September 2022 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Fáilte romhaibh ar ais ar scoil. Welcome back to the new school year. At this stage I have met most of you at the school gate at some point. I would like to thank you, most sincerely, for all for the kind words of encouragement & support you have given me as I try to fill in for Mrs. Tighe for the coming year. I wish Mrs. Tighe and her husband John all the very best for the months ahead.

We welcome back our children. The children are a credit to you and it’s great to see them settling back into school life after a very pleasant Summer.

A particular welcome to our new Junior Infants, Billy T, Lottie M, Elliot, Lily, Lottie I, Torin, Manni and Vita. They are really settling well into school and we are delighted with how well the morning drop offs are going. Some of us might remember ourselves what it was like being a Junior Infant, back in the day, or at least think we can remember! The Junior Infants bring it all back to me what school is all about – looking out for one another. We also welcome our 3 new students, Leon in Senior Infants, Bill in 2nd Class and Gustav in 6th class.

Staffing 2022/2023

Junior Infants, Senior Infants, 1st class – Ms. Laura White 2nd, 3rd and 4th class – Ms Niamh McGrath (Acting Deputy Principal) 5th & 6th Class – Mrs. Rose O’ Donovan and Mrs. Elaine Byrne (Job Share) SEN – Mr. Conor Murray (Acting Principal) SET – Ms. Aisling Keating (Monday, Tuesday & every second Thursday) Secretary – Mrs. Ursula McCloskey (Monday, Tuesday & Thursday) SNA – Mrs. Frances Harrington We welcome all our staff back to Gurraneasig and wish them all the very best for the coming year. Parents, we thank you for supporting our staff and working with us to do the very best for your children.

Child Protection

Our updated Child Protection Policy and Safeguarding statement is also available on the school website. Please Note that Mr. Murray is our DLP (Designated Liaison Person), Ms. McGrath is our DDLP (Deputy Designated Liaison Person) and Ms. White is our A/DDLP (Acting Deputy Designated Liaison Person).

Covid Response Plan

Our Covid Response plan has remained relatively unchanged from last year and is available on the school website. Please take a moment to read the recent email that was sent in relation to the Return to School form, which must be completed following an illness. Ursula has already emailed these out to you and there are hard copies available in the office. Drop Off & Collection: I want to thank you for adhering to dropping off your child(ren) at the gate and avoiding entering the school building without an appointment. The children & the staff are able to settle into their daily routines that little bit easier. Míle buíochas. If an appointment is requested with the Principal, please ensure that any relevant issues have first been discussed with the class teacher. As the Principal is a Teaching Principal, appointments may have to be arranged for outside teaching time.

School Opening hours

9.30am – 2.10pm – Junior & Senior Infants 9.30am - 3.10pm - Rang I to Rang VI

Please note that children should not be on school grounds before 9.20am. A member of staff will open the school gates at 9.20am. School tuition starts promptly at 9.30am. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter. Please inform the school if a parent is running late. You are reminded to check your child’s school bag each evening for notices/letters from the school or from their teacher.

Pupil Absence (other than illness)

Should your child be absent/late/early from/to school please inform us in writing or email the office secretary@gurraneasigns.com. Alternatively, one can complete an absence note for him/her on return to school.
Schools’ obligations under Tusla (The Educational Welfare Services of the Child and Family Agency) guidelines specify that any child with 20 days absence (or greater) have to be reported to Tusla. As a forewarning on approaching that absence level, our school will send a notification to the parents of a child who has reached 15 days absence. The Sign-Out Register will be in operation again this year and should be used if your child is leaving the school early for any reason.

Works on school

Thanks to Barry Madden & Co for all of their help with all the jobs necessary around the school to putting up flag poles, reseeding/draining the school lawn, grass cutting, hedge clipping, fixing taps/toilet doors etc. We would be lost without you. Also, our water (well) issue was addressed over the Summer and hope that we will not be having the same issues as last year. Thanks for your patience with this and I want to especially thank Mrs.Tighe & Ursula for all the work they put in on this very important matter.

Active school flag

We received our third active school flag just before we closed in June of last year. The organising committee were so taken with our efforts that they sent us a mobile speaker with microphones worth €400. I was blown away by the active student council and the work they put in. It was plain to see that they really enjoyed it and they were excellent motivators at promoting health and wellbeing. We are an active & green school and we take pride in this.

Upcoming events

Christmas Cards for School Fundraiser The children will design their own Christmas cards, which will be printed with their name, class and school name on the back. Parents will be able to order these in due course. More details to follow.

Green School Big Beach Clean up We usually take part in the Big Beach clean up in Sept/Oct and in Spring - and last year we ended up collecting big sacks of waste from Howe Strand. We love doing our part to keep our little slice of heaven just that!

Halloween Dress up We will of course dress up for this next month and have fun day. More details to follow.

Readathon for local charity This will happen after Halloween for month of November, More to follow in due course but

School Uniform

The official tracksuit uniform is

Red polo shirt with crest.
Navy tracksuit with red piping & a crest on the sweater.
Shoes / trainers are to be plain, dark & flat.

Alternative Option from the tracksuit bottom

Girls:- Plain navy skirt / pinafore (with red or navy tights or red or navy long socks) or Plain navy trousers / unbranded track bottoms e.g. Dunnes/O’Neill’s (soft shell).

Boys:- Plain navy trousers e.g. Dunnes/O’Neill’s (soft shell). Plain navy shorts may be worn for all during the summer months. Other than the school crest, no decorations / patterns / other crests or logos please on any item of clothing.

Alternative option to be worn ONLY WITH official school red polo shirt with crest and school navy tracksuit top with crest

Spare Uniforms are available at the front door.

Book Rental Scheme & Homework Diaries / Classroom Resources

Monies payable for these (Junior Room €25, Middle Room - €33.50 & Senior Room - €48.50) can be

paid online (see paragraph below - payments to school), or
given to your child’s class teacher in a clearly labelled envelope

Year/Term Costs The school is ever aware of outgoings for parents and have strived to keep our yearly costs to a minimum. Costs for this remain at €45 per child per term and can be paid online (see paragraph below - payments to school),

Teacher Contact

An appointment can be made via the school office or school email address secretary@gurraneasigns.com to meet the class teacher. We will endeavour to deal with most queries over email/phone this school year.

Medical Conditions

Ursula has recently sent out an email about this. Should your child have any medical condition / allergy that could possibly require intervention please furnish the details of the same to Ursula so that we have up to date medical info where appropriate.

Healthy Eating/Allergies

Unfortunately, we cannot accept birthday cakes, etc being brought into classes for other children to share due to numerous allergies that children have. Friday remains an individual treat day.

Text-a-Parent

Please ensure that you have given up-to-date phone & email contact details to the school office. Occasionally, parents change their phone/number and forget to inform the school. This is especially true of the mobile number required for our Text-a-Parent service. If there are any important changes in personal contact details, please inform the school as soon as possible as we will be updating this very soon. Text-a-Parent App Please download the free TextaParent App to your phone so that school messages and calendar updates can now be sent to the App. https://app.textaparent.ie/get/app

School Calendar 2022/2023

Please see the attached School Calendar for all School Closures

Car parking & One-way system

Our informal one way system works well for the school during our start & finish times. If you don’t know about it, please ask. The one way is used by the parents of the school. Please be considerate of locals, they are not party to this informal one way system, so be prepared to meet traffic. The local community use the road as normal. Please be aware and DRIVE SLOWLY & CAREFULLY.

Always slow your speed in the vicinity of the school.
Parents are requested NOT TO PARK IN THE ENTRANCE TO THE SCHOOL on the yellow box, but to park safely in the school vicinity. Please DO NOT PARK ON NEIGHBOURS GRASS.
DO NOT BLOCK neighbouring entrances / laneways or any access areas.

Traffic / Speeding Please be mindful of others travelling to school. We have some families who walk and cycle to school, which as an Active & Green school, we encourage. School has over the past year received complaints of excessive speeding/dangerous driving at drop-off and collection times. The School advises all to arrive and depart safely at school regardless of time and road/weather conditions. The school has contacted Cork County Council & Kilbrittain Garda Station in relation to road traffic. We will also liaise with local Gardaí in relation to applying for a special speed limit of 30kmph in the school vicinity. Thank you for your continued cooperation in promoting the health & safety of our school community.

Parents Association(PA)

The PA is, year on year, a wonderful support to our school. They are extremely generous to our school and have recently supported ICT by raising monies to help buy 2 whiteboards for the middle and senior room respectively. These will assist massively with the teaching and learning in both rooms. Without the PA we simply wouldn’t be in a position to engage in other sporting activities that the children love so much, such as tennis and surfing. They work very hard to help make Gurraneasig N.S a magical place for the children. The PA is also a wonderful opportunity for the parents of our school to get involved and feel part of the school community. Go raibh míle.

Pupil Accident Insurance

Please note the PA organise payment of this invaluable insurance policy which protects and insures every child in the school, both inside and outside of school hours. The cost is €8 per child payable on-line to the school account.

Payments to school

Some parents prefer to pay school costs etc on line. If you wish to do so, please note the schools bank details below:
Allied Irish Bank South Main Street Bandon Co. Cork Account Name: Gurraneasig National School 1 Account IBAN: IE61AIBK93404607304047 BIC: AIBKIE2D For reference please put your child’s name & item (Tour, Term cost etc) so we will know to whom the transaction applies.

Secretary Ursula works on Mondays, Tuesdays & Thursdays.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to wish you and your child all the best for the coming year. We all are very proud of our little school, as I know you are too. We will work with you to ensure a successful year for all. Go n-éirí an bóthar libh.

“Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí” – Praise the youth and they will flourish.

Is mise le meas,

Mr. Conor Murray

Acting Príomhoide