Dear Parents/Guardians,
I want to wish everyone in the Rathfeigh school community a Happy New Year. I hope you and your family enjoyed Christmas and found special time together. I hope 2021 will be a safe and happy year for all of us. The roll-out of the vaccine brings hope and hopefully the majority of the population will be vaccinated by the end of the summer. Brighter days lie ahead!
The Government has announced that schools will be closed for three weeks due to the large increase in coronavirus infections in the country. We won’t be returning to school until February 1st. Of course this date could change depending on whether the recent surge in cases continues. In the meantime we will be resuming with “Zoom” and Edmodo starting this Monday January 11th.
Each teacher will teach a lesson on Zoom in the morning time. After the first lesson is finished the children will have some work to do on Edmodo. This work must be completed before the second Zoom session commences in the afternoon. (Juniors/Seniors will have only one Zoom session). The children must upload their work to Edmodo. Children not on the Zoom sessions will be marked absent. If you have difficulties connecting to Zoom please leave a message for the class teacher on Edmodo. The class teachers will put the ID and password for each Zoom Session on Edmodo prior to each session. Please don’t share the passwords etc with people from outside the school. We fully expect all children to be punctual for the Zoom sessions. They should have a pencil/pen, rubber, ruler and paper ready prior to each session. Below is the timetable for all classes. I will inform families if there is a change to this timetable.
Mrs Campbell will be contacting families who have children receiving Learning Support in English or Maths. We strongly advise that this additional support is availed of
| Teacher | Zoom | Edmodo | Zoom | Edmodo |
| Mr Tansley | 9.15-9.45 | 9.45 | 12.15-12.45 | 12.45 |
| Ms Reynolds | 10.00-10.30 | 10.30 | 1.00-1.30 | 1.30 |
| Ms O Donoghue | 10.45-11.15 | 11.15 | 1.45-2.15 | 2.15 |
| Mrs Vaughan | 11.30-12.00 | 12.00 |
(If there are technical issues with Zoom on any given day the children should log into Edmodo straight away. The class teacher will have work uploaded for the children to complete.)
During the “Lockdown” the children would benefit greatly if they set aside 20-30 minutes daily for reading. The school website under “Links” has some good mathematical websites that the children could engage with also. There are some good websites, also, on the school website under “News” – “School work and websites” March 19th letter and “Online Resources for Parents NCSE” March 26th letter.
The next few weeks will be challenging but it shouldn’t be stressful for the children. There will be ups and downs. Please engage with the class teacher through Edmodo if your child is experiencing difficulties.
We hope all the children engage positively with this distance learning. We hope they enjoy it.
Stay safe!
Seamus Tansley (Principal)