Dear parent/guardian
My name is Martin Carberry and I will be your son’s 4th class teacher. I am looking forward to working with you in supporting your child’s transition back to school. You can be assured that I, and all the staff at St. Joseph’s, will do our absolute best to make sure your son feels safe and happy in their return to our school.
As you can imagine, life at school will look a little different this school year as measures have been put in place to help minimise the risk of Covid-19. Below are some points that hopefully will help to answer some of the many questions you may have.
- Your son’s classroom will be located in the Green Building, just as last year.
- His classroom will be G5, which is located upstairs in the building.
- Your child will enter and exit the school yard everyday through the main gates at the front of the school.
- On Friday August 28th, I will collect your son and his classmates from the Green Yard and guide them through the procedures we have put in place for lining up in a socially distant matter, entering/exiting the building, location of the new toilets (inside the Green Building) and show them to their new classroom.
- Students will be shown the procedure for storage of coats and school bags etc.
- From Monday August 31st onwards, upon arrival to school, children will proceed straight to their new classroom. They will enter the Green Building using the white door. I will be in the classroom as the students arrive.
- Students of G5 will be seated in groups or pods of between 4 and 6. Pods are situated at least 1 metre from one another and at least 2 metres from my own desk and teaching area as recommended by the Department of Education.
- Students/staff will be asked to sanitise hands on any occasion they enter or leave the classroom, prior to eating and at regular intervals throughout the day.
- Each class will limit their interaction with other students as much as possible – our class will remain together throughout the day as well as having a designated area in the yard during breaks.
- Time will be taken on the return to school to guide children back to the pace of learning and the pace of the school day. We will concentrate on language development (English and Irish) Mathematics, SPHE and PE.
- Over the coming days other health and safety procedures will be finalised within the classroom and children will be guided on this in order to ensure the upmost is being done to keep our students and staff safe.
Looking forward to seeing you all back at St. Joseph’s for this new school year. It may be challenging but working together we will rise above these challenges and enjoy our school once again.
Regards,
M.Carberry.