Dear Parents, Pupils and Staff,
So, we have reached the end of Week 3 of Home Learning. We all had hoped this would be the end of home learning and that school would reopen. But there is no news yet. There may well be a phased re-opening of our schools and that would be a good way to get us all back safely. I will keep you informed of any news.
For now, we need to plan for further work for the next 3 weeks. I know that the 3 senior groups - 2nd/3rd, 4th/5th and 5th/6th will receive their work through Seesaw and there may be some other arrangements in place for pupils who attend Special Education with Ms. Fitzharris and Ms. Bohanna. At the junior end, I know Ms. Franey and Ms. O'Brien have been in touch with parents and packs were collected today, if requested. An Choill Bheag and An Choill Mhór teachers and SNAs will continue to support pupils through the articles on our website and through Seesaw.
I have put together a little survey for parents just to get your feedback about Home Learning at the moment. You can access the survey by clicking: http://ballymittyns.ie/Forms/Home-Learning-Survey/101262/Index.html - This survey will be available until next Friday Feb. 5th. You can also fill this out on your phone. Click on the top three lines in left hand corner of your app home page. Click Forms and you will see the Home Learning Survey.
Zoom meetings: Our Zoom meetings have been a great success every week. Please encourage your child to partake as the classes love to see each other. We also remind parents to encourage children to stay in one spot when on Zoom and to show their full face in the camera. It just makes it less busy and easier for everyone to focus. From the staff perspective, it is so nice to see everyone and for that hour it almost feels like we are back in school.
Our junior classes will plan a Zoom on the week of Feb. 8th.
Junior/Senior Infant Zoom with Ms. Franey, Geraldine our SNA and myself will be on Monday February 8th at 11am.
Senior Infants/1st Class Zoom with Ms. O'Brien and myself will be on Tuesday February 9th at 11am.
How to join Zoom: Download the Zoom app from your playstore on your laptop, iPad, tablet or phone. You will get a Meeting ID and Password from Ms. Franey/Ms. O'Brien. These IDs and passwords will be put up as a notification on Seesaw.
Communication: All teachers and SNAs are in regular contact by email and Seesaw with the parents and pupils. I often call parents too just to check in with families for various reasons. Just to note if you receive a phone calls from a staff member it will come up as Blocked Number/Unknown Number if they are not calling from school. If you need a call please email your class teacher on their email or myself at ballymittyns@gmail.com
Seesaw: We have 94% engagement on Seesaw - well done to one and all. The teachers love to correct the work. If you are taking a photo of your work through the Seesaw app sometimes the quality of the photo can be poor. Instead, you could take a copy with your own phone/iPad and upload it as a file. You can also upload a drawing, a video or a note. If you need any support with this just let your class teacher know.
Junior Infants Enrolment Forms: Please download the form from our website if your child is starting in Sept. 2021.
Yoga: Tina will record some more Yoga videos for us. I will upload them as they come in so keep an eye on the website. The teachers will also add them to their articles or seesaw choice boards.
Happy Friday to all our wonderful pupils - if we were to look back at this time last year and know what was ahead there would have been great fear, reluctance and worry. But look at what you have all learned in different ways. You will be talking, reading and writing about this time in years to come and you will say " We did it", " We got through it", "We were strong and brave". As the Mulan song goes:
Losing is easy, winning takes bravery.
Please stay at home now so that we can return to school soon.
Regards,
Audrey