Dear parents and students,

Christmas is certainly in the air these days and there is a lot of preparation going on in classes, with decorations being made, Christmas poems being recited and who knows we might even have snow soon!

We have started putting up the school decorations. Our Christmas tree will arrive at the weekend, thanks to a kind donation. The PSG have been busy arranging the tree sale and I wish them all the best with that- thanks to all who have supported this initiative. Our Advent Calendar, created by 4^th class, is on display and we are counting down the days.

Friday December 11^th is Christmas Jumper Day – we will come back to you on details on that as soon as possible. Also, thanks to the PSG, we hope to have a Santa Grotto to visit too (observing all distancing and hygiene protocols of course) .

I am asking that children do not bring in Christmas cards to pass to others in class please. This is particularly important in the current climate given the possibility of spreading infection.

While we are not in a position to host a Christmas concert this year, we do hope to have a little insight into class celebrations of Christmas on video for you.

 

Autism Friendly Schools: We are delighted to be taking part in this project over the coming year. Two teachers will be leading out on the project and we will let you know what is happening in due course.

 

GRMA Day: Go Raibh Maith Agat Day is on December 11^th, a day that will acknowledge and celebrate the re-opening of schools this term. As you are all aware, we were invited to be part of a promotional video for this on Wednesday last. Thanks to one of our grandmothers, Rita Kelly, for linking us with this event and to the members of the Air Corps who were involved in organising the event and landing the helicopter beside the school. It was certainly exciting, even if many of the Santa hats flew away!

Well done to all the students of St Anne’s for a tremendous display. We hope to have access to the video soon and look forward to seeing it and sharing it with you.

 

Events at St Anne’s:

Covid restrictions have curtailed events at St Anne’s this term, but we have managed introduce some events in that time:

• GAA coaching continues with Kelly (junior classes)
• Dance Classes with Brenda have been going on for the past 4 weeks for the senior classes
• Visit of the Christy Ring Cup- we welcomed former students Drew Costllo and Seán Whelan to school last Monday. Both were on the winning team for the B All Ireland Hurling Championship (Christy Ring Cup) and they brought the cup in to show some classes on. Well done lads!
• Library- We are not in a position to use the school library at the moment due to restrictions. We have however started to introduce a mobile library in the school. Classes up to 2^nd class are using Library trolley – the teacher chooses some books from the library for the class trolley and children can take them on loan for a few days. The books are in quarantine on return and children take new books the next week. Happy reading to you all!

Some Reminders:

• I would be grateful if everyone would stick to the allotted times for entry and exit from the school. They system is working well and we want to maintain this success and keep everyone safe
• Healthy lunches: Children are generally very good at bringing healthy lunches to school. Over the past weeks, however, there has been some slippage with sweets, chocolate, crisps etc being brought in. A reminder to keep an eye on this please
• Nut allergies- of course we need to think of children throughout the school with nut allergies and other allergies. We can all protect them by not bringing in nuts or nut products to any class.

 

School Uniform:

I appreciate that the weather is getting colder and that classrooms may be colder than usual with increased ventilation. We have had a note from DES on ways of managing ventilation and children’s comfort and we will be putting these suggestions in place.

A reminder that all children can wear school trousers if they so wish. Additional jumpers, fleeces, blankets etc can be brought in and coats can be worn in class if necessary. We will keep activity and movement breaks going to keep warm too.

 

Well done to everyone on keeping to our restrictions over the past weeks. It may be different for us all, but we are making a difference too!

 

Stay Safe everyone,

M Manley