Dear Parents of 2nd and 3rd Class Pupils,
Hopefully you are all keeping well and had an enjoyable summer! That time of year is fast approaching again as we look ahead to this Thursday 27th August when your child will be returning to school. I am delighted to have the opportunity to teach this bubbly and enthusiastic class and I look forward to working closely with all parents throughout the year.
As you may have seen in the news in recent weeks, schools and classrooms will be following very careful guidelines to ensure the safety of every pupil and staff member in our school community. In my “Back to School” video, I explain some of the measures we will be taking to ensure everybody in our class is doing everything that they can to keep one another safe during these very strange and unprecedented times.
On entry to the classroom; in the morning, after break and after lunch, each child will be asked to wash their hands using the correct technique shown in this video. It would be greatly appreciated if this video could be shown at home prior to your child returning to school. It will be shown again in school this Thursday.
In my video, I mention that our classrooms are now known as “bubbles”. 2nd and 3rd Class will be known as “The Funny Bubble”. It is really important that our “bubble” stays to themselves as much as possible during school time. I also mention that 2nd and 3rd Class, “The Funny Bubble”, will be divided into 5 different “pods” in the classroom. Please see the PDF at the bottom of this article to find your child’s “pod”.
Each child will have a basket on their desk in which they can store any pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, colours, etc that they need in school. The children unfortunately will be asked to use their own belongings and not to share with other pupils. These belongings will be left in school and not taken home.
2nd and 3rd Class will be lining up on the basketball court to enter school. They will line up facing the school behind the red dot. Their line is the one that is closest to where the teachers park their cars in case there is any confusion. Please encourage your child to go straight to their line in the morning when they get to school.
Ms. McCarthy will be posting a video to our website this week to show everybody the layout of the school and anything that may be new that children will need to note. All of this will be explained to the children during the first couple of days of school and I don’t want any of them to worry about these new routines. They are new to everybody, even the teachers and we will all get used to them once we settle in!
For now, if you have any concerns, queries or questions please feel free to email me at any time Monday-Friday between 9am and 6pm and I will be sure to get back to you as quickly as I possibly can. I am really looking forward to getting to know your child and working with them this year. My new school email address is ballymittyafoley@gmail.com .
Below I have also attached the Return to School survey which must be emailed to my email address before Thursday 27th August.
I am just going to also remind everybody that there are some very serious allergies in our class and just to be mindful when sending lunch with your child that food should not contain eggs or nuts.
Thank you all so much for your understanding during these very strange and different times. I look forward to seeing your child this Thursday for our first day back. Until then, take care and enjoy the last few days of summer holidays!
All the best,
Áine Foley
(2nd and 3rd Class Teacher)
NB Return to School Survey
Video
Pod Arrangement
Hand washing Video