Dear parents,
I hope that you are all keeping well.
We are approaching the end of a very dramatic school year in Mary, Mother of Hope Senior National School. It is, frankly, one school-year that we would rather not repeat again. I firstly want to thank you for all the support you have given your children and the school in this unprecedented period.
Tribute to our Pupils
I want to pay a special tribute to our pupils, who are the real heroes of this Covid-19 lock-down. They have done everything that society has asked of them- they stayed at home, gave up their schooling, their clubs, their friends, seeing their grandparents and relations, so that they could protect everyone else in society. Society owes them a tremendous debt of gratitude, and I want to start this letter by offering my sincerest thanks to them. As they say, not all heroes wear capes, and I know that in our school, the true heroes wear Mary, Mother of Hope uniforms!
Preparing for End of School-Year
You may have noticed increased activity around the school in recent weeks, as we prepare for the end of the school-year. I want to give you an update in this regard, and to ask for your co-operation.
Return of pupils possessions
This week, teachers have been coming in to school to start packing individual pupil’s possessions and school work. These will be placed in a bag and labelled, so that they can be collected before the end of the school year.
They include:
An Individual Letter addressed to each pupil from their teacher, marking the end of the school year
Certificate for Excellent Attendance, where these have been awarded to pupils who have missed 5 days of the school year or less, when the school was in session.
Trophies for Attendance, where pupils have not missed a day of the school year
We will also be handing over the Winner and Runner-Up awards for our Creative Writing and Art competitions.
Copies, Workbooks or textbooks that belong to each pupil will also be included in the pack
Some pieces of Artwork,
Contents of their personal organisers,
Any medical equipment that was left in the school before lock-down
We will be keeping some books/materials in school for your child and these will be in your child’s new classroom for the new school-year. These include their Ring Binders, their World Atlas and their dictionaries.
I will be writing to you next week, allocating a discrete time to parents from each class to come to school to collect these packs.
2. Return of Textbooks from the Book Rental Scheme, Library Books etc. to the School
We will be asking parents to return all books that are part of the Book Rental Scheme, which your children brought home with them at the beginning of the lockdown to the school. These include their Maths, English and Irish Books. Parents are asked to return Library Books, and any other books or resources that they may have at home.
These can be returned to the school on the same day that pupils collect their own belonging
3. School reports
Your child’s school report will be emailed to you, via the school’s online app Aladdin Connect at the end of the month. Please check to make sure that the email address that you provided to the school when you registered for Aladdin Connect is indeed the correct email address.
4. Book Rental for the New School Year
We propose to make some changes to the Book Rental scheme for the New School Year, to make it easier for pupils to have all books that are needed. I will be writing to parents separately with this information next week.
Information for parents of 6th class pupils
5. Transfer to Postprimary
Our 6th class pupils have been working on their transition programme to post-primary. As part of this work, we asked parents and pupils to complete a Personal Pupil Profile which we will pass on to their post-primary school. If you have not already sent this back, please post it to the school as soon as possible.
7. Graduation Pack
As well as receiving the same end of year pack as other pupils, we will have an additional number of items in the packs for 6th class pupils. This includes:
Their Graduation Medal
A specially commissioned Graduation 2020 Hoodie for each pupil
8. Atlas and Dictionary
We are proposing to parents of 6th class pupils that they would donate their Atlas and Dictionary back to the school Book Rental Scheme. This means they would become part of the school stock, and could be used by other pupils in future years in the school. In recognition of this, the school would not be asking for any contribution from parents for the Graduation Hoodies. We hope that everyone will agree to this proposal!
9. Sixth Class Graduation
Needless to say, our graduation this year will have a very different feel to it, due to Covid-19. However, we will do everything possible to make it a meaningful experience for our 6th class pupils. We plan to have as many elements of our annual graduation as possible. The only regret is that we will not be able to hold the graduation with everyone physically present.
We do, however, hope that our 6th class parents and pupils will celebrate the graduation via a live broadcast on Friday, the 26th June, 2020 at 5pm. We are still working on the technical details of how this will work, and will provide this nearer the time. But we would ask all our graduating families to dress up, our graduating children to wear thier hoodies, sit together and share the experience collectively and know that while we are not physically together, we are altogether in spirit.
As you can see from all of this, we are very busy in school right now, as we bring the school year to an end. As principal, I want to thank each and every one of you, as parents, for the tremendous support you have given the school in these most difficult times.
Thank you for the work and the commitment you have shown to your children, by helping them to engage with their programme of home-based learning. This has been an unprecedented challenge for you and your families, and as your principal, I want to thank you for your support.
Please keep in touch with any Aladdin Connect for further updates from the school.
I have recorded a short video message for your child, please share it with them when you can.
Take care and continue to stay safe,
Enda McGorman
