Dear Parents,
We are now entering our 7th week of emergency measures and school closure. Unfortunately, it does not look like schools will be reopening in the near future and when they do it will be on a phased basis. Until we have notification from the Department of Education and Science, we cannot even guess how this will be managed. Rest assured as soon as we hear anything, we will let you know. We have been contacted by the Bishop and I have confirmed with Fr. Pat that First Communion has been postponed until we have a clearer picture of how school closures and the restrictions on group gatherings will be relaxed over the coming months. It is difficult to guess what may happen, but Fr. Pat feels it may be next September or even October before we can move forward with Communion. We were incredibly lucky that Confirmation took place before the schools closed.
We will continue to post work online and send it via email where one has been supplied over the coming weeks. Again, I ask that if you have not supplied an email address that you consider setting up an email account. It makes it easier to communicate and allows us send notifications of work and any updates to our current situation as they arise.
As part of the restriction I cannot access the school at the moment but we hope that some relaxation of the rules next weekend will allow me enter the building and accommodate any parents who wish to collect books from the school. However, it is vitally important that we all adhere to the guideline and stay at home for now and only travel when necessary. Unfortunately, the public are beginning to tire of the restrictions and move out more. This will reduce the chances of an early relaxation of the rules so please stay home and stay safe.
We had our first online Board of Management meeting last week and I informed the Board of next year’s arrangements regarding the allocation of teachers.
In September Ms. Egan will be moving to the Junior Room to teach Junior Infants, 1st Class and 2nd Class. Due to the imbalance between the numbers in Junior and Senior Rooms we have decided that 3rd Class will remain with Ms. Egan in the Junior Room. She will then have 12 pupils in her room. Ms. Keenan will be teaching 4th, 5th and 6th Classes. She will have 19 pupils in her room. Ms. Loonam will move to the Junior Le Chéile class and we must appoint a new teacher to replace Ms. Rigney while she is on maternity leave. I will be the Special Education Teacher (what used to be called the Learning Support Teacher) next year. We will be retaining all our SNAs.
The Board has also proposed adding an enrolment form to our school website. I have started to improve security on the site to facilitate this form but until the hosting company has finalised the update to the site, I cannot start that process. The site is currently being updated so please be patient if it is inaccessible for short periods of time over the coming days. In the meantime if you are aware of any parent who would like to enrol their child please give them my email address (mrgilligan@lumcloonns.ie) and ask them to send their contact details so that I can start the enrolment process for them.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your patience and understanding. As time goes on these restrictions are becoming more tedious, challenging and annoying. We understand that lists of work from school may be a Godsend in homes on some days but a hindrance on others. Remember, this too will pass and when it does we’ll look back on it with pride as we realise that we met the challenge head on and did not allow it to best us.
Take care and we look forward to seeing you and your children soon.