Friday 8th May 2020
Dear school community
Important Dates
Bank holiday and midterm break June 1st-5th Inclusive
Active Week, week beginning June 22nd, more details to follow
End of Year School Reports will be available June 19th
Please find the school calendar 2020 2021 attached, which may be subject to change
Dear Parents/Guardians
Thank you so much for completing our recent survey on Home-based Learning. It has been really helpful.
We thought you might be interested to read some of the results gathered from all the class groups and the actions which have been taken since the survey started. Teachers have now received the results of the survey, in time to influence the work being sent out from Monday 11th May.
Response Rate: An average of 64% of pupils’ parents filled in the survey.
Time spent on school work: Most pupils are spending the recommended amount of time*, many were spending more time. Pupils (and indeed adults) work at different speeds, so it is impossible for teachers to set work that will be completed by everyone in the same amount of time. We would like to reassure you, that there should be no pressure for any pupil to spend much more than the recommended time on school work. However, if they are happily occupied, let them work away.
*Recommended times for school work:
- Junior and Senior Infants – 1 hour
- 1st and 2nd Classes – 1 to 1.5 hours
- 3rd and 4th Classes – 2 hours
- 5th and 6th Classes – 3 hours
Action: Class teachers will have read the results and comments of the survey for their year group. If the work is taking most of their pupils too long to complete the amount of work will be adjusted. Otherwise they will continue to encourage parents and pupils to do as much as the can in the recommended time.
Communication: With a choice of Weekly email or work posted on the school website, an average of 94% of parents opted for the weekly email.
Action: From 30th March, work has been sent out by weekly email.
Engagement: 40% of parents said they had some issues around their child’s willingness to engage with the work. 60% did not.
Action: With the rollout of See Saw, pupil willingness to engage is already improving. Class teachers will continue to make the work as varied and as interesting as possible, allowing for the fact that many parents have also said that they find a similar set of work each day easier to manage.
Comments: Thank you so much for all your comments. All the teachers have now read the results and the comments carefully and they are delighted that so much of our Home-based Learning is going well. They will do their best to make any adjustments that are indicated by the results. This will be reflected in work from Monday 11th May.
Action:
General consideration given to the comments made in each year-group survey and actions where possible.
Many of the comments requested some online interaction between the pupils and the parents, rather than just emails between the adults. This pupil-teacher interaction is now possible using See Saw. Both teachers and pupils are already enjoying exchanging tasks and messages by image and voice recording. Some teachers are also beginning to use the video feature to explain, demonstrate or give feedback on pieces of work.
Many parents requested that the children’s text books be sent out. The school had been trying to find a safe way to do this and the books were all delivered over the Bank Holiday weekend. The weekly work set will start including use of the books on or before Monday 11th May. Any books not received by families yet will arrive in the post shortly.
Thank you again for taking the time to complete the survey. You can continue to give feedback via the school email address, to individual Support Techers or via See Saw. Additionally, if you would like a telephone call for further advice or support from any of the teachers please drop us a line at [email protected] or leave a message on the answer machine at school 0404 62786. We will get back to you, by telephone. We are here to support you and our pupils and sometimes a one to one call can really help.
Following on from the government’s announcement last week we look forward to putting a plan in place for the re-opening of the school in September for the pupils. We await further advice from the Department of Education, and will communicate with you once that roadmap is clear.
We would also like to reassure all families that every child will progress to the next class level in the new school year. As we find ourselves in such an unusual and unplanned situation, and we haven’t been in school since 12th March all classes will remain the same for next school year. There may be some changes in Joe Cathy and Denise’s classes due to pupils leaving. Otherwise the class that your child is in now (blue or green) will be the same one they will be in once the school reopens for 2020 2021 school year. We hope that this will help support your child’s transition to the next class level. We will resume our school policy of reforming classes the following year 2021 2022. Your child’s teacher for next school year will be confirmed, we hope, before the end of term.
We look forward to continuing our work together to maintain an engagement with education for our pupils. We hope you and your families continue to keep safe and keep well. We all want to be at school, all of the staff are thinking of you and wish you well. We miss our pupils. Finally, we send best wishes and congratulations to teacher Paul on the birth of his son Fred, born last week.
Have a lovely weekend
Kind regards Sinead
Green Schools
We got some great news yesterday from Green -Schools An Taisce.
All our hard work towards earning our Green Flag for travel has paid off and we will be awarded with the flag shortly.
Sharon and I want to send a huge Thank You to the Green School Committee, Janice Doyle and to the whole school community for getting involved in supporting our application this year. An Taisce Travel Officer Allison Phillips visited the school in November and was hugely impressed by all we are doing as a whole school community to make the school and the approach roads as safe as possible.
If you would like to know more about Green Schools visit their website at
https://greenschoolsireland.org/
The team have put some amazing home learning lessons and activities together you could try out.
Stay safe
Sally and Sharon
Forest school & Swimming – We are currently in the process of organising refunds to families who made payment for Swimming in 2nd class, Forest school in 3rd class and a number of Forest school days in 4th class. Further details will be communicated shortly.
Are you leaving WETNS? If you are planning to leave the school at the end of the year please let us know, in writing, at your earliest convenience. It is better for the school to know as soon as possible as we have waiting lists for most classes in the school. Please complete the attached form and return it to Wicklow Educate Together NS, Hawkstown Road, Wicklow Town, A67 E371. Many Thanks
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Please keep up to date with information from Wicklow Educate Together NS which is available through weekly newsletter, texts to parents, school wide notices, notes in bags, homework diaries & school website wicklowetns.com. Wicklow Educate Together N.S. is not on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media. For any queries, questions or feedback please approach your child’s class teacher in the first instance or the school office Lisa (0404 62786) email [email protected] Please contact Sinead school principal for any further clarification or information on [email protected] Please note that we will only promote school sanctioned events or those that benefit a registered charity in our newsletter.
Final Pupil Leaving Form Wicklow Educate Together National School