27 May 2020

Good morning everyone,

I hope that you are all keeping well. I am sure that you are eager to know plans for taking pupils back to school, which as we now know will not be until late August/ September.

At this point, I cannot share a plan with you as detail and guidance will arrive over the next few weeks and months, which will govern the plan. I will say at this point however, as you will appreciate from News Updates, that the return will most probably consist of each child being in school for part of the week and engaging in Learning From Home for the other part of the week.

I am working with my Senior Leadership Team to work out the best way of achieving this to offer most support to families whilst also following PHA and DE advice. As stated, the goalposts are changing as the Covid 19 situation unfolds, but please trust that we are working away in the background and will keep you informed at each stage as we have definitive information to share.

I wish to alert you to a few pieces of information:

1.Our churches are beginning to reopen for private prayer- please refer to the guidance for use which is displayed on the home page of our website.

2. The week of 8th- 12th June has been designated as virtual school sports week. A recording will be shared by all teachers via Seesaw on Friday to provide further information. We envisage this being a great source of fun and enjoyment for us all. Hopefully between your GAA sessions that started recently and the Joe Wicks sessions which have been happening since the start of 'Lockdown' the children will be Sports Week ready!!

3. Please refer to the Learning From Home/Family Activities section on the website to enjoy the following items:

A) The Book Of Hopes- a beautiful publication from more than 100 children's writers and illustrators dedicated to carers, porters, cleaners, nurses and doctors.

B) STEM at home challenges, these will be very appealing to your children.

C) Let's Get Cooking section, this contains a lot of tasty recipes at this stage and a subsection entitled 'On The Go and Treats.....'

4. I know that school work is a grind in the midst of the lovely weather but as we enter June next week can I urge parents to commit daily, for the final month, to the digital programmes that we have allocated to your children. These include Nessy, Lexia, Bug Club, Mathletics, Accelerated Reader. You will know which ones your child has access to. We have been monitoring home usage and it has declined in the last few weeks, understandably, I admit, but regrettably too, as the licences are expensive but lead to definite improvements when used daily for a short period- 10/15 minutes.

5. I thank you for the wonderful photographs submitted to the website throughout the week, in support of the school council's 'Inside Out/ Back To Front/ Upside down event'. Please continue to send photographs into the 'Message From Home' section on stclaresabbey@gmail.com.

We now have quite a gallery and a recent addition entitled 'Help Hope Grow' outlines a lovely community project embarked upon by two of our pupils, you may be able to participate in it, it is a lovely idea. To read more on "Hope" please visit our, A Message from home page.

6. P7 pupils' post primary notifications:

As per recent app message these should be received by each child on 4th June, if any parent needs to contact me re this, please do so by:

A) The private messaging feature on Seesaw or

B) Email mmonaghan771@c2kni.net

I conclude by reminding our P7s that this Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. That was the occasion when Jesus' apostles received the Holy Spirit. At that point in their lives they really needed strength and courage to continue in their roles of being disciples as they were scared and missing their friend Jesus, who had returned to Heaven just days before on Ascension day.

Some of our precious P7s may not be happy, initially, with the content of the letter that they receive on 4th June, but I remind them of their confirmation day, just a few months ago and how they received the gifts of the Holy Spirit at that time. Because of this each of them posseses the strength that they need to embrace the next chapter of their lives. I shared with them at assembly, my belief that they will all be placed in the school that is right for them. God loves each one of them so much and he has a plan. Urge your child to trust in that and use their truly special and unique combination of gifts to commit to whichever one of our excellent post primary schools they are placed in, I know that they all have the potential to excel if they can do that.

With warmest regard to you all,

Mrs Monaghan