Dear Parents,
We hope you and your families are well and that your child is looking forward to returning to school. In the case of our new 1st Years we hope they are excited and looking forward to starting their post primary education with us here in Ardgillan. We cannot wait to have all of our students here on site with us again!
We are working very hard here in the school preparing for a safe reopening. Our Covid 19 Response Plan has been prepared and shared with our Parent Council in advance of our PA meeting tomorrow evening. This and the Appendix 4 Covid 19 Risk assessment will then be brought to our Board of Management meeting on Wednesday. Once both have been ratified by the BOM we will publish them on our school website.
We know you are anxious to have more information about how the school will operate this year and so we would like to share the following with you:
In the interests of the health and safety of all members of our school community we are requesting that all students, staff and visitors to our school wear masks when on the school campus.
We are also advising that every child have spare face masks, a small bottle of hand sanitiser, antiseptic wipes, a pack of tissues and a bottle of water with them every day.
All students will need for their initial return school is the above and a pen. There is no need to bring anything else to school on the first day
Lockers will not be available for students to use this year.
As lockers are not in use we are asking students not to bring their mobile phone to school this year. If you need to get a message to your child, you can phone the main office and we will get the message to them and likewise if your child needs to contact you for any reason they can come to the main office and we will phone home for them.
Children are encouraged to walk or cycle to school. Please note that due to the building works there will be no access for cars to the campus before, during or after school.
We will have staggered arrival times and dedicated doors for different year groups. This information will be shared with your child during their induction on their return to school.
We will also have staggered lunch breaks this year with the Junior School being on lunch from 12.00 to 12.40 and the Senior School from 12.40 until 1.20. As always, no student may leave the school grounds during lunchtime.
The canteen will operate in a limited capacity for the first few weeks – further details will be posted on the school website tomorrow. Lunch boxes and reusable bottles should be of a type that can be easily wiped clean
Full school uniform should be worn everyday but we would ask that the uniform is kept for school only and that children change immediately after school. Students are requested to come to school in their PE uniform only on the day PE is timetabled for their class group.
Please see below the links to our Parent Checklist and our Student Checklist. These may be added to as updates issue from the Department of Education and Skills.
Thank you for ongoing your support and co-operation.
Yours,
Nuala Ní Mhurchú
Principal
