Back to school planning

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I hope you and your families are keeping well.

As you are aware, our school has now been closed since 12^th March due to the COVID-19 situation.  We are now hoping to re-open our school safely, in line with current guidance and recommendations.

Re-opening the school safely will require the co-operation of all members of our School Community – BoM, School Leadership, Staff, Parents and Pupils. We will all be called on to play our part in ensuring that re-opening of the school is done in a safe manner which prevents the spread of the virus and allows the vital work of Teaching and Learning to proceed with as little disruption as possible.

We have been working on our plan for the safe reopening of the school for some weeks now and have been following the DES COVID-19 Response Plan for the safe and sustainable reopening of Primary and Special Schools.  The Response Plan gives details of

• Physical preparation, signage, hand sanitiser stations,
• Advice, procedures and training for the safe return to working in the school for all school staff and pupils
• General and specific advice on how all pupils, staff, parents and visitors will prevent the spread of the virus

The Response Plan can be found at the following link

http://www.gov.ie/backtoschool/

We will also publish our COVID-19 Policy Statement on the school website. Our BoM will keep you informed as to the progress of our re-opening plans and provide you with the information required by you to play your part in safely re-opening the school.

We are really looking forward to welcoming our children back to school and will be doing all that we can to ensure that the return to school is a safe and enjoyable experience for the children. We will be in touch with you again before school re-opens.

Le meas

__________Mary Murphy__________                                                ________Cathal Cole_____

  Cathaoirleach, An Bhóird Bainistíochta                                                Príomhoide

The following websites provide further information on COVID-19 and on government advice and recommendations regarding the re-opening of schools: –

• https://www.education.ie/en/covid-19/
• https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/
• https://www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/a128d-back-to-school/?referrer=http://www.gov.ie/backtoschool/

Outdoor Fun and Games.

Here is a nice booklet with scavenger hunts to keep children busy at home or on trips over the summer.

johnny-magory-summer-fun-journalDownload

Book Lists

Book lists for the school year 2020/21 have been added to the website.

https://queenoftheuniversens.wordpress.com/book-lists/

Latest Update

As the weeks are moving on I wish to thank you for your engagement with school work. Keep it going as best you can and keep in mind that every little bit you can do helps in the long run. As always teachers are available to help and would love to hear from you.

As per the recent Government announcement, teachers can access school buildings from next Monday, 18 May, to distribute books etc. to parents. This however needs to be done in a manner so as to keep everybody, teachers and parents, as safe as possible. Our staff are meeting via video call today to discuss how this will work in our school. When the plan is finalised, we will send you the details.

Sadly, last Saturday should have been the First Communion day for some of our pupils. While the ceremony had to be cancelled, it will be rescheduled in the future and as soon as we hear anything we will let you know.

Last weeks competition was to draw your hero of Covid 19. There were lots of brilliant entries and there is a video of the entries on our school Twitter and Youtube.

This week I would like to ask children to think about their favourite school subject. Have a chat with your parents about why you like that subject and send me a sample of your work to competitions@queenoftheuniversens.com

For example, if your favourite subject is maths, send me some maths, if its art send me a picture or other artwork, if its history, maybe a history project, if its P.E. maybe a picture of you doing some P.E. It doesn’t matter what you send me, all will be included in the draw.

Congratulations to this weeks winner who will receive their €20 book token by email today.

Remember book shops are delivering during this time to keep up the reading at home if you prefer a book to reading online.

https://stories.audible.com/discovery have free audio books for children.

Stay at home, keep your distance and wash your hands.

Cathal

New email

Dear Parents,

Just a quick update to thank all of you for your engagement to date. We are delighted to see lots of children working hard and continuing their learning. 

To date some parents have not been in contact with their child’s teacher. Again I urge you to contact them and let them know all is OK or to let them know if you are having difficulties accessing the work. If internet access or access to devices is a problem we need to know so we can help to provide alternatives for you. While we do not wish to cause stress or worry, we do want to continue your child’s learning to the best of our ability. You can reply to this email and I will forward the message on if you do not have the teacher’s email address. I will contact those parents we do not hear from on Friday to see how we can help.  

To try to engage the children and to reward them for their hard work we would like to run a competition for a €20 book token. To enter, just send a picture of your child’s work to the following email address competitions@queenoftheuniversens.com and give your child’s name. Closing date Friday 1st May at 3 p.m.

Winner will be chosen at random so get your entries in. Next week we will have another competition so lots of chances to win. 

We look forward to hearing from you as the week passes.

Kind Regards,

Cathal Cole

Email to all parents

Dear Parents,

I hope you and your families are keeping well both physically and mentally at the moment. The current situation is a strange one for us all with different families coping in their own unique ways.

As we approach Easter and what would typically be our Easter break, our teachers will not be sending work to students. They may give one or two small activities for children who may like to do them for fun. I urge you to relax as much as possible over the Easter break, let the children take a break too and we will be ready to go again once more in two weeks time. That may be back in school but could well be the continuation of home schooling. 

At this stage, children have missed 15 days of school. While this seems like a lot of time, a good number of our students are engaging with their teachers online and completing work assigned. We are fully aware that home situations are different with access to devices or broadband an issue for some. With this in mind, could you please complete the survey below to give us some idea of what children have access to and the possibilities for us if this situation continues after Easter. 

Work assigned by teachers is a guide for you as parents. If you can complete this, great. If not, do not worry or stress about this. However, please continue to engage with your child and use those interactions to teach them. Bake (measuring), do some gardening, use chalk outside to draw shapes and pictures, read, read, read!! Contact Grandparents by phone or video and ask them about the past (history), look at maps and other countries (geography), sing and dance (music and P.E.). 

Again if you can, take a look at the school website (https://queenoftheuniversens.wordpress.com/useful-links-for-parents-and-teachers/) or school Twitter (https://twitter.com/qofuns) which both contain lots of links to guide you and help you to keep your children busy!  As this is a strange time for them, play and fun is still very important and they are probably enjoying having the family together. 

If you have not completed the form sent in a previous text message about consent for online platforms please do so. 

Through the School Meals fund, we now have the capacity to help families of children in our school who might not otherwise have access to food. Guidance has been given to schools around the types of food items that can be included to support those in crisis, with items similar to that of a breakfast club. 

The organisation of this procedure will be decided upon in due course to meet the demand of families who are in acute need of this support. 

If your family needs this support for food provisions please contact the school in strictest confidence on info@queenoftheuniversens.com or phone Paula Hughes on 086 0439172

To finish, thank you for your engagement so far. Hopefully things will return to normal sometime soon and we look forward to laughter ringing through the school halls again. Please fill in the form below and do not hesitate to contact myself or the teachers if you require support.

Wishing you every blessing for Easter. 

Stay safe.

Cathal Cole  (please complete the form below)
https://forms.gle/KEBTeRL86cvUbHDC6

Schools remain closed until 19th April – Government statement

https://www.education.ie/en/Press-Events/Press-Releases/2020-press-releases/PR20-03-24.html

Ms. Corr's work schedule

Here is the work for Ms. Corr’s class this week.

4th-class-covid-closures-week-of-23.03Download

Some Wellness resources

Calm.com have offered some meditations and sleep aids to help mental and emotional wellbeing in these strange times.

Parents mind find them useful to use themselves or with children to relax over the coming few weeks.

https://www.calm.com/blog/take-a-deep-breath

Useful links for parents and teachers.

GENERAL – ALL SUBJECT AREAS

• Wakelet – Senior Infants home survival kit created by Niamh Brady
• Wakelet – Collection of resources suitable for 3rd-6th created by Niamh Brady
• Padlet – Online resources across a range of levels to support parents during the school closures – Created by Maggie Green
• Padlet – Tools, apps and websites to support Irish primary pupils working in the home – List created by Ciara Reilly, Lecturer in Education (ICT and Digital Education) http://www.mie.ie
• Mr MC – Primary School Teacher sharing free resources 
• Maeve Mullins Keep Fit– warm ups, energetic dance routines, strength and conditioning workouts, and cool downs. 
• Classroom Secrets – Resource packs for home learning
• Primary School Curriculum
• https://www.dkfindout.com/us/   Interactive Encyclopedia
• https://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/products?ed=all&gr=Welcome%21   Interactive Encyclopedia (KIDS) and Ebooks 
• www.duchas.ie Collections of Stories from Primary Schools from the 1950s
• Google Treks – bringing famous landmarks and locations to your class and home
• Scoilnet – portal site for Irish education
• Ask About Ireland – information about Ireland under a variety of topics
• BBC schools – educational website for children
• Department of Education and Skills – Department of Education website
• Primary Games – interactive games
• Crickweb – primary interactive resources
• Teach the children well – portal site for educational websites
• Enchanted Learning – learning by topic across a broad range

ENGLISH Read, Write, Think– Create Trump Cards, Poems, Letters plus many more Storyberries – Online Books  Storyline Online – Movie Stars reading book EPIC! – Digital library for kids under 12 Phonics Websites and Apps Starfall – English Language Development focusing on Literacy Literactive – reading and phonics for early years pupils International Children’s Digital Library British Council – Learn English Kids – literacy activities ICT Games – literacy games NY Library “On-Lion” for Kids Cbeebies – activities for early learning years Writing Fun – interactive writing website Rivet – reading practice Oxford Owl – reading practice Alphablocks Phonics  Soundcloud – Lots of free audio books

TYPING​ https://www.typing.com/   Free online typing tutoring site without frills https://www.nessy.com/uk/ Nessy Fingers have a free log in for a few weeks like Twinkl for Covid 19 CODING https://blockly.games/   Level coding games https://code.org/learn   Leveled coding games for all ages of children and interests Run Marco, Kodable and Star Wars are particularly good GAEILGE TG4 – Cúla 4 – programmes, competitions and gallery / cláracha, comórtas agus gailearaí  Focal – online Irish dictionary / foclóir Gaeilge ar líne https://seideansi.ie/ Interactive Irish site http://robo.ie/  Interactive Irish stories

MATHS Maths Week Ireland – International Day of Mathematics (Pi Day 3.14) 14th March 2020 – Lots of free resources and games Maths is Fun – basic Maths skills Cool Math 4 Kids – wide range of activities for all ages ICT Games – numeracy games IXL Maths – activities for JI to 6th under all Maths areas Teaching Tables – interactive website dedicated to tables ​Sums Online – numeracy activities ​

HISTORY Ask About Ireland – facts about Ireland, readings from museums Irish History Links – dedicated Irish History website National Museum of Ireland​ GEOGRAPHY National Geographic Kids– resources for natural environment Kids Geo – information on a wide range of Geography topics DLTK Kids – countries and culture activities Fact Monster – see world facts section & areas such as Science & Maths also

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MUSIC Dabbledoo Music – fun and easy music lessons Classics for kids – classical music website for children Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – orchestra instruments San Francisco Symphony Kids – instruments & make your own music Sphinx Kids– learn about the orchestra &  play interactive games The Karaoke Channel – songs to sing along to The-North-Pole.com – sing along Christmas carols

SCIENCE Science Foundation Ireland WOW Science – excellent free activities, experiments, games and videos Primary Science – interactive activities based on curricular areas Science Kids – Science and Technology for kids Science Bob – fun interactive experiments Mooney goes wild – resources for mammals, insects and birds NASA – information on Solar System with child friendly student section  Science Experiments Around the Home​​

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ART Will Sliney – Drawing Challenge on Twitter and How to Draw videos on youtube Google Arts and Culture – Have a look around Artistic landmarks including famous Art Gallerys I am an artist – visual arts initiative aimed at primary school children Art Attack – creative ideas and activities for children Kinder Art – art and craft ideas for children of all ages Incredible Art – ideas for Art activities  National Gallery of Ireland – National Art Gallery website NGA Kids – excellent resource for Visual Arts for children