Welcome back to a new school year in Scoil Ghobnatan. I hope your summer has been an enjoyable and safe one for you and your family. Covid 19 has presented many challenges for schools. Regular updates will be issued to keep you informed of new procedures being put in place for August 27th next.

Our school is well equipped with all the necessary health and safety requirements and our staff has engaged in additional Covid 19 training. We are confident that with your support we can provide for the safe return of your children and our staff.

The school will re-open on Thurs. Aug. 27th. However in a large school like ours, it is important that we set safe protocols and procedures for all our pupils. To this end we will bring the children back in smaller groups in advance of a full reopening of our school. This will provide the opportunity to outline and practice these new safety procedures and protocols.

Please note the following points:

The pupils will return on a staggered basis as follows:

Thurs. 27^th Aug.

9.00am – 10.30am      Fifth and Sixth class pupils only.

11.00am-12.30pm       Third and Fourth Class pupils only.

1.00pm-2.30pm           First and Second Class pupils only.

Pupils who attend in their class grouping on Thurs do not attend school on Fri.

Fri 28^th Aug.

9.00am- 10.30am         Sen. Infant pupils, Mixed Senior Infant and First Class pupils ( Mrs. McCarthy’s Class) and Language class pupils only.

11.00am- 12.00noon   Junior Infant Pupils – 2 pods per class (parents will be notified individually in advance)

12.30pm- 1.30pm        Junior Infant Pupils  – 2 pods per class ( parents will be notified individually in advance.)

Please take careful note of drop off and collection times on these days.

All pupils will return to school on Mon. 31^st of Aug.

Please drop your child to the school gate at the designated time above on either Thursday or Friday as outlined above. Staff will then direct them to their classroom.

At arrival and collection times we would ask parents to remain outside the school gates, maintaining appropriate social distancing and we encourage the wearing of masks at these times.

All pupils are to bring their new school books, covered and clearly labelled.
Please provide one pencil case, clearly labelled with stationary as listed on the class booklist. This must remain in school. All individual items within the pencil case must be labelled with your child’s name. We suggest that you provide separate stationary for use at home.

No lunch is required on the first day.

Please ensure your child has a small towel ( face cloth size ) to dry their hands and a wash bag with pack of tissues.

Children from 3rd to 6th will have a basket/box for safe storage of books in classroom.

All children will wear the school uniform on their return to school.
When children return on August 31st for a full week , Mon. Wed. and Friday will be tracksuit days with school uniforms being worn on Tues and Thurs. .

This will facilitate regular washing of school tracksuits and uniforms. The children in Jun. Infants will wear the school tracksuit on all school days.

Government policy, which is based on official public health advice, continues to advise against non-essential travel overseas for everyone.
It is a requirement for anyone coming into Ireland, from locations other than those with a rating of ‘normal precautions’ (“green”), to restrict their movements for 14 days, and this includes school staff, parents and children or other students coming from abroad to attend school in Ireland. Restricting your movements means staying indoors in one location and avoiding contact with other people and social situations as much as possible.

The co-operation, understanding and support of our entire school community will be essential in making Scoil Ghobnatan the safest it can be for your child.

Working together we will ensure that we keep the risks to children, parents and staff to an absolute minimum. Thank you for your co-operation.
Kind Regards,
Michael Walsh
Principal