News Update – 19/11/2021

 

Dear Parent / Guardian / Colleague / Board Member,

Covid-19 Update.- The Department and the HSE, working in collaboration with the Dept of Health, have developed a programme in which antigen tests will be made available to children in a primary school pod, where a child in the pod has had a PCR test that detected COVID-19. Where two or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 occur in a class, within a 7-day period, outside of a single pod, antigen testing will be offered to the full class. The tests will be sent to the children’s parents by the HSE. Parents of a primary school child, who has been confirmed as having COVID-19 following a PCR test, are asked to inform their school’s principal. The school principal will then inform the parents of other children in the pod of a confirmed case. No personal details of the child will be shared. These parents will be provided with the option to receive free antigen tests for their child, which they will be able to order for delivery to the home.

It is not mandatory for children to participate in antigen testing. Children who are in a pod where a child has tested positive for COVID-19 can continue to attend school, whether they participate in antigen testing or not, provided that they are not experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. If a child displays any symptoms of COVID-19 they should self-isolate immediately and a parent or guardian should arrange a PCR test. This system will commence on Mon 29th Nov.

Elsewhere, it is proving noticeably more difficult to substitute staff absences at this time. This is the case across all schools due to shortages of teachers/substitutes. Rest assured we will endeavour to do our best until the situation improves. We have been very fortunate to-date, since we have been able to meet the need from our own resources.

Congratulations. – Mr Earley has been appointed principal at Moyglass N.S., Co. Tipperary. Stephen has been a permanent member of staff at our school since September 2018. He came to us via Presentation Primary School, Carrick on Suir and has taught, Rg 5, Rg 1 (twice) and has currently a mix of Rg1/Rg2. He has also served as staff representative on our Board of Management since December 2019. He is due to commence his new role towards the end of this year. We thank him for his work at our school and wish him well in management. The process to find his replacement has begun this week.

Parent Teacher Meetings. – Teachers will contact respective parents in advance of Monday 29th November. These will take place through the medium of Zoom or phone call. Please let your preference be known to them at this time.

Phone line.  – The school phone line was down for the first half of this week, apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Go Fund Me. – The parents of Danny Norris, Lisa and Lar of Glasha, Ballymacarbry have set up a go fund me page for their son Danny who is a pupil at our school. Danny was diagnosed with Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma in July 2020. To-date Danny has had 12 rounds of chemotherapy and 23 rounds of radiotherapy in Crumlin. This rare cancer affects approx 7-10 children in Ireland annually. The Norris family is seeking your help to raise the necessary funds so that he can access a Bivalent Vaccine trial in Memorial Sloane Kettering Hospital (MSK) in New York which is not available in Ireland and will be accessed over a five year programme. The link to donate can be accessed below and is also available on our Facebook page. Please give generously. We wish Danny and the Norris family well in Danny’s recuperation and in their fundraising. https://gofund.me/7dc2ce7f

Sport. – Best wishes to the Nire Senior footballers as they take on Rathgormack in the rescheduled Co. Senior Football Final in Fraher Field, Dungarvan this Sunday.

Is mise,

Michael J. O’ Ryan – Principal