St.

Michael’s Scoil Mhichil,

Rackwallace Rath Mhic Mhalais
Monaghan Muineachán
H18 XY66 H18XY66

secretary@stmichaelsns.com 047-85282

3 November 2020

Dear Parents,

A very warm welcome back after our mid-term break.

Folens Christmas Annuals: I can hardly believe that I’m informing you about Christmas
annuals but we received word from Folens that they are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the
annual by offering their annual Christmas books for €2, if we order by November 20th.
They offer 4 annuals depending on the children’s ages. Súgradh for Junior and Senior Infants,
Spraoi for 1st and 2nd class, Siamsa for 3rd and 4th and Sonas for 5th and 6th class. If you are
interested please let me know and send in the money as soon as possible. As always, there is
no obligation to purchase.

Covid News: Before the mid-term I had flushed out the sanitiser units and refilled them with
an approved sanitiser. Over the break I ordered further supplies of approved sanitiser for the
dispensing units at the doors and we will be using this from now on. Despite the email the
company sent me on the Friday before we broke, which I forwarded to you, the sanitiser we
were using was on the withdrawn list. We are returning our unused supply and looking for a
refund.

As we begin this second half of the term it is no harm congratulating the parents, pupils and
staff on the great work done so far. Things that seemed strange to us in September are now
part of the routine of our school and we don’t even notice we are doing them.
 The Junior Room use the Junior door and the Senior Room use the front door.
 Children bring hand sanitiser and a clean towel to school each day.
 Children don’t share pencils or other school requirements in class.
 Pupils have one pencil case at home and leave one pencil case in school.
 When doing homework parents keep the area where the children are working sanitised. They
sanitise before the books come out of bags and then sanitise after homework.
 Parents, in general, do not come to the school but wait at the gate.
 The children are very good at waiting in their designated areas in the morning. Junior Room
in front of the school at the top of the steps and the Senior Room at the bottom of the steps.
 On wet days the Junior Room wait in the shelter at the back of the school and the Senior
Room wait in the shelter at the front. Mrs. Treanor and myself supervise.
 Children who come by car are dropped off as close to 9am as possible.
 We ventilate the rooms in line with Department guidelines.
 Children bring coats with hoods to school each day so they nearly always get fresh air
regardless of the weather.
 Children sanitise their hands each time they enter the school and each time they leave the
school. This includes going out to Mrs. Ferguson’s room and going out to the yard.

Roll number: 16954C Charity Number: 20132170 twitter: @rackwallacens website: www.rackwallacens.com
  The children are reminded to sanitise or wash their hands throughout the day; before they eat
etc.
 Pupils in the Senior Room remain in their pods throughout the day and all pupils maintain
‘social distance’ in school.
 If a pupil is absent for any reason the parents complete a Return to School form. ( when we
receive a Return to School form we will give you a blank one in its place so you always have
a blank form at home)

Just a few short weeks ago our school community thought we would never get used to the
new practices and procedures and now they are second nature to each of us. Well done!

Parent Teacher Meetings: This year, as another part of our Covid response, we are going to
do our Parent Teacher meetings by phone. This is the first time we have tried this approach:
which will mean we can still discuss your children but can do so safely.
Mrs. Treanor will be making her calls after school in the week beginning 16th November and I
will be doing the same in the week beginning 23rd November. Mrs. Ferguson will be chatting
to parents in the mornings before school.
We will contact all parents by email to pick a time. As you can imagine this is going to take a
lot of organising and we are hoping parents will be as flexible as possible when agreeing
times, that said we do understand that some parents may need specific times but if you can
agree to the time suggested it would really help us organise.

PTA News: At our last PTA meeting we discussed the need to fundraise this year. So far, the
PTA has contributed to the purchase of new tablets for the Junior Room and are going to
contribute to the cost of a new Wi-Fi system in the school. The existing system was having
trouble handling so many devices; this new system will mean that the children can use all the
laptops and tablets at the same time.
That will be over €1000 we will have spent for the good of our children. It is difficult to
fundraise at the moment and we agreed that we would ask each family to send in a donation,
the figure suggested is €50. Families can do this over a few months or weeks or can send in
one amount. Obviously, the PTA does not want to put further pressure on any family so if you
are not in a position to contribute please don’t think you have to. Equally if you are in a
position to be more generous, we won’t complain.

Yours sincerely,

__________________________
Séamus Grundy
Principal

Roll number: 16954C Charity Number: 20132170 twitter: @rackwallacens website: www.rackwallacens.com