17/08/2020 Letter from Principal
17th August 2020
Dear Parent / Guardian,
RE: Re-opening of St John’s N.S
I hope you and your families are keeping well.
As you are aware, our school has now been closed since March 12th due to the COVID-19 situation. We are now hoping to re-open our school safely for all pupils on September 1st in line with current guidance and recommendations. Please be aware that these guidelines may change.
Re-opening the school safely will require the co-operation of all members of our School Community – BoM, School Leadership, Staff, Parents and Pupils. We will all be called on to play our part in ensuring that re-opening of the school is done in a safe manner which prevents the spread of the virus and allows the vital work of Teaching and Learning to proceed with as little disruption as possible.
We have been working on our plan for the safe reopening of the school for some weeks now and have published the DES COVID-19 Response Plan for the safe and sustainable reopening of Primary and Special Schools on our school website. The Response Plan gives details of
- Physical preparation, signage, hand sanitiser stations,
- Advice, procedures and training for the safe return to working in the school for all school staff and pupils
- General and specific advice on how all pupils, staff, parents and visitors will prevent the spread of the virus
We have also published our COVID-19 Policy Statement on the school website. We will keep you informed as to the progress of our re-opening plans and provide you with the information required by you to play your part in safely re-opening the school.
I would also like to take this opportunity to inform you all of my intention to retire as Principal of St John’s N.S. on November 1st 2020.
I want to reassure you of my absolute commitment to facilitate a seamless transition to my successor who will be appointed in advance of my retirement. I am determined to afford him/her all the necessary time and support which will enable the new leadership to continue to build the capacity of our school and maintain the critically positive bond that exists between the management, pupils, parents and staff.
For the next few weeks our sole attention will be focused on getting all the children back to a safe school environment where optimum teaching and learning can resume, secure in the knowledge that no matter who is at the helm, St John’s National School’s distinctive reputation as a highly regarded learning environment will not be compromised.
On a practical basis, you can be preparing for return to school by using our online system to pay for books, Arts /Crafts/Insurance.
(See newsletter of June 24th on Aladdin Connect for more details).
School uniforms can be collected on distribution days August 26th/ 27th.
(See separate note from uniform supplier in separate note to follow)
Your child’s class teacher may also be in contact with you on Aladdin Connect with regard to information about their specific class.
We remain hopeful that government advice on re opening of schools will not change as we are really looking forward to welcoming our children back to school and doing all that we can to ensure that the return to school is a safe and enjoyable experience for all. We will be in touch with you again before school re-opens.
Le meas,
Denis Courtney,
Principal
The following websites provide further information on COVID-19 and on government advice and recommendations regarding the re-opening of schools: –
- https://www.education.ie/en/covid-19/
- https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/
- https://www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/a128d-back-to-school/?referrer=http://www.gov.ie/backtoschool/