St Bridget’s NS, Errew, Castlebar, Co Mayo F23 E291

094 9030615 | errewns.com | Roll No. 18503C

Dear Parents,

We are settling nicely into the school year and we wish to bring you some updates to keep you informed.

So Far so Great!

So far we have achieved a huge amount of work in our class contexts. We couldn’t have envisaged such a successful return to school. Already we have completed several areas within our thematic curricular plans and all staff are delighted with progress made. This is a remarkable and an excellent start to the year. Generally, we have had few interruptions to the school day and we have saved valuable time as we haven’t been actively planning homework tasks- this means teaching time has been solid and meaningful.

Homework

1. Homework will begin from this week in a limited capacity – we will send home homework each week with assigned work for three evenings only (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday), and ask that the children send their work back into school on Thursday, as applicable. This allows a period of time for sanitising/correction.  Not all elements need to be returned, this depends on the work set.
2. Homework specifics will vary from class to class- some have reading/léitheoireacht, some have maths, some have spelling-work and some have additional-needs work etc. Your child’s class teacher is planning what works best for your child’s class group so things may change. Please contact your child’s teacher/ Special Needs Teacher via email if you need clarification; we certainly envisage teething problems while we establish workable routines!
3. There will be no homework for infant classes at present.
4. We will send school copies home before Hallowe’en break if you wish to see what your child has been doing at school and request their return to school by Friday (of the Hallowe’en break).
5. Some households enjoyed and benefited from the no-homework phase- it suited their circumstances and situations in these difficult times. We wish to emphasise that homework is only beneficial if it is explored in a calm and consistent routine.  Please do not feel under pressure to complete homework if it doesn’t suit your needs as a family – you may have a busy schedule or indeed your child may need the break after these exceptionally busy school days. We feel there is huge value in chatting to your child about their day and discuss what they did, learned and encountered- value social work as well as academic work, and this can be done instead of other homework. For younger children, reading to/with your child is most beneficial.  There will be homework aplenty in the future, so during these times we ask that you do what you can or suits your needs- but again, please don’t feel under pressure. We’re trying to design homework tasks that are non-taxing and practice-based and we consider the child’s school-day to be enough for most children at this time.

Hallowe’en Update!

On the Friday, 23rd October, the children are welcome to wear their costumes into school but not face-coverings or masks please. During the day, at the teacher’s discretion, the children may remove their costumes and can pack these away into a ‘bag for life’ into their school bags.  They can wear their uniforms beneath their costumes with hoodies/tops in their bags for comfort later on.

A gentle reminder– when visiting school, please observe the contact tracing log right inside the main door, and please remember that an appointment is necessary to access the school building at all times.  We are bound by DES and HSE guidance on these issues; teachers are in class and not free to ensure you sign the logbook- so we ask you to be mindful of yourself when you are at the building, with our thanks.

Once again, we are more than happy with our return to school- thank you all for helping us stay safe.

Le Meas,

Evanna Charlton, Príomhoide.