St.

Michael’s Scoil Mhichil,

Rackwallace Rath Mhic Mhalais
Monaghan Muineachán
H18 XY66 H18XY66

secretary@stmichaelsns.com 047-85282

15th March 2021

Dear Parents,

It was so lovely to welcome all the pupils back to school today. It is great to hear the sounds
of laughter from the yard and to see the children back to their work in the classes.
Of course our Junior Room has been back fully since March 1st and the pupils in that room
have settled into school life again very quickly, we’re hoping the Senior Room pupils follow
their good example.

Today I am sending home a number of sheets to you. I would ask you to read them carefully
and to keep some of them safely as you may need them during the year.

The sheets are:

An Information Sheet on Our School’s Response to Covid 19:

This information sheet contains important information about the precautions our school is
taking to keep the virus out of the school. Please read it and then keep it somewhere safe so
you can consult it if you have any questions.

A Return to School Form:

Before any of the children returned to school I collected their ‘Return to School’ forms. We
have been told, in no uncertain terms, that the Department of Education and Skills insist that
any pupil who is absent for any reason must bring a return to school form with them on their
first day back. I’m sending you a spare form, just in case you need it during the rest of the
year.

Tracksuit Order Form:

As some of you will know we used to have a lot of trouble getting the tracksuits delivered in
time for September.
Last year we changed supplier and the tracksuits arrived earlier and with less fuss.
The company’s system doesn’t accept orders for ‘full tracksuits’. So if you need a full
tracksuit you need to order bottoms and tops separately.
If you don’t need a tracksuit please indicate that on the form and return it to the school so
when we’re sending in the order we know that we’ve heard from every family.
We have always taken the payment for the tracksuits as they are being collected but some
families have asked if they could pay as they order and if you’d like to do that we’ve added a
box on the form.
We do sometimes have spare tracksuits in the school but we can’t guarantee to have a size for
your child.

Roll number: 16954C Charity Number: 20132170 twitter: @rackwallacens website: www.rackwallacens.com
 We will need to have the forms returned to us by March 24th so we can get the order in
before the Easter holidays.

SeeSaw Permission Slip:

In January I emailed a SeeSaw permission slip. To be honest there is some discussion among
schools as to whether these are really necessary, but we may as well err on the side of caution.
Many families have already returned forms to me. I’m including a spare form if I don’t have a
copy of your form on file. Of course it’s entirely possible that you returned the form and I’ve
mislaid it. Would you return this form as soon as possible so we can stay on the right side of
the GDPR law.
 
St. Patrick’s Day:
Our school will be closed on Wednesday 17th for the public holiday.

Easter Holidays:
We will close on Friday 26th March to begin our Easter holidays and we’ll return to school on
Monday 12th April at 9am.

Substitute Shortage:
There is a huge shortage of substitute teachers in Monaghan at the moment. Last week we
tried on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and couldn’t get anyone. So many teachers are
off work for various reasons that the substitutes are all booked up.
Under the current Covid precautions we cannot allow one teacher to supervise the two rooms.
The Board of Management have agreed that if we cannot provide adequate supervision then
we will have to ring parents and ask them to come and collect their children. This is
obviously a last option and there are more details on the Board’s decision in the Information
Sheet on our School’s Response to Covid 19.
If you have any family members who are qualified teachers and are available for substitute
teaching we would be glad to get their details.

Extra Covid Precautions:

The Department issued revised guidelines before the Junior Room returned on March 1st. Our
school was already observing all the extra precautions they mentioned.
Some pupils like to wear masks to school. This is not required but as a school, since
September, we have allowed pupils to wear masks providing their parents have explained
about wearing it correctly.
We are asking parents to avoid organising ‘play dates’ or visits to friends. This isn’t easy but
our success last year was based on thousands of tiny sacrifices that our school community
made from September to December.
We also ask parents not to congregate at the school gates. As well as being dangerous in itself
it gives a bad example to the pupils.

If a member of the school community tests positive:

I think it’s a good idea if I tell you of the procedures we’re instructed to follow if there is a
case in the school.

If the school is made aware of a confirmed case of Covid 19 within the school community the
steps to be followed are as follows:

1. The person receiving the report informs the principal or deputy principal; who then
secures the permission of the parent or teacher to contact Public Health officials.
Roll number: 16954C Charity Number: 20132170 twitter: @rackwallacens website: www.rackwallacens.com
 2. The principal/deputy principal rings a dedicated school advice line.
3. The principal/deputy principal informs the dedicated service of the details as s/he is
aware of them.
4. The dedicated support line passes on the details to the relevant Public Health officials.
5. Officials from Public Health will confirm the details of the case from their own
records and then instruct the principal/deputy principal on the next stage, which will
be one of two steps.

A. The principal/deputy principal passes on an excel file which Dympna has prepared:
this file has the contact details of the school community arranged by class. This
includes the details for all staff. Public Health officials will then contact the family of
any child they deem to be a close contact, or indeed any teacher who was a close
contact.
B. If Public Health consider that there is no further action needed then the
principal/deputy principal is instructed to do nothing else and is not allowed to discuss
the case with staff members or families in the school.

As a school, we have followed Public Health guidelines since last March. We will continue to
do so. I do realise this could leave me in a position where some parents, or indeed staff, may
wish, understandably, that  I had informed them of cases should they arise but I hope you’ll
understand that I have no option but to follow all guidelines issued by the Department of
Education and Skills or by the HSE.

Thanks:
There is no doubt that the time since January has been stressful on parents, teachers and the
pupils. I honestly believe that our school community could not have done any more. From the
parents who supervised ‘Emergency Education’ to the pupils who engaged so fully, to the
teachers who helped our own families at home remote learn while helping your children by
remote teaching; our whole school community has pulled together for the good of our pupils
and we can be justifiably proud of the great work we have done since Christmas.
It is important that, as a community, we continue this effort by keeping to all the precautions
laid down by the government and by our school.

Yours sincerely,

--------------------------------------------
Séamus Grundy
Principal

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