Dear parents & guardians,
I hope that you and your families are keeping safe and well.
As you know, the government has decided to fully close all schools until February 1st due to the very high levels of Covid-19 in our communities.
For the duration of the closure, we will return to offering remote learning to our pupils. We will be using the SeeSaw platform which you have all become familiar with since September to engage with the children.
Each weekday morning your child’s teacher will send a message with suggested activities for the day. The schedules of work have been agreed by teachers at each level. There will be a variety of active learning, prerecorded videos and pencil and paper tasks to be completed in a copy or on a page. The tasks will cover a range of subject areas as well as well-being and physical education tasks. Children will be asked to upload some elements of their work to SeeSaw and teachers will give regular feedback during the week. Tasks not uploaded should be kept in a folder for assessment when children return to school.
If your child works directly with one of our support teachers or SNAs,they will be in touch throughout the week too.
We will continue to use our class Padlet Walls to allow children an opportunity to engage with each other during this remote learning period and would encourage you to post to and review the page regularly with your child.
If you are having problems with access to your child’s SeeSaw account or Padlet Wall please email info@hopejns.ie for support
We will supplement this engagement with additional videos, suggested learning opportunities and recommendations for games and activities we feel might be of use to you at home during this time.
We will not be returning childrens text books and copies at this stage as we are reluctant to ask people to come to the school in large numbers at this time. Furthermore the material in question does not play a central role in the learning experience of children at the junior end of primary school. We will review this if the school closure is extended.
We are very aware of the demands placed on parents in managing their own work and family commitments, managing health concerns and restrictions while guiding their young children through remote learning. Our aim is to support you and your children as much as we can, at this time, and to minimise the impact on their learning.
- Please do as much or as little as you can manage - the suggested activities are a menu - not every child will complete every task and that’s ok. It is up to you to decide what work you can carry out during this time away from school. It is also important that you are mindful of your child’s age, ability and learning needs. Please be assured that teachers will not be expecting all children to have completed the same amount of work.
- As you know, school is more than just completing educational tasks - school offers so many opportunities for social as well as emotional and cognitive development. You cannot do remote learning from 8.50 to 1.30 or 2.30 each day so please dont feel you should.
- When your child has made a reasonable effort, praise them, acknowledge their work and then put it away. Your children are resilient and when they return to school, we will pick up their learning from where they are.
- Find a time and routine for remote learning that works for you and your family. Set a start and finish time to your school day. Get children up, dressed and ready for school at a similar time each day!
- Find a place that your child can work in and have pencils, colours,scissors and a folder nearby. Encourage children to use their workspace each day and to keep it tidy and organised. It can be a child’s table, a corner of your desk or one end of the kitchen table.
- Encourage children to take regular movement breaks. None of the children should be expected to sit for periods longer than 15 minutes or so - many will need to move more often than that.
- Read to your child every day and listen to them read to you. If you can do nothing else during the next three weeks this is the most important. Maybe introduce you child to audio books too.
- Encourage children to watch educational programmes or watch them together. Cúla4 on TG4, CBBC on BBC and The Homeschool Hub on RTE are great places to start. You’ll find lots of great resources online too but please monitor your child’s use of the internet carefully.
- Finally please remember to look after your own health and wellbeing - you cannot look after your children if you have not done this first.
We cannot wait to be back in school and I look forward to welcoming you all back at the earliest possible opportunity. Until then, take care, stay safe, and please continue to follow all public health guidelines.
If you need to contact the school at any time, please do not hesitate to email us on info@hopejns.ie
Yours sincerely,
Alma Moran
Principal
I hope that you and your families are keeping safe and well.
As you know, the government has decided to fully close all schools until February 1st due to the very high levels of Covid-19 in our communities.
For the duration of the closure, we will return to offering remote learning to our pupils. We will be using the SeeSaw platform which you have all become familiar with since September to engage with the children.
Each weekday morning your child’s teacher will send a message with suggested activities for the day. The schedules of work have been agreed by teachers at each level. There will be a variety of active learning, prerecorded videos and pencil and paper tasks to be completed in a copy or on a page. The tasks will cover a range of subject areas as well as well-being and physical education tasks. Children will be asked to upload some elements of their work to SeeSaw and teachers will give regular feedback during the week. Tasks not uploaded should be kept in a folder for assessment when children return to school.
If your child works directly with one of our support teachers or SNAs,they will be in touch throughout the week too.
We will continue to use our class Padlet Walls to allow children an opportunity to engage with each other during this remote learning period and would encourage you to post to and review the page regularly with your child.
If you are having problems with access to your child’s SeeSaw account or Padlet Wall please email info@hopejns.ie for support
We will supplement this engagement with additional videos, suggested learning opportunities and recommendations for games and activities we feel might be of use to you at home during this time.
We will not be returning childrens text books and copies at this stage as we are reluctant to ask people to come to the school in large numbers at this time. Furthermore the material in question does not play a central role in the learning experience of children at the junior end of primary school. We will review this if the school closure is extended.
We are very aware of the demands placed on parents in managing their own work and family commitments, managing health concerns and restrictions while guiding their young children through remote learning. Our aim is to support you and your children as much as we can, at this time, and to minimise the impact on their learning.
- Please do as much or as little as you can manage - the suggested activities are a menu - not every child will complete every task and that’s ok. It is up to you to decide what work you can carry out during this time away from school. It is also important that you are mindful of your child’s age, ability and learning needs. Please be assured that teachers will not be expecting all children to have completed the same amount of work.
- As you know, school is more than just completing educational tasks - school offers so many opportunities for social as well as emotional and cognitive development. You cannot do remote learning from 8.50 to 1.30 or 2.30 each day so please dont feel you should.
- When your child has made a reasonable effort, praise them, acknowledge their work and then put it away. Your children are resilient and when they return to school, we will pick up their learning from where they are.
- Find a time and routine for remote learning that works for you and your family. Set a start and finish time to your school day. Get children up, dressed and ready for school at a similar time each day!
- Find a place that your child can work in and have pencils, colours,scissors and a folder nearby. Encourage children to use their workspace each day and to keep it tidy and organised. It can be a child’s table, a corner of your desk or one end of the kitchen table.
- Encourage children to take regular movement breaks. None of the children should be expected to sit for periods longer than 15 minutes or so - many will need to move more often than that.
- Read to your child every day and listen to them read to you. If you can do nothing else during the next three weeks this is the most important. Maybe introduce you child to audio books too.
- Encourage children to watch educational programmes or watch them together. Cúla4 on TG4, CBBC on BBC and The Homeschool Hub on RTE are great places to start. You’ll find lots of great resources online too but please monitor your child’s use of the internet carefully.
- Finally please remember to look after your own health and wellbeing - you cannot look after your children if you have not done this first.
We cannot wait to be back in school and I look forward to welcoming you all back at the earliest possible opportunity. Until then, take care, stay safe, and please continue to follow all public health guidelines.
If you need to contact the school at any time, please do not hesitate to email us on info@hopejns.ie
Yours sincerely,
Alma Moran
Principal
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