St.

Michael’s Scoil Mhichil,

Rackwallace Rath Mhic Mhalais
Monaghan Muineachán
H18 XY66 H18XY66

secretary@stmichaelsns.com 047-85282

26th April 2022

Dear Parents,

A warm welcome back to all our pupils and staff. Our last term is shaping up to be a very
busy term and we are hoping that the weather will be kind to us as we plan for our
school tour and sports’ day.

Covid: We had a few weeks between Christmas and Easter where I hardly mentioned
Covid at all in the newsletters. Sadly, before the Easter holidays our school seemed to
get caught up in the latest surge. We hardly had a day when we didn’t have a teacher or
a few children out.
I cannot emphasise enough the need to keep children out of school if they have any
symptoms at all. Our experience is that children are testing negative for 4 or 5 days
before testing positive.

Substitute Teachers: The substitute teacher shortage is very severe again and before
the holidays I failed to get a substitute teacher on three occasions. Luckily, two of these
days were Mondays and I could use my administration day to fill the gap but that was
just luck. The third day was a Wednesday and we failed to find a substitute for Mrs.
Ferguson. On one day there were 14 schools in Monaghan looking for substitute
teachers without success.
I remind parents that if I can’t find a substitute teacher; firstly, we will ask Mrs.
Ferguson to take the class, this means she won’t be able to take the children she
normally takes. If Mrs. Ferguson isn’t here., we have four people garda vetted and they
will supervise the class whose teacher is absent. The other teacher will attempt to
provide work for the children. We will only do this if we can’t find a substitute and it
will, hopefully, be a better option than sending the class home, which, I know, will be
very disruptive for families.
The teacher training colleges are breaking up soon so hopefully that will release a
supply of available substitutes.

Pupil Absences: I thank the parents who keep the children home in order to keep us
safe even though this does mean some children have missed a considerable amount of
school. It is far better than sending a sick child to school and risking infecting other
pupils.
Some parents have asked if the ‘20 days’ still count. If a pupil is absent for more than 20
days the school must inform Tusla. I have no doubt that in the current situation, if a
pupil missed school either: because they had covid, were a close contact or had
symptoms, the parents will easily be able to explain the absences. We have a record of
all absences and the reasons the pupil was absent on our Aladdin software and I would

Roll number: 16954C Charity Number: 20132170 twitter: @rackwallacens website: www.rackwallacens.com
 have no problem explaining that government advice is to stay at home if a child is sick. If
your child has missed 20 days I’ve already spoken to you and told you not to worry.

‘The Pitch’: There are many signs of the coming of Spring, the first cuckoo, the first
primrose or the first snowdrop. For me, spring starts with a child asking, ‘will you check
the pitch?’.
Thank you to Caolá n and Kyle’s dad, Fergal, who has taken on the task of keeping our
grounds and our pitch in good condition. It is a huge commitment, but I know that the
pupils appreciate the work he puts into the pitch while the rest of us thank him for all
his work on the rest of the yard.

Our Bright New Colours: Many thanks to Ryan and Ben’s dad, Bernard McMahon, who
painted our school over the Easter holidays. Bernard has been painting our school for
many years and always does a lovely job without any fuss. We decided to replace the
yellow colour with a more modern colour palette and it really does look lovely.
In order to keep our school looking fresh, the Board of Management has a rota for
painting the school and each year we paint, in turn: the classrooms, the
lunchroom/corridors and toilets and then back to the outside. So next year we’ll be
painting the classrooms again.

School Show: Our show is still going ahead on Sunday June 19th. We’re hoping for a
5pm start but will wait to see how the championship goes before we decide on a time.
Thank you to the parents who have provided us with cardboard. We think we have
plenty at the moment.
Thank you also to Mary’s dad, Hugh, who has volunteered to operate the lights on the
night. Thank you to Addie-May and Jake’s dad, Kieran, who has offered to make the
backgrounds for the show.
We are looking for someone to video the production. There are a few local companies
but I won’t approach them until I see if I can get a volunteer from our school community.

Swimming: Swimming will begin this Friday. The children will leave our school after
12:30pm and arrive at the pool a little before 1:00pm and those who are coming to
assist the younger children with getting changed will need to be at the pool at 12:50 pm.
Children in Junior and Senior Infants must have someone to help them get changed.
All children must wear swimming caps in the pool.
We remind parents the children must wear masks on the bus to and from the pool.
When the Junior and Senior Infants finish their lesson they can be brought straight
home or return to the school for After School Club. All other pupils will travel back to the
school.
If parents or guardians are helping with changing, we ask that they don’t buy or bring
treats for the children as this can be tough on the other pupils.
And of course, if you haven’t paid for the swimming lessons you can drop the money at
any time.

School Tour: We have the date for our tour, Monday June 20th, and will need to book
the bus soon. Parents from the Junior Room are invited to join us on the tour. This is
usually a lovely day as parents get to know each other and the younger children enjoy
having a parent on their day out. If you are available to join us please let us know by the
end of this week. Causey Farm is charging each parent accompanying their child €5. The

Roll number: 16954C Charity Number: 20132170 twitter: @rackwallacens website: www.rackwallacens.com
 visit to Causey Farm costs €14 per child and the bus works out at roughly €13 which is a
total of €27. Parents can pay this anytime before June 10th. The bus will leave the school
at 8a.m. and we hope to return to the school shortly before 4p.m.
We will be leaving from the Hall to make parking easier for parents.

Sponsored Walk: We will be having our Sponsored Walk on Sunday May 29th straight
after Mass, around 10:30 am. Dympna will be organising the sponsorship cards and we
will get these home to you shortly. The children have voted on the theme of the
sponsored walk. The theme is “Sports People” which got 11 out of 26 votes.
A few parents have suggested that we have the walk around the track at the hall as this
might be safer. We will have a PTA meeting next week on Wednesday 4th May at
7:30pm to finalise the sponsored walk. This will be another ‘Hybrid’ meeting and thanks
to Eoin and Eva’s dad, David, who is donating his Zoom account to host the meeting.
It is important to say that our sponsored walk is the main source of funding for the PTA.
We couldn’t have our walk for the past two years and yet the PTA have still funded our
air purifiers, tablets for pupils and the buses to Zoe’s farm, Minecraft and Cross-Country
running,
After the walk we will be inviting the community to join us in the hall to have a tour of
our Reimagined Ardaghey in Minecraft. We would love to have a good turn out for this
part of the day so please spread the word.

Pupils’ Personal Insurance: Each pupil in our school has individual personal
insurance. Parents pay €9 for this at the start of each year.
If your child needs any medical or dental attention arising from an accident, regardless
of when or where the accident happened, then they are covered by this insurance and
the cost can be claimed by filling in a form which Dympna will print for you.
Parents sometimes don’t realise that the insurance covers the children for any accident
24/7, every day of the year and isn’t for accidents in the school. A few parents have been
able to recoup A&E fees and dental costs by filling in the form and sending it off.

Sacraments: Our pupils in Second Class will be making the Sacrament of Reconciliation
this week and making their First Holy Communion on Sunday May 1st at 9:30 am mass
in Ardaghey.
We usually ask the pupils in the Senior Room to sing with the choir on that day. There is
a permission slip for the Senior Room pupils at the end of this newsletter. We would be
grateful if as many of our Senior Room pupils as possible could come and sing at the
mass. Three of our 5th class have volunteered to sing the psalm at the mass which is a
lovely thing for them to do.
Thank you to Mrs. Donnelly who came to the school to help the Senior Choir prepare.
Thank you to Lauren’s dad, Declan, who put stands on our display boards which has
made them much more usable.
Confirmation will be in the Cathedral at 11am on Saturday 30th April. We are expecting
Bishop Duffy to come and visit the pupils if he can fit the visit into his busy schedule. The
three candidates for Confirmation will attend a practice on Thursday 28 th at 11am and
will have their Service of Light the same evening. Thank you to Caolá n’s dad, Fergal,

Roll number: 16954C Charity Number: 20132170 twitter: @rackwallacens website: www.rackwallacens.com
 who has kindly offered to give the three a lift to the cathedral and so, saved our school
the cost of hiring a taxi.
We wish the 10 pupils who will be receiving sacraments this weekend the very best and
ask that the school community hold them in their prayers

Tracksuits: Sincere thanks to Aoife, Daniel

and Á ine’s mum, Michelle,who went to so
much trouble to find a new supplier for our
tracksuit. We missed our deadline of ordering
before the Easter holidays but have submitted
our order today.
We do have a small number of the ‘O’Neill’s’
tops and bottoms in stock and so over the next
year or so we expect to have a mixture of
tracksuits in our school. If you sent in an order for a tracksuit we will give you
whichever we have in stock for the same price and the school will absorb the difference.
We have tried to keep the design of the tracksuit as close as possible to the traditional
one and so no parent should feel they have to change or that they can’t reuse a tracksuit
from an older sibling or cousin.
There won’t be an issue with mixing a ZZSports top with an O’Neill’s bottoms or vice
versa.

EPA/Junior Achievers Ireland: The EPA sent our pupils a goodie bag, one for each
pupil in the school, to congratulate them on their Minecraft success.
Just before Easter they contacted me and asked if we’d be interested in having five
science lessons delivered in person for the Senior Room. The tutor will be in touch soon
and we will know the dates shortly.
There will be no charge for the pupils as the tutor is sponsored by the EPA.

Junior Room Coffee Morning: On Monday June 13th we will be holding a Coffee
Morning and induction day for the children starting in Junior Infants next year and for
all the families in the Junior Room. Parents will be invited into the school from 11:30am
for about an hour. This is a chance for parents to meet each other and also to visit the
school.
The new infants will get a chance to visit Ms. King’s room and meet some of their
classmates for next year on that day.
There is no obligation on anyone to attend. I do understand that not everyone will be
able to take time off but Ms. King and I thought it would be a nice chance for parents to
meet the other mothers and fathers of the other children in the Junior room.

Wellbeing Training: Ms King and Mrs. Ferguson will be attending training all day
Thursday in Monaghan Education Centre. The focus of the training will be on Wellbeing.
I was able to source substitutes for both teachers. Ms. Mulligan will be in the Junior
Room and Ms. McCabe will be taking Mrs. Ferguson’s SEN groups.

Reflexology: Speaking of Well Being; James, Hollie and Louis’ mum has started a new
Reflexology service and can be reached at: 086-1424256. We wish Sabrina all the best
with this great initiative.

Roll number: 16954C Charity Number: 20132170 twitter: @rackwallacens website: www.rackwallacens.com
 Next School Year: We have been asked which day we’ll be reopening for the next school
year. I can understand that parents may want to book leave days for their children’s first
day back. Our staff has discussed this and, subject to Board of Management approval, we
propose to open on Thursday September 1st 2022.

Fundraising Initiative: Big 'Thanks' to pupil Aoife Moore in Second Class who thought
it was 'unfair that Ms King spends her own money' and launched a fundraising drive,
selling Marvel discs for 20c each. Aoife raised over €12 and I have decided to use Aoife's
donation to get more skipping ropes for the pupils in the Junior Room.

SEN ( Special Educational Needs) Allocation: On the first day of the Easter holidays,
Monday 11th April, the Department issued the SEN allocations. This gave each school the
number of hours of SEN teaching they will have for the next year. Regrettably, despite
our numbers increasing from 29 pupils when I began in Rackwallace to 41 pupils next
year, our allocation went down from 13.4 hours to 12.5 hours. This means that the
department have decided that our school needs 12½
hours of Special Educational Teaching per week. (If you really want to annoy me some day, ask
me to explain how the department arrives at the number of hours!)
In order to have a SET (Special Education Teacher) post in our school we need to have
exactly 25 hours. Over the past number of years, we have joined our hours with
Drumacruttin and Scoil Padraig in Oram as well two other schools (who gave us the
missing minutes) to form a ‘cluster’ and this gave us the ‘magic’ 25 hours. This year
Oram had an increase in its hours and Drumacruttin, like ourselves, had a decrease
which left us 2.5 hours short of our target.
Luckily, a fellow principal was in a cluster where two schools had had an increase and
she very kindly rearranged her cluster to free up the 2.5 hours that we needed to save
our SET post.
Mrs. Ferguson will be adding Magherarney School to her work next year.
Unfortunately, it means that Mrs. Ferguson will be in our school for less time next year.
It also means that Mrs. Ferguson will now be covering four schools instead of three. We
are still working out the details with the other three schools; trying to arrange times and
days but will be all ready to go next September.
But the great news is that we get to keep our brilliant SEN teacher Mrs. Ferguson next
year!

Yours Sincerely,

________________________
Séamus Grundy
Principal

Roll number: 16954C Charity Number: 20132170 twitter: @rackwallacens website: www.rackwallacens.com
 Permission slip for Senior Room pupils:

My child ___________________________________________ will be available to sing with their class

at the First Communion in Ardaghey Church at 9:30 am mass on Sunday May 1st.

Parent’s Signature. ____________________________________

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