everyone safe and well and to cope with the new challenges we’re facing.

You are probably aware that our Taoiseach has announced that school closures will extend until April 19^th. The 12^th of March, when schools closed, already seems like a long time ago. On that day we sent work home to cover the two-week period up to 27^th March. Our teachers have prepared work for the week of Monday 30^th March to Friday 3^rd April and this will be posted on our website on Friday 27^th March. Meanwhile, we are exploring new ways of communicating with you and we will share our plans with you in the coming weeks. This is an experience that none of us has ever had before and we thank you for your patience and support as we work to manage it with you.

During the “Easter Break” we would encourage pupils to catch up on any unfinished work, enjoy the great outdoors whilst observing social distancing, do fun activities like making Easter cards and playing board games, learn some age-appropriate life skills ( for example learn how to tie laces or for older pupils learn to sort the laundry & turn on the washing machine at the right setting etc) . Focus on making positive memories of these extraordinary times we’re living through.

As a parent I am very aware of the challenges families face in relation to this new way of schoolwork. I know many of you may be working from home so there may be limited time and IT facilities to accommodate everyone’s needs. Please don’t be under too much pressure to try to replicate the work of teachers. Remind children that their education is important but don’t let schoolwork be a source of conflict or stress in your home. Happy minds all round is more important than worksheets completed. One to two hours of “schoolwork” a day, with breaks as needed, will go a long way and all you and your child can do is “your best”.

These are unprecedented times and children may pick up on the anxiety in this new world we’re living in. The reality of having to stay at home, not seeing their friends is probably sinking in. You may see some changes in their behaviour, and this is normal under the circumstances. Right now, children need to feel loved and re-assured, so take the time to talk, relax and share some reading time together…. when all else fails…. Read, read, read!

We’ll be in contact again very soon,

Kind regards,

Mrs Sweeney

12^th March 2020

Dear Parent(s) / Guardian(s)

We have been advised by the HSE / Department of Education and Skills to close our school for a period of time, from 6pm today 12^th March to 29^th March.

We fully understand that you are concerned about your daughter’s welfare and education during this period of school closure.

Our teachers have planned some activities to help your child continue with learning at home for a two-week period. The necessary books are in your child’s school bag. We recognise that this is not a substitute for actual teaching in school but will help children practise some skills they have been working on. The activities listed should be spread over the two-week period and any guidance and support you can offer will be useful.
If you have access to the internet in your home, we have also listed some Website Activities that children can explore.
Your priority is to keep your children and family safe and well. Keep up the good work reminding children to wash hands properly and often and to sneeze/cough into the bend of their elbow.
Please exercise good judgement and best practice to ensure you, your family and our community at school and at home keep safe and well. There are many vulnerable people in our communities and it’s our duty to do as much as we can to protect our school family and those at home. Please continue to follow all the advice, guidance and up to date information on the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) at www.hse.ie

Re-assure your child that things will be alright and that their teachers are looking forward to seeing them soon. Please note that any information regarding the re-opening of school and other updates will be texted to you.

We look forward to seeing all our pupils and families back in school soon and we wish you and your family an illness free break from school.

Yours sincerely

Deirdre Sweeney & staff

Please click below for more information on how to talk to your child about Covid-19:

https://www.education.ie/en/The-Department/Announcements/talking-to-children-and-young-people-about-covid-19-coronavirus-advice-for-parents-and-schools.pdf

We have uploaded some activity sheets to keep your daughter/s involved during the school closure. Please click on the links below to access the activity sheets for your children:

Please note: These worksheets open in a new window. You may need to allow popups from the school website in your browser.