29th June 2020
Dear boys and girls, and parents / guardians,
This is my 14th and final message to upload on a Monday morning. We finish up tomorrow for the summer holidays, finishing the most unique year any of us have ever experienced. Parents, I want to take this opportunity to thank you sincerely for your support throughout the year, but most particularly for your support over the last few months. Thanks for helping with the home-schooling, thanks for taking the time to send in work so teachers could provide feedback, thanks for your kind messages to the teachers, and to myself. Your support is a vital part of how we operate in Scoil Mochua. The partnership approach is the most effective approach to ensure that your child has the best possible experience in school. We look forward to continuing that partnership approach after the summer.
We plan to start back on Thursday 27th August for all classes from Senior Infants – 6th Class. Given that the children will not have been to school for over 5 months, we will concentrate on welcoming back these children first, and then we will welcome the new Junior Infants on Tuesday 1st September. The committee formed to coordinate the re-opening of the school will examine all guidance available to us from the DES and the HSE in August. All necessary measures to ensure the health and safety, and the wellbeing, of children and staff, will be in place prior to August 27th. The initial return to school may involve staggered start and end times, to avoid congestion at the gates, and to ensure that the children can arrive to school, having been away for so long, in a calm and orderly manner. We will communicate with you via email and text prior to the 27th August, with concrete details on what, if any, changes will be required. Please be assured that we will do everything possible to cater for the varying needs of the children as we return to school. We are well aware that some will skip back into school, some will be nervous or anxious, and others will wish they were still at home with parents! We are also well aware that the work covered during the home-schooling will have varied in every household. Please let us worry about all of that. Our priority will be to welcome the children back, to gradually establish new routines, to re-establish relationships with the children, and finally, to gauge where each child is academically. Please trust us to do our job. We are very much looking forward to it!
Congratulations to our 6th class boys and girls, all 90 of them, who graduated from the school on Wednesday evening. The 6th class teachers, Ms Claire Stewart, Ms Louise Callaghan, Ms Amy Douglas, and their Special Education Teacher, Ms Paula Flanagan, put together a wonderful virtual graduation. From the comfort of their own homes, the children were brought on a tour of the school, they listened to various addresses from staff members, as well as from members of the wider school community, they watched a fantastic slideshow which showcased their 8 years in the school. The three Student Council Reps did a great job MC’ing part of it, and each child featured in it via a movie clip or a photo. Their artwork depicting favourite memories highlighted the importance of the Paul Ryan Memorial Cup in the school calendar, and their hopes and dreams brought home to us all just what a wonderful group of children with 6th class group are. The sky really is the limit for these confident, articulate, fun-loving group of students. On behalf of the Board of Management and all of the staff in Scoil Mochua, we wish them all the success that they so richly deserve as they move on to the next stage of their lives. Thanks to the Parents’ Association for organising the ever-popular Graduation T-Shirts. Thanks to the teachers for a fantastic, memorable graduation, and thanks to the 6th class children for all the wonderful memories over the last 8 years.
The parents of the 6th class children should have received an email this morning with dates for the re-scheduled Confirmation. We have no update yet on dates for the First Communion. We will alert the parents concerned when we have an update on this.
There are a group of children in Scoil Mochua who do a fantastic job throughout the year being the voice of all students. I am referring to the Student Council. This group of children attend regular lunch time meetings with Ms Lally, raising concerns, bringing suggestions from their class about school improvements, and linking in with Junior classes, ensuring that their voices are also heard. I attend some of the meetings, but even when I am not present, Ms Lally gives me an update from every meeting. They are mature and responsible, and together with their Deputy Student Council Reps, they represent their classes so well. The Student Council played a big role in the organisation of the Intel Solar Panel Launch, a big community event which was hosted by us. They were a big support during Friendship Week, setting the tone each morning by greeting the students with smiley stickers. They worked with the Parents’ Association during the second-hand book sale, and were an invaluable support to them given the huge popularity of the book sale. When the school closed in March, they were working on a new initiative, a Student Council Newsletter. We look forward to this coming to fruition next year. Thanks to every member of the Student Council for playing such an important and valued role in the school. And thanks to Ms Marie Lally for facilitating the Council, and running all the lunch time meetings, and for the wonderful support and encouragement you give them.
Thanks to our fantastic Parents’ Association for all their help and support this year. It is yet another example of the value of effective partnership. Scoil Mochua is such a busy place – it is always a hive of industry. We, the staff, cannot always reach on all that we would like to, but we know that we can rely on the members of the PA to help out throughout the year. And, as they know only too well, rely on them we do! Thanks for all the coffee morning, the fund raising events, the wonderful displays in the foyer at Christmas and Halloween, the Christmas Fun Days, …. to mention but a few of the ways they add some magic to our school. The PA organised a second-hand book sale this year during the Readathon. The idea was to promote reading and recycling. Children brought in previously read books, and they were sold in a ‘pop-up’ shop during the Readathon, with the help of the Student Council. Every book was sold for 50c, and a staggering €1013 was raised! We will consult with the PA on what that money will be spent on, but be assured it will be put to good use for the benefit of the children. We will update you on this next year.
Work is almost complete on the room over the PE hall. It is a fantastic, bright, airy room, surrounded by lovely trees. The exact use will evolve over time, but its main purpose will be to promote reading. In time we hope it will be a Digital Reading Room, with a screen and devices for educational projects, shelves of reference books, and plenty of sofas and comfy seating for quiet reading time. We will continue to invest annually in the up-to-date class libraries, and children can bring their books with them to chill out and read.
Finally, on behalf of the Board of Management, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff in Scoil Mochua who adapted, very quickly and very efficiently, to a totally new way of working. This pandemic forced us all out of our comfort zones, and we are very proud of how our teachers stepped up to the mark to support the children. Myself and Ms Therese Shortall had weekly virtual meetings with every stream, and with the Special Education Needs team and the SNAs. These meetings took 2 days every week, but were a very important to ensure that we remained focussed throughout, as a team, on how to best support the various classes. It ensures that we all stayed in touch as a staff, and allowed us to address and resolve issues together, as they arose. The teachers shared examples of the children’s work with me, and kept me updated on feedback they received from you, the parents. We hope that you are happy with the support your child received since last March. Thank you for your patience as we got to grips with new technologies, and tweaked the weekly assignments as we went along, based largely on your feedback. I am sure you will be glad to hand back the reigns at the end of August, and rest assured, the teachers will be only too happy to take them back! Thanks to Eileen and Siobhan for managing the administration of the school in very different circumstances, in their usual calm and efficient manner, and to our Caretaker Val, who does Trojan work all around the school, inside and out.
From all of us in Scoil Mochua, have a wonderful, restful and safe summer. Boys and girls, tidy away your books and pencil case. Put everything in your school bags and put it away safely. Keep up the great job of following the Government’s advice on physical distancing, cough etiquette and hand-washing. Have a great summer and we can’t wait to see you all on August 27th. We will be in touch in advance of that.
Kind regards and warm wishes to you all,
Catherine Carragher, Principal.
Dear boys and girls, and parents / guardians,
This is my 14th and final message to upload on a Monday morning. We finish up tomorrow for the summer holidays, finishing the most unique year any of us have ever experienced. Parents, I want to take this opportunity to thank you sincerely for your support throughout the year, but most particularly for your support over the last few months. Thanks for helping with the home-schooling, thanks for taking the time to send in work so teachers could provide feedback, thanks for your kind messages to the teachers, and to myself. Your support is a vital part of how we operate in Scoil Mochua. The partnership approach is the most effective approach to ensure that your child has the best possible experience in school. We look forward to continuing that partnership approach after the summer.
We plan to start back on Thursday 27th August for all classes from Senior Infants – 6th Class. Given that the children will not have been to school for over 5 months, we will concentrate on welcoming back these children first, and then we will welcome the new Junior Infants on Tuesday 1st September. The committee formed to coordinate the re-opening of the school will examine all guidance available to us from the DES and the HSE in August. All necessary measures to ensure the health and safety, and the wellbeing, of children and staff, will be in place prior to August 27th. The initial return to school may involve staggered start and end times, to avoid congestion at the gates, and to ensure that the children can arrive to school, having been away for so long, in a calm and orderly manner. We will communicate with you via email and text prior to the 27th August, with concrete details on what, if any, changes will be required. Please be assured that we will do everything possible to cater for the varying needs of the children as we return to school. We are well aware that some will skip back into school, some will be nervous or anxious, and others will wish they were still at home with parents! We are also well aware that the work covered during the home-schooling will have varied in every household. Please let us worry about all of that. Our priority will be to welcome the children back, to gradually establish new routines, to re-establish relationships with the children, and finally, to gauge where each child is academically. Please trust us to do our job. We are very much looking forward to it!
Congratulations to our 6th class boys and girls, all 90 of them, who graduated from the school on Wednesday evening. The 6th class teachers, Ms Claire Stewart, Ms Louise Callaghan, Ms Amy Douglas, and their Special Education Teacher, Ms Paula Flanagan, put together a wonderful virtual graduation. From the comfort of their own homes, the children were brought on a tour of the school, they listened to various addresses from staff members, as well as from members of the wider school community, they watched a fantastic slideshow which showcased their 8 years in the school. The three Student Council Reps did a great job MC’ing part of it, and each child featured in it via a movie clip or a photo. Their artwork depicting favourite memories highlighted the importance of the Paul Ryan Memorial Cup in the school calendar, and their hopes and dreams brought home to us all just what a wonderful group of children with 6th class group are. The sky really is the limit for these confident, articulate, fun-loving group of students. On behalf of the Board of Management and all of the staff in Scoil Mochua, we wish them all the success that they so richly deserve as they move on to the next stage of their lives. Thanks to the Parents’ Association for organising the ever-popular Graduation T-Shirts. Thanks to the teachers for a fantastic, memorable graduation, and thanks to the 6th class children for all the wonderful memories over the last 8 years.
The parents of the 6th class children should have received an email this morning with dates for the re-scheduled Confirmation. We have no update yet on dates for the First Communion. We will alert the parents concerned when we have an update on this.
There are a group of children in Scoil Mochua who do a fantastic job throughout the year being the voice of all students. I am referring to the Student Council. This group of children attend regular lunch time meetings with Ms Lally, raising concerns, bringing suggestions from their class about school improvements, and linking in with Junior classes, ensuring that their voices are also heard. I attend some of the meetings, but even when I am not present, Ms Lally gives me an update from every meeting. They are mature and responsible, and together with their Deputy Student Council Reps, they represent their classes so well. The Student Council played a big role in the organisation of the Intel Solar Panel Launch, a big community event which was hosted by us. They were a big support during Friendship Week, setting the tone each morning by greeting the students with smiley stickers. They worked with the Parents’ Association during the second-hand book sale, and were an invaluable support to them given the huge popularity of the book sale. When the school closed in March, they were working on a new initiative, a Student Council Newsletter. We look forward to this coming to fruition next year. Thanks to every member of the Student Council for playing such an important and valued role in the school. And thanks to Ms Marie Lally for facilitating the Council, and running all the lunch time meetings, and for the wonderful support and encouragement you give them.
Thanks to our fantastic Parents’ Association for all their help and support this year. It is yet another example of the value of effective partnership. Scoil Mochua is such a busy place – it is always a hive of industry. We, the staff, cannot always reach on all that we would like to, but we know that we can rely on the members of the PA to help out throughout the year. And, as they know only too well, rely on them we do! Thanks for all the coffee morning, the fund raising events, the wonderful displays in the foyer at Christmas and Halloween, the Christmas Fun Days, …. to mention but a few of the ways they add some magic to our school. The PA organised a second-hand book sale this year during the Readathon. The idea was to promote reading and recycling. Children brought in previously read books, and they were sold in a ‘pop-up’ shop during the Readathon, with the help of the Student Council. Every book was sold for 50c, and a staggering €1013 was raised! We will consult with the PA on what that money will be spent on, but be assured it will be put to good use for the benefit of the children. We will update you on this next year.
Work is almost complete on the room over the PE hall. It is a fantastic, bright, airy room, surrounded by lovely trees. The exact use will evolve over time, but its main purpose will be to promote reading. In time we hope it will be a Digital Reading Room, with a screen and devices for educational projects, shelves of reference books, and plenty of sofas and comfy seating for quiet reading time. We will continue to invest annually in the up-to-date class libraries, and children can bring their books with them to chill out and read.
Finally, on behalf of the Board of Management, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff in Scoil Mochua who adapted, very quickly and very efficiently, to a totally new way of working. This pandemic forced us all out of our comfort zones, and we are very proud of how our teachers stepped up to the mark to support the children. Myself and Ms Therese Shortall had weekly virtual meetings with every stream, and with the Special Education Needs team and the SNAs. These meetings took 2 days every week, but were a very important to ensure that we remained focussed throughout, as a team, on how to best support the various classes. It ensures that we all stayed in touch as a staff, and allowed us to address and resolve issues together, as they arose. The teachers shared examples of the children’s work with me, and kept me updated on feedback they received from you, the parents. We hope that you are happy with the support your child received since last March. Thank you for your patience as we got to grips with new technologies, and tweaked the weekly assignments as we went along, based largely on your feedback. I am sure you will be glad to hand back the reigns at the end of August, and rest assured, the teachers will be only too happy to take them back! Thanks to Eileen and Siobhan for managing the administration of the school in very different circumstances, in their usual calm and efficient manner, and to our Caretaker Val, who does Trojan work all around the school, inside and out.
From all of us in Scoil Mochua, have a wonderful, restful and safe summer. Boys and girls, tidy away your books and pencil case. Put everything in your school bags and put it away safely. Keep up the great job of following the Government’s advice on physical distancing, cough etiquette and hand-washing. Have a great summer and we can’t wait to see you all on August 27th. We will be in touch in advance of that.
Kind regards and warm wishes to you all,
Catherine Carragher, Principal.
22nd June 2020
Hi boys and girls,
I hope you are all well, and that you had a nice weekend. Well done on a fantastic Sports Week. I have been watching all of the class Padlets, and I am very impressed with all of the activities you’ve engaged in! Lots of long walks, cycles, runs and jumps – even some kayaking and horse riding! Absolutely great to see how fit and healthy you are – please keep it up over the summer months. While TV and console games are enjoyable, it’s so important to get outside into the fresh air and get some exercise. I hope you are impressed with us teachers on our Padlet. We did lots of walking and a just a little bit of running. Remember, we’re a lot older than you guys!
Wait until you see the work that is assigned for this week by your teachers. I think you will be very pleased. You all have a virtual tour of a country that one of our teachers is from – I won’t ruin the surprise, but I think you will really enjoy the tour. I know I did, and I picked out my favourite city. I wonder what yours will be? You have a lovely variety of work, including other interesting tours, STEM activities, lots of lovely reading, PE activities, riddles, etc… Lots of things to keep your minds busy. Try to do a little each day, and if your teacher is still using a Padlet this week, then upload some of your activities. We love to see all of your achievements. There are also some very important SPHE lessons. Please have a discussion with your parents about these topics – sun safety, water safety and road safety are vitally important all year round, but especially during the summer months when lots of you are out and about having fun. Keep up the good work boys and girls, and well done to all of you!
This is a very big week for our 6th class children. They will graduate on Wednesday evening – a very special occasion for each one of our ninety 6th class children, as it marks the end of their 8 years with us. It is a historic occasion for Scoil Mochua as it is our very first online graduation. Boys and girls of 6th class, and your families, we really hope you enjoy your Graduation. This is your special night. All over Celbridge, and further afield, we will all be celebrating this event together, in our homes, on Wednesday evening. The countdown is on!! Details of the book collection and distribution of the Graduation T-shirts have been emailed to all 6th class parents. Thanks to the PA for organising the t-shirts – we have seen them and they are fabulous ☺
Parents / Guardians, we are expecting further guidance from the DES this week on the re-opening of schools. After the Taoiseach’s very positive announcement last Friday evening, things are looking very good for the end of August. We have a committee in place to work on the safe re-opening of the school. All of the school’s Leadership and Management team are on the committee, as well as the Chairperson of the PA, the 2 parent nominees from the Board of Management (BOM), and the Health and Safety Officer from the BOM. Please be assured that all recommendations from the DES will be fully implemented in advance of the children’s return to school. We will do everything we can to ensure the safety and well-being of the children, the staff and the wider school community when we re-open. We hope to be in a position to give you a more detailed plan for the re-opening, including dates, next week. We will also communicate with you later in August, with final details. This will be done via email, text messages and our website.
As always, we are available if you need us – please email the class teacher directly, or [email protected].
Have a lovely week everyone. Enjoy your virtual tours children!
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
Hi boys and girls,
I hope you are all well, and that you had a nice weekend. Well done on a fantastic Sports Week. I have been watching all of the class Padlets, and I am very impressed with all of the activities you’ve engaged in! Lots of long walks, cycles, runs and jumps – even some kayaking and horse riding! Absolutely great to see how fit and healthy you are – please keep it up over the summer months. While TV and console games are enjoyable, it’s so important to get outside into the fresh air and get some exercise. I hope you are impressed with us teachers on our Padlet. We did lots of walking and a just a little bit of running. Remember, we’re a lot older than you guys!
Wait until you see the work that is assigned for this week by your teachers. I think you will be very pleased. You all have a virtual tour of a country that one of our teachers is from – I won’t ruin the surprise, but I think you will really enjoy the tour. I know I did, and I picked out my favourite city. I wonder what yours will be? You have a lovely variety of work, including other interesting tours, STEM activities, lots of lovely reading, PE activities, riddles, etc… Lots of things to keep your minds busy. Try to do a little each day, and if your teacher is still using a Padlet this week, then upload some of your activities. We love to see all of your achievements. There are also some very important SPHE lessons. Please have a discussion with your parents about these topics – sun safety, water safety and road safety are vitally important all year round, but especially during the summer months when lots of you are out and about having fun. Keep up the good work boys and girls, and well done to all of you!
This is a very big week for our 6th class children. They will graduate on Wednesday evening – a very special occasion for each one of our ninety 6th class children, as it marks the end of their 8 years with us. It is a historic occasion for Scoil Mochua as it is our very first online graduation. Boys and girls of 6th class, and your families, we really hope you enjoy your Graduation. This is your special night. All over Celbridge, and further afield, we will all be celebrating this event together, in our homes, on Wednesday evening. The countdown is on!! Details of the book collection and distribution of the Graduation T-shirts have been emailed to all 6th class parents. Thanks to the PA for organising the t-shirts – we have seen them and they are fabulous ☺
Parents / Guardians, we are expecting further guidance from the DES this week on the re-opening of schools. After the Taoiseach’s very positive announcement last Friday evening, things are looking very good for the end of August. We have a committee in place to work on the safe re-opening of the school. All of the school’s Leadership and Management team are on the committee, as well as the Chairperson of the PA, the 2 parent nominees from the Board of Management (BOM), and the Health and Safety Officer from the BOM. Please be assured that all recommendations from the DES will be fully implemented in advance of the children’s return to school. We will do everything we can to ensure the safety and well-being of the children, the staff and the wider school community when we re-open. We hope to be in a position to give you a more detailed plan for the re-opening, including dates, next week. We will also communicate with you later in August, with final details. This will be done via email, text messages and our website.
As always, we are available if you need us – please email the class teacher directly, or [email protected].
Have a lovely week everyone. Enjoy your virtual tours children!
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
15th June 2020
Hi boys and girls,
It’s that time of year we all love – Sports Days. In fact, Sports Week, to be accurate! It is so important to be fit and healthy, and to spend lots of time outdoors when the weather is fine. That is why we decided to promote physical activity this week. And there is something for everyone – from those who love sports, to those who love a bit of outdoor fun, and everyone in between! You have all worked so well on your school work over the last few months. It’s time to put the books down (apart from novels and library books!) and get outside this week. The teachers have created Padlets on each class page. This is a screen where you can post up your activities each day for all your friends to see. We would prefer if you did not post up a close-up picture of yourself doing the activities. Instead, why not post up what you did (where you walked, or who you went on a cycle with) and maybe a picture of what you saw on your route. Mr Hannan has created a Padlet for all the teachers too, so we will also be posting up our exercise for the week. I wonder will we be as fit as all of you?! You can see our Padlet on the homepage of the website. Wish us luck!
While you are out and about this week, please be very careful. If you are cycling, make sure you wear your helmet, stay on the cycle paths. If you have to cross the road, cross at a safe place and look both ways before crossing. Your safety is the most important thing. Parents, the class teachers will be providing resources on this topic this week or next week. Please discuss the important of road safety with your child.
The 6th class Graduation will take place next Wednesday evening, 24th June, and we are really looking forward to marking your special day in a very special way. We hope to arrange for you to come to school to collect any books that you left in school, drop off any rental books you have at home, and collect your Graduation T-Shirts on the same day. We will email you details this week.
Parents / Guardians, the vast majority of reports were emailed last Friday. If you were expecting your report by email, but have not yet received it, please contact the class teacher. All other reports should be received this week.
Parents of the new Junior Infants, please see updated resources and a new message on your dedicated page, under Parents -> Junior Infants 2020.
Finally, I would like to reassure all of you that, at this time, we are hoping for a full return after the summer holidays. I am aware of all the confusion and uncertainty that is in the media. We take our direction from the Department of Education and Skills (DES). Initial guidance was issued to schools on Friday. It is available here. There will be more detailed guidelines in the coming weeks, and further advice will no doubt issue over the summer, as the start of the new school year approaches. We are very optimistic what we will all be back at the end of August, and we are looking forward to it. We will inform you of the start date before we finish up for the summer. If there are any changes, we will alert you during the holidays via text message. We have learned to block out the noise created by negativity and bad-news stories. It is the DES who will determine how school re-open, and their decisions will be based on public health guidance and will be in the best interest of the children, the staff and the whole school community.
Have a great Active Week, and make sure to have lots of fun!
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal.
Hi boys and girls,
It’s that time of year we all love – Sports Days. In fact, Sports Week, to be accurate! It is so important to be fit and healthy, and to spend lots of time outdoors when the weather is fine. That is why we decided to promote physical activity this week. And there is something for everyone – from those who love sports, to those who love a bit of outdoor fun, and everyone in between! You have all worked so well on your school work over the last few months. It’s time to put the books down (apart from novels and library books!) and get outside this week. The teachers have created Padlets on each class page. This is a screen where you can post up your activities each day for all your friends to see. We would prefer if you did not post up a close-up picture of yourself doing the activities. Instead, why not post up what you did (where you walked, or who you went on a cycle with) and maybe a picture of what you saw on your route. Mr Hannan has created a Padlet for all the teachers too, so we will also be posting up our exercise for the week. I wonder will we be as fit as all of you?! You can see our Padlet on the homepage of the website. Wish us luck!
While you are out and about this week, please be very careful. If you are cycling, make sure you wear your helmet, stay on the cycle paths. If you have to cross the road, cross at a safe place and look both ways before crossing. Your safety is the most important thing. Parents, the class teachers will be providing resources on this topic this week or next week. Please discuss the important of road safety with your child.
The 6th class Graduation will take place next Wednesday evening, 24th June, and we are really looking forward to marking your special day in a very special way. We hope to arrange for you to come to school to collect any books that you left in school, drop off any rental books you have at home, and collect your Graduation T-Shirts on the same day. We will email you details this week.
Parents / Guardians, the vast majority of reports were emailed last Friday. If you were expecting your report by email, but have not yet received it, please contact the class teacher. All other reports should be received this week.
Parents of the new Junior Infants, please see updated resources and a new message on your dedicated page, under Parents -> Junior Infants 2020.
Finally, I would like to reassure all of you that, at this time, we are hoping for a full return after the summer holidays. I am aware of all the confusion and uncertainty that is in the media. We take our direction from the Department of Education and Skills (DES). Initial guidance was issued to schools on Friday. It is available here. There will be more detailed guidelines in the coming weeks, and further advice will no doubt issue over the summer, as the start of the new school year approaches. We are very optimistic what we will all be back at the end of August, and we are looking forward to it. We will inform you of the start date before we finish up for the summer. If there are any changes, we will alert you during the holidays via text message. We have learned to block out the noise created by negativity and bad-news stories. It is the DES who will determine how school re-open, and their decisions will be based on public health guidance and will be in the best interest of the children, the staff and the whole school community.
Have a great Active Week, and make sure to have lots of fun!
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal.
8th June 2020
Hi boys and girls, and parents/guardians,
Let Phase 2 begin! What great news we got from our Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, on Friday. Because each one of us has followed the rules so carefully over the last few months, we can finally get out and about a bit more, travel anywhere in our own county, and, best of all, we can start to meet up with friends and relatives again. Lots more shops are opening, and we can really begin to see some sort of normality returning to our lives. The Taoiseach finished his speech on Friday with a lovely quote from The Lord of the Rings:
“But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer.”
That new day is nearly here, thanks to all of us. Let’s remember to keep following the golden rules of hand washing, cough etiquette, and social distancing. These are still so important.
The teachers have uploaded your assignments for the week, and having looked at them, I wish I was a student in school again! You all have lots of fun educational activities to choose from this week. I can’t wait to have a look at some of the lovely work you produce. Your teachers often share the work to submit with me as they know how much I enjoy it. It’s time to get creative, and there are also lots of opportunities to get active and fit, ahead of next week’s Sports Week. If you need help gathering materials for some of your activities, why not get them ready the evening before. Lots of your parents are working from home, so they are busy during the day. Work around that by planning your activity the night before, making sure you know what to do and have any materials needed at the ready. Then, while your parents are working, you can design your invention, or make your den, or build your insect hotel, etc. If you have brothers and sisters, why not work together? Combine projects and send a picture of your team effort to each class teacher. Team work is a fun and efficient way to work! Each of you should plan and complete work in a way that suits your family. Have fun, and I bet you will learn lots without even realizing it! Oh, and keep reading every day…
All classes will be doing some important Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) work each week for the next few weeks, and we ask that parents ensure that these topics are covered, and discussed at home. These relate to safety at this time of the year: safety in the sun, road/cycle safety and water safety. It is so important that your children are made aware of the rules and actions that will keep them safe as they are out and about in the fresh air, enjoying the good weather, staying fit and healthy on bikes, and – perhaps later in the summer – enjoying a dip in the sea with adults.
Parents / guardians, at this time of year we always ask you to let us know if any of your children are leaving Scoil Mochua. Of course, we hope to welcome all of you back in September, but if you are moving away, please email us at [email protected]. This helps us to keep our records in order, and allows us to offer places to those who have moved into the area. And most importantly, it gives us the chance to wish you all the best and to say goodbye! Thanks for your support in this matter.
At this time, we are awaiting guidance from the Department of Education and Skills (DES) on the re-opening of schools after the summer. We are still hopeful that we will reopen on Thursday August 27th. We do not yet know what the re-opening will look like. Like all of you, we hope that it will be as close to normal as possible. Of course, this will depend on the HSE advice closer to the time, but if we continue as we are, then we have every reason to be optimistic. We are all looking forward to a very loud Scoil Mochua cheer when we all get back to school! We will update you as soon as we have further information from the DES.
Have a lovely week everyone. As always, don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected], or email the class teacher directly if you require any support or guidance. Boys and girls, your teachers and I look forward to seeing your work this week!
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
Hi boys and girls, and parents/guardians,
Let Phase 2 begin! What great news we got from our Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, on Friday. Because each one of us has followed the rules so carefully over the last few months, we can finally get out and about a bit more, travel anywhere in our own county, and, best of all, we can start to meet up with friends and relatives again. Lots more shops are opening, and we can really begin to see some sort of normality returning to our lives. The Taoiseach finished his speech on Friday with a lovely quote from The Lord of the Rings:
“But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer.”
That new day is nearly here, thanks to all of us. Let’s remember to keep following the golden rules of hand washing, cough etiquette, and social distancing. These are still so important.
The teachers have uploaded your assignments for the week, and having looked at them, I wish I was a student in school again! You all have lots of fun educational activities to choose from this week. I can’t wait to have a look at some of the lovely work you produce. Your teachers often share the work to submit with me as they know how much I enjoy it. It’s time to get creative, and there are also lots of opportunities to get active and fit, ahead of next week’s Sports Week. If you need help gathering materials for some of your activities, why not get them ready the evening before. Lots of your parents are working from home, so they are busy during the day. Work around that by planning your activity the night before, making sure you know what to do and have any materials needed at the ready. Then, while your parents are working, you can design your invention, or make your den, or build your insect hotel, etc. If you have brothers and sisters, why not work together? Combine projects and send a picture of your team effort to each class teacher. Team work is a fun and efficient way to work! Each of you should plan and complete work in a way that suits your family. Have fun, and I bet you will learn lots without even realizing it! Oh, and keep reading every day…
All classes will be doing some important Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) work each week for the next few weeks, and we ask that parents ensure that these topics are covered, and discussed at home. These relate to safety at this time of the year: safety in the sun, road/cycle safety and water safety. It is so important that your children are made aware of the rules and actions that will keep them safe as they are out and about in the fresh air, enjoying the good weather, staying fit and healthy on bikes, and – perhaps later in the summer – enjoying a dip in the sea with adults.
Parents / guardians, at this time of year we always ask you to let us know if any of your children are leaving Scoil Mochua. Of course, we hope to welcome all of you back in September, but if you are moving away, please email us at [email protected]. This helps us to keep our records in order, and allows us to offer places to those who have moved into the area. And most importantly, it gives us the chance to wish you all the best and to say goodbye! Thanks for your support in this matter.
At this time, we are awaiting guidance from the Department of Education and Skills (DES) on the re-opening of schools after the summer. We are still hopeful that we will reopen on Thursday August 27th. We do not yet know what the re-opening will look like. Like all of you, we hope that it will be as close to normal as possible. Of course, this will depend on the HSE advice closer to the time, but if we continue as we are, then we have every reason to be optimistic. We are all looking forward to a very loud Scoil Mochua cheer when we all get back to school! We will update you as soon as we have further information from the DES.
Have a lovely week everyone. As always, don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected], or email the class teacher directly if you require any support or guidance. Boys and girls, your teachers and I look forward to seeing your work this week!
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
Wednesday 3rd June 2020
Hello boys, girls and parents/guardian of Scoil Mochua,
I hope you all enjoyed the glorious June Bank Holiday weekend. Any of you that I saw out and about over the last few days certainly looked like you were having a great time! And I saw lots of social distancing between friends, which continues to be very important.
We are now in the month of June. Traditionally, we would be looking forward to School Tours, Sports Days, the Paul Ryan Memorial Cup, picnics in the school grounds, and lots of class plays. We are very disappointed that we cannot engage in these fun activities, but we will try to have some fun in June nonetheless!
This week is a nice short week. Your teachers have assigned your class work. Let’s see a big effort in getting this work done, and submitted for feedback. It is so important that your teacher sees the effort you are making, and can praise and encourage you for it. You deserve lots of praise for all the great work you’re doing – so don’t keep it to yourself, share it with your teacher.
The teachers are all in the process of writing up the end of year reports. Thanks to all the parents who completed the consent form so promptly. It is very short – all we require is your name, your child’s name, and a tick to indicate consent to emailing the report home. If you have not had a chance to respond, please do so at your earliest convenience. It was emailed to you last week. Many thanks.
Next week the teachers will all be a bit more creative with the work they will be assigning. Our aim is to try to replicate the fun atmosphere we all enjoy around school in June. Our aim is to reduce pressure on parents, not to increase it! Lots of the fun activities can be done at a time that suits you. Encourage older siblings to help out. Some of our best lessons in school are based around reading, or outdoor trips (even to the garden!). The learning opportunities are endless. And please don’t forget the Life Skills and the Lego Challenges that are on the homepage of our website. Both are rich in learning. Also, well done to all of you that engaged with the online GAA Schools Coaching yesterday. The numbers are growing each week. Put it in your diary for next Tuesday – the link is on our school website. And the countdown is on to our Active Sports Week. Keep an eye on the website for updates. As always, please email the class teacher if you have any queries, or need any further support with any aspect of distance learning.
Thanks to all of the Junior Infant parents who collected some books from the staff car park last week. It was lovely to see you all again, and to meet some of the children. How uplifting to see their lovely, happy smiles as they skipped in to collect their books. There are still some Junior Infant books waiting to be collected. We are happy to keep them safe until September, but if you want to collect them, please email us at [email protected] and we will make arrangements.
For all classes from 1st – 5th class, we will hold on to any books and other belongings that remain in school. We will keep them safe and you can reclaim them in September. All children will remain in the same classroom next year, so belongings will not be moved. We ask that you all put your books safely into your school bags when the school work stops, and keep them safe over the summer. You will need to bring them all back into school in September, as you will be using them for the first few weeks of the new school year. We will of course organise a book collection for 6th class children. We hope to do this on the same day that you will be collecting your graduation t-shirt. We will ask you to return school rental books and any library books you may have on that day too. This will happen towards the end of June. We will give you plenty of advance notice.
Thanks to the 6th class children for all the fabulous videos and pictures you have submitted for the graduation. Well done for engaging with such enthusiasm. Anyone who has not yet done so, can still email a short clip to us this week. The graduation will be a wonderful tribute to you all!
To all our parents, thanks again for your support throughout the school closure. Your feedback is important to us, and we appreciate your kind messages and words of thanks. Thanks to all of you for supporting your child with home-schooling, for your patience as we all got up to speed with new technologies, for feeding back on the various platforms we are using, and for taking the time to submit your child’s work so that the teacher can provide some motivation and encouragement in the form of positive feedback. We have continued to work well together as a school community during the school closure. Let’s keep that momentum going for the next few weeks.
Have a lovely week.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher
Hello boys, girls and parents/guardian of Scoil Mochua,
I hope you all enjoyed the glorious June Bank Holiday weekend. Any of you that I saw out and about over the last few days certainly looked like you were having a great time! And I saw lots of social distancing between friends, which continues to be very important.
We are now in the month of June. Traditionally, we would be looking forward to School Tours, Sports Days, the Paul Ryan Memorial Cup, picnics in the school grounds, and lots of class plays. We are very disappointed that we cannot engage in these fun activities, but we will try to have some fun in June nonetheless!
This week is a nice short week. Your teachers have assigned your class work. Let’s see a big effort in getting this work done, and submitted for feedback. It is so important that your teacher sees the effort you are making, and can praise and encourage you for it. You deserve lots of praise for all the great work you’re doing – so don’t keep it to yourself, share it with your teacher.
The teachers are all in the process of writing up the end of year reports. Thanks to all the parents who completed the consent form so promptly. It is very short – all we require is your name, your child’s name, and a tick to indicate consent to emailing the report home. If you have not had a chance to respond, please do so at your earliest convenience. It was emailed to you last week. Many thanks.
Next week the teachers will all be a bit more creative with the work they will be assigning. Our aim is to try to replicate the fun atmosphere we all enjoy around school in June. Our aim is to reduce pressure on parents, not to increase it! Lots of the fun activities can be done at a time that suits you. Encourage older siblings to help out. Some of our best lessons in school are based around reading, or outdoor trips (even to the garden!). The learning opportunities are endless. And please don’t forget the Life Skills and the Lego Challenges that are on the homepage of our website. Both are rich in learning. Also, well done to all of you that engaged with the online GAA Schools Coaching yesterday. The numbers are growing each week. Put it in your diary for next Tuesday – the link is on our school website. And the countdown is on to our Active Sports Week. Keep an eye on the website for updates. As always, please email the class teacher if you have any queries, or need any further support with any aspect of distance learning.
Thanks to all of the Junior Infant parents who collected some books from the staff car park last week. It was lovely to see you all again, and to meet some of the children. How uplifting to see their lovely, happy smiles as they skipped in to collect their books. There are still some Junior Infant books waiting to be collected. We are happy to keep them safe until September, but if you want to collect them, please email us at [email protected] and we will make arrangements.
For all classes from 1st – 5th class, we will hold on to any books and other belongings that remain in school. We will keep them safe and you can reclaim them in September. All children will remain in the same classroom next year, so belongings will not be moved. We ask that you all put your books safely into your school bags when the school work stops, and keep them safe over the summer. You will need to bring them all back into school in September, as you will be using them for the first few weeks of the new school year. We will of course organise a book collection for 6th class children. We hope to do this on the same day that you will be collecting your graduation t-shirt. We will ask you to return school rental books and any library books you may have on that day too. This will happen towards the end of June. We will give you plenty of advance notice.
Thanks to the 6th class children for all the fabulous videos and pictures you have submitted for the graduation. Well done for engaging with such enthusiasm. Anyone who has not yet done so, can still email a short clip to us this week. The graduation will be a wonderful tribute to you all!
To all our parents, thanks again for your support throughout the school closure. Your feedback is important to us, and we appreciate your kind messages and words of thanks. Thanks to all of you for supporting your child with home-schooling, for your patience as we all got up to speed with new technologies, for feeding back on the various platforms we are using, and for taking the time to submit your child’s work so that the teacher can provide some motivation and encouragement in the form of positive feedback. We have continued to work well together as a school community during the school closure. Let’s keep that momentum going for the next few weeks.
Have a lovely week.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher
May 25th 2020
Hi to all our boys and girls, and to all our parents,
I hope you are all keeping well and that you enjoyed the weekend. This is my 9th weekly message to post on the website. It’s hard to believe that our lovely school is lying empty for this long. I opened up the school last Monday and went in for the first time since early April. It was frozen in time! I went into a few classrooms, and they were just as we left them on the 12th March. I saw St Patrick’s Day decorations in some classrooms, half-finished art-work in others, and the place was so quiet. A school is supposed to be full of noise and energy and laughter. All of the staff who came in during the week said the same thing – it’s strange to be in the school without the children. Boys and girls, we can’t wait to see you all back in school again in September!
By now, all the parents should have received an email about next year’s class teacher. We have received lots of positive feedback from you on the decision to keep the same teachers for next year wherever possible. We firmly believe it’s the best thing for continuity of teaching and learning, and to provide the children with a sense of security when they come back to us after the summer. In some cases, we were not able to confirm teachers until interviews take place. To those parents, please be assured that teachers in each stream will work as part of a team to ensure that the teaching and learning continues where it left off last March.
We hope our 2nd class children had a lovely, happy day on Saturday. Many thanks to the parents who organised class Zoom meetings for Rooms 10, 11 and 12. What a lovely idea! Thank you for inviting myself, the class teachers and the Chairperson of our Board of Management and Parish Priest, Fr Joe, to the meetings. It brightened up my day to see all those lovely smiling faces on my laptop screen! And I know the teachers and Fr Joe enjoyed the meetings as much as I did. We look forward to a new date being set for your First Holy Communion – just imagine how special that day will be!
Parents, as we enter our 9th week of school closure, I am sure some of you might be finding it hard to keep your children motivated to continue with the school work. This is where we come in. Please send your child’s teacher some work. Lots of you already are, and the teachers have been telling me how great it is to get this work. It enables them to provide some positive feedback, a word of praise and some encouragement to keep up the good work. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, interest levels can drop. We understand this. Often, a personal message from the class teacher can boost motivation and morale. That is the purpose of the feedback. So, if you need a little support to boost morale, please email the class teacher, or [email protected] for my attention, and we will be only too happy to support you.
Regarding the weekly class work, our plan is to continue assigning school work this week, and next week, which is a three-day week (no school Monday 1st and Tues 2nd June). After this, we hope to shake up the format a little. The teachers will assign more fun activities based on STEM, Arts and Crafts, Sports, maths challenges, puzzles, and lots more. The week of 15th June is Scoil Mochua Sports Week! See the website for a sneak preview of what this will involve – more details will be posted nearer the time. So, for the next week and a half, let’s encourage the children to do their very best with the school work. A little every day, and lots of reading. From June 8th, we’ll get creative!
From this week, Jonathan Daniels, the GAA Club PRO, is providing online coaching for Scoil Mochua students. Coaching for Junior Infants – 2nd class takes place at 10am every Tuesday, and 3rd – 6th class coaching is at 11am every Tuesday. Jonathan will cover GAA skills, fun activities and GAA yoga. Register on the homepage of our website. The weather is beautiful, so get out into the garden and stay fit! It will be good practice ahead of our Sports Week! Thanks to Jonathan for this great initiative.
6th class boys and girls, your teachers are busy planning a graduation with a difference! Your parents should have gotten an email asking you to send in a short video clip (about 3 – 5 seconds long) saying goodbye, or thanks, or that you’ll miss the school, or your own unique message. It can be a simple 2 seconds thumbs-up without sound if you’d prefer. We really are encouraging each one of you to email something in to the dedicated email address. We will collate all of the clips and they will feature in the ceremony. This is your graduation, and we feel it’s so important that you all feature in it.
The teachers are working on end of year reports at the moment. This year, we plan to email the reports home. In order to do this, we need parental consent. We will email you soon, requesting this consent, and would greatly appreciate your support in this matter.
Finally, thanks to all our boys and girls in Scoil Mochua for your fantastic attitude during the school closures. This has been hard for children and teenagers everywhere. Playing with friends is such an important part of your lives, and yet, when this stopped, you have continued your school work at home, you have continued to play with siblings and/or parents, you are as kind and helpful as ever, and whenever I see any of you out and about, you are smiling happily. When we look back on this time, there will be some positives – I am sure of it. Thanks also to our body of parents. By all accounts, and judging on the work being submitted to the teachers, you are doing a great job at home-schooling. Thank you for your fantastic support, and the positive feedback we are getting. It is much appreciated.
Have a good week.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher
Hi to all our boys and girls, and to all our parents,
I hope you are all keeping well and that you enjoyed the weekend. This is my 9th weekly message to post on the website. It’s hard to believe that our lovely school is lying empty for this long. I opened up the school last Monday and went in for the first time since early April. It was frozen in time! I went into a few classrooms, and they were just as we left them on the 12th March. I saw St Patrick’s Day decorations in some classrooms, half-finished art-work in others, and the place was so quiet. A school is supposed to be full of noise and energy and laughter. All of the staff who came in during the week said the same thing – it’s strange to be in the school without the children. Boys and girls, we can’t wait to see you all back in school again in September!
By now, all the parents should have received an email about next year’s class teacher. We have received lots of positive feedback from you on the decision to keep the same teachers for next year wherever possible. We firmly believe it’s the best thing for continuity of teaching and learning, and to provide the children with a sense of security when they come back to us after the summer. In some cases, we were not able to confirm teachers until interviews take place. To those parents, please be assured that teachers in each stream will work as part of a team to ensure that the teaching and learning continues where it left off last March.
We hope our 2nd class children had a lovely, happy day on Saturday. Many thanks to the parents who organised class Zoom meetings for Rooms 10, 11 and 12. What a lovely idea! Thank you for inviting myself, the class teachers and the Chairperson of our Board of Management and Parish Priest, Fr Joe, to the meetings. It brightened up my day to see all those lovely smiling faces on my laptop screen! And I know the teachers and Fr Joe enjoyed the meetings as much as I did. We look forward to a new date being set for your First Holy Communion – just imagine how special that day will be!
Parents, as we enter our 9th week of school closure, I am sure some of you might be finding it hard to keep your children motivated to continue with the school work. This is where we come in. Please send your child’s teacher some work. Lots of you already are, and the teachers have been telling me how great it is to get this work. It enables them to provide some positive feedback, a word of praise and some encouragement to keep up the good work. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, interest levels can drop. We understand this. Often, a personal message from the class teacher can boost motivation and morale. That is the purpose of the feedback. So, if you need a little support to boost morale, please email the class teacher, or [email protected] for my attention, and we will be only too happy to support you.
Regarding the weekly class work, our plan is to continue assigning school work this week, and next week, which is a three-day week (no school Monday 1st and Tues 2nd June). After this, we hope to shake up the format a little. The teachers will assign more fun activities based on STEM, Arts and Crafts, Sports, maths challenges, puzzles, and lots more. The week of 15th June is Scoil Mochua Sports Week! See the website for a sneak preview of what this will involve – more details will be posted nearer the time. So, for the next week and a half, let’s encourage the children to do their very best with the school work. A little every day, and lots of reading. From June 8th, we’ll get creative!
From this week, Jonathan Daniels, the GAA Club PRO, is providing online coaching for Scoil Mochua students. Coaching for Junior Infants – 2nd class takes place at 10am every Tuesday, and 3rd – 6th class coaching is at 11am every Tuesday. Jonathan will cover GAA skills, fun activities and GAA yoga. Register on the homepage of our website. The weather is beautiful, so get out into the garden and stay fit! It will be good practice ahead of our Sports Week! Thanks to Jonathan for this great initiative.
6th class boys and girls, your teachers are busy planning a graduation with a difference! Your parents should have gotten an email asking you to send in a short video clip (about 3 – 5 seconds long) saying goodbye, or thanks, or that you’ll miss the school, or your own unique message. It can be a simple 2 seconds thumbs-up without sound if you’d prefer. We really are encouraging each one of you to email something in to the dedicated email address. We will collate all of the clips and they will feature in the ceremony. This is your graduation, and we feel it’s so important that you all feature in it.
The teachers are working on end of year reports at the moment. This year, we plan to email the reports home. In order to do this, we need parental consent. We will email you soon, requesting this consent, and would greatly appreciate your support in this matter.
Finally, thanks to all our boys and girls in Scoil Mochua for your fantastic attitude during the school closures. This has been hard for children and teenagers everywhere. Playing with friends is such an important part of your lives, and yet, when this stopped, you have continued your school work at home, you have continued to play with siblings and/or parents, you are as kind and helpful as ever, and whenever I see any of you out and about, you are smiling happily. When we look back on this time, there will be some positives – I am sure of it. Thanks also to our body of parents. By all accounts, and judging on the work being submitted to the teachers, you are doing a great job at home-schooling. Thank you for your fantastic support, and the positive feedback we are getting. It is much appreciated.
Have a good week.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher
18th May 2020
Hi boys and girls,
I hope you are all keeping well. Today is a big day – the 18th May: the start of Phase 1 for the easing of restrictions. It means that you might be able to see some of your friends, outside, and chat with them or walk with them. But please remember that we still have to:
Access to school building: This week teachers are allowed to go back into the school if they need to collect some of their folders or books, so that they can continue to set work for you. Eileen and Siobhan may come in to collect a few things, and you might see Val working around the school, keeping the place nice and tidy. But school is not back open. We have been told to stay at home to stay safe, so, apart from dropping in to collect items, we will continue to work from home. If you see us in, you will know what we are doing. The school is not open to you or your parents. We will organize for the 6th class parents to collect belongings, and to drop back rental books, in June. We will contact the parents of Junior and Senior Infants at the end of this week, or early next week, to organize the safe collection of their children’s school books as we know they need them. Thank you for your patience with this matter.
Message to the 2nd class boys and girls: We are all thinking of you this week. You would be in school this week preparing for your First Holy Communion with Ms Burke, Ms Finegan and Ms Daly, getting your songs and prayers word perfect and pitch perfect for next Saturday. I am sure you are all very disappointed, and I know the teachers are. We have no news at this stage of alternative plans. Until large gathering can take place safely, I am sure the Church will not be able to put any definite plans in place. As soon as we hear anything, we will let you know. Boys and girls, I hope you have a good week, and a lovely day next Saturday regardless. We are very proud of you, and we hope you will have your big day before too long.
Parents, we are aware that you may be concerned about the disruption to teaching and learning that Covid-19 has caused. We assured you all along that we would make up for lost time when the children come back to school. That remains our position. The class teachers will email you this week with our plans for next year. Supports will be put in place for children who need it next year, and we will ensure that essential parts of the curriculum that were missed this year, will be taught in September to all children, before we move on to the new work. We do not yet know what school will look like when we return in September. It is too early in the re-opening process for concrete decisions to me made. We will at all times follow the advice and guidelines issues by the Department of Education and Skills. We are all hoping to return to a school that is as close as possible to the ‘normal’ we all know and love. It was our intention to reopen for all classes on Thursday 27th August 2020. However, the Government’s timeline for reopening the country refers to schools reopening in September. We await further clarification on this and we will inform you of the reopening date as soon as we can.
Parents of new Junior Infants due to start with us in the new school year, we will be in touch with you later this week to progress the enrolment process. We look forward to welcoming our new intake of boys and girls after the summer holidays. The new Junior Infant teachers are especially excited!
6th Class children: thanks for placing your orders for the Graduation t-shirts. The PA have the order list and we can’t wait to see the t-shirts. We are working away on a special way to mark your graduation. You are all making history – the first virtual graduation in the history of Scoil Mochua! How unique, and exciting. You will be just like all the medical graduates around the country who graduated online this month!
To all boys and girls: I meet your teachers every week and they tell me about all the great work you are sending in. I have seen lots of it, and it is very impressive! For some of you it might be getting hard to keep up the schoolwork when you’re not in school, but I am asking all of you to keep going. We will organize some nice fun activities in June, but I need you to keep going with your school work for now. If you have been sending your work to your teacher, then well done. If you have not been doing this, then maybe this week you can pick your best piece of work, and email it to your teacher. I bet you will be happy with the feedback you get!
A sincere thanks to all the parents for your support and patience during this time. We really are looking forward to seeing you all again in September. Remote learning is not what any of us signed up for, and it is certainly not what any of you signed up for! As always, if you have any concerns or queries, please email us at [email protected], or email your child’s teacher directly. If your child needs a little boost, a word of encouragement, or more support, please don’t hesitate to let us know and we will do our best to help.
Have a good week everyone. Enjoy the sunshine.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
Hi boys and girls,
I hope you are all keeping well. Today is a big day – the 18th May: the start of Phase 1 for the easing of restrictions. It means that you might be able to see some of your friends, outside, and chat with them or walk with them. But please remember that we still have to:
- observe social distancing – stay 2m apart when talking to your friends
- wash hands really well with soap and water
- cough/sneeze into a tissue which goes straight into the bin, or into your elbow
Access to school building: This week teachers are allowed to go back into the school if they need to collect some of their folders or books, so that they can continue to set work for you. Eileen and Siobhan may come in to collect a few things, and you might see Val working around the school, keeping the place nice and tidy. But school is not back open. We have been told to stay at home to stay safe, so, apart from dropping in to collect items, we will continue to work from home. If you see us in, you will know what we are doing. The school is not open to you or your parents. We will organize for the 6th class parents to collect belongings, and to drop back rental books, in June. We will contact the parents of Junior and Senior Infants at the end of this week, or early next week, to organize the safe collection of their children’s school books as we know they need them. Thank you for your patience with this matter.
Message to the 2nd class boys and girls: We are all thinking of you this week. You would be in school this week preparing for your First Holy Communion with Ms Burke, Ms Finegan and Ms Daly, getting your songs and prayers word perfect and pitch perfect for next Saturday. I am sure you are all very disappointed, and I know the teachers are. We have no news at this stage of alternative plans. Until large gathering can take place safely, I am sure the Church will not be able to put any definite plans in place. As soon as we hear anything, we will let you know. Boys and girls, I hope you have a good week, and a lovely day next Saturday regardless. We are very proud of you, and we hope you will have your big day before too long.
Parents, we are aware that you may be concerned about the disruption to teaching and learning that Covid-19 has caused. We assured you all along that we would make up for lost time when the children come back to school. That remains our position. The class teachers will email you this week with our plans for next year. Supports will be put in place for children who need it next year, and we will ensure that essential parts of the curriculum that were missed this year, will be taught in September to all children, before we move on to the new work. We do not yet know what school will look like when we return in September. It is too early in the re-opening process for concrete decisions to me made. We will at all times follow the advice and guidelines issues by the Department of Education and Skills. We are all hoping to return to a school that is as close as possible to the ‘normal’ we all know and love. It was our intention to reopen for all classes on Thursday 27th August 2020. However, the Government’s timeline for reopening the country refers to schools reopening in September. We await further clarification on this and we will inform you of the reopening date as soon as we can.
Parents of new Junior Infants due to start with us in the new school year, we will be in touch with you later this week to progress the enrolment process. We look forward to welcoming our new intake of boys and girls after the summer holidays. The new Junior Infant teachers are especially excited!
6th Class children: thanks for placing your orders for the Graduation t-shirts. The PA have the order list and we can’t wait to see the t-shirts. We are working away on a special way to mark your graduation. You are all making history – the first virtual graduation in the history of Scoil Mochua! How unique, and exciting. You will be just like all the medical graduates around the country who graduated online this month!
To all boys and girls: I meet your teachers every week and they tell me about all the great work you are sending in. I have seen lots of it, and it is very impressive! For some of you it might be getting hard to keep up the schoolwork when you’re not in school, but I am asking all of you to keep going. We will organize some nice fun activities in June, but I need you to keep going with your school work for now. If you have been sending your work to your teacher, then well done. If you have not been doing this, then maybe this week you can pick your best piece of work, and email it to your teacher. I bet you will be happy with the feedback you get!
A sincere thanks to all the parents for your support and patience during this time. We really are looking forward to seeing you all again in September. Remote learning is not what any of us signed up for, and it is certainly not what any of you signed up for! As always, if you have any concerns or queries, please email us at [email protected], or email your child’s teacher directly. If your child needs a little boost, a word of encouragement, or more support, please don’t hesitate to let us know and we will do our best to help.
Have a good week everyone. Enjoy the sunshine.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
11th May 2020
Hi boys and girls, I hope you all had a nice weekend. Well done to those who took part in Darkness into Light in the early hours of Saturday morning. The sunrise in Castletown was beautiful. Well done to all of the organisers.
We have a super ’30 Day Life Skills Challenge’ for you this week. It’s on the homepage of the website. We know your mums and dads will LOVE it, and we think you will enjoy it too. Use it whatever way you want to. Maybe start by ticking off all of the things you can already do, and pick out a few skills that you can learn this week. Then mark them all off, one by one, over the next few weeks. You will need an adult to help with some of them, especially the ironing. You can skip this one if you want. These are basic life skills and there is great learning involved in all of them. We’d love to see what skills you have learned – maybe your parents can send us some pictures on Twitter @ScoilMochua.
I hope you are all getting on well with your school work. Don’t forget to plan your day with a simple timetable. Each day should have a little school work, and a lot of the following: play/reading/life skills/lego/art/exercise. Take plenty of short breaks. We are trusting you to do some school work every day. This will ensure that your academic learning continues. Get your parents to email or send pictures of some of your work to your teacher each week. Your teachers have told me about all the great work you’re doing, and they have shown me some of it. Well done to all of you! Please keep it coming in.
6th classes, we are delighted to let you know that the Parents’ Association have sourced a company for your graduation t-shirts! Your parents will receive an email today (Monday 11th May) about this. They have to choose your t-shirt size on this email, and the PA will place the order at the end of the week. We will organise distribution of the t-shirts sometime in June.
You may have left things in school that you want to collect. And you probably have some of the school’s rental books at home with you. Right now, the school is still closed to all of us. We hope to be able to organise a book drop-off / collection during the month of June. We will put a timetable in place if it is safe to do so. We will let you know nearer the time. But don’t worry, you will get all of your belongings as soon as we can organise it. Until then, everything is safe in school. We will put up the booklists on the website, and we will email your parents about details for September, once the Department of Education have issued guidelines to us. Leave all of those things to us and we will keep your parents up to date.
Have a lovely week, and remember to keep following the government’s rules!
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
Hi boys and girls, I hope you all had a nice weekend. Well done to those who took part in Darkness into Light in the early hours of Saturday morning. The sunrise in Castletown was beautiful. Well done to all of the organisers.
We have a super ’30 Day Life Skills Challenge’ for you this week. It’s on the homepage of the website. We know your mums and dads will LOVE it, and we think you will enjoy it too. Use it whatever way you want to. Maybe start by ticking off all of the things you can already do, and pick out a few skills that you can learn this week. Then mark them all off, one by one, over the next few weeks. You will need an adult to help with some of them, especially the ironing. You can skip this one if you want. These are basic life skills and there is great learning involved in all of them. We’d love to see what skills you have learned – maybe your parents can send us some pictures on Twitter @ScoilMochua.
I hope you are all getting on well with your school work. Don’t forget to plan your day with a simple timetable. Each day should have a little school work, and a lot of the following: play/reading/life skills/lego/art/exercise. Take plenty of short breaks. We are trusting you to do some school work every day. This will ensure that your academic learning continues. Get your parents to email or send pictures of some of your work to your teacher each week. Your teachers have told me about all the great work you’re doing, and they have shown me some of it. Well done to all of you! Please keep it coming in.
6th classes, we are delighted to let you know that the Parents’ Association have sourced a company for your graduation t-shirts! Your parents will receive an email today (Monday 11th May) about this. They have to choose your t-shirt size on this email, and the PA will place the order at the end of the week. We will organise distribution of the t-shirts sometime in June.
You may have left things in school that you want to collect. And you probably have some of the school’s rental books at home with you. Right now, the school is still closed to all of us. We hope to be able to organise a book drop-off / collection during the month of June. We will put a timetable in place if it is safe to do so. We will let you know nearer the time. But don’t worry, you will get all of your belongings as soon as we can organise it. Until then, everything is safe in school. We will put up the booklists on the website, and we will email your parents about details for September, once the Department of Education have issued guidelines to us. Leave all of those things to us and we will keep your parents up to date.
Have a lovely week, and remember to keep following the government’s rules!
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
Wednesday 6th May 2020
Hello to all the boys and girls of Scoil Mochua, and to all of the parents and guardians too. I hope you all enjoyed the extra-long weekend, and the glorious sunshine. Once again, I saw and waved at lots of you over the weekend as we all enjoyed walks in the fresh air with our families. I really enjoy meeting and chatting to you – from a distance, of course. And I was delighted to hear from lots of your parents that, although you’re missing your friends and teachers, you are enjoying this time with your families. And from what I hear, we are going to have some very good bakers by the time we get back to school. I look forward to sampling some of your cakes!
We now know that the schools will remain closed until September. When we left school on March 12th, we certainly had no idea that we would not be returning during this school year. It is beyond belief for all of us, and also beyond our control. On Friday, when our Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, addressed us on the RTE News, he had some very important, and positive, messages for all of us. He said that, while the Coronavirus is cruel in how it has altered our lives, he is hearing so many stories of human kindness. Boys and girls, I am certain that lots of those stories are coming from Celbridge, because I know that you are all doing your very best at home to be kind to each other at this time. And we all know how kind all of the healthcare workers are. They are working so hard, and with such kindness and love every day. On behalf of all of the staff and the Board of Management of Scoil Mochua, I would like to extend our thanks to all of the healthcare workers in our school community. We are indebted to you. Our Taoiseach also thanked us all for doing what has been asked of us (staying at home, washing hands, cough etiquette), for our remarkable courage, and for the sense of solidarity that we all feel. Solidarity is when we stick together and help each other. Finally, the Taoiseach talked about hope. We have a plan for getting back to a new normal, and this gives us all hope. So, while we are all very sad that we will not be back in school together before September, let us all look forward to beating this virus over the next few months. The teachers were all very sad when they heard they would not be meeting you again until September. We cannot wait to get back. Teaching you from a distance is just not as much fun!
To all of the 6th class boys and girls, we are aware that this is not how your years in Scoil Mochua should end. The teachers are working together to see how we can mark your leaving. Leave that to us!
Parents, we will continue to support your child’s learning from home. Please communicate with the class teacher if your child needs help with any of the work, or if you have some questions about it. Each week, the teachers will suggest which items of work should be submitted to them. If you can reach on this, then please do so. The purpose of the feedback from the teacher is to motivate the children, and to encourage them to continue working away. As the weeks go by, it is more and more important that you keep in touch with the teacher, and allow 2-way communication with the teacher and your child via feedback on work submitted. We do not want to add any pressure to home life – if you can even submit one piece of work, then that will still enable the teacher to praise and encourage your child’s efforts.
Boys and girls, enjoy the short week this week. Your teachers can’t wait to see the great work you’ll get done!
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
Hello to all the boys and girls of Scoil Mochua, and to all of the parents and guardians too. I hope you all enjoyed the extra-long weekend, and the glorious sunshine. Once again, I saw and waved at lots of you over the weekend as we all enjoyed walks in the fresh air with our families. I really enjoy meeting and chatting to you – from a distance, of course. And I was delighted to hear from lots of your parents that, although you’re missing your friends and teachers, you are enjoying this time with your families. And from what I hear, we are going to have some very good bakers by the time we get back to school. I look forward to sampling some of your cakes!
We now know that the schools will remain closed until September. When we left school on March 12th, we certainly had no idea that we would not be returning during this school year. It is beyond belief for all of us, and also beyond our control. On Friday, when our Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, addressed us on the RTE News, he had some very important, and positive, messages for all of us. He said that, while the Coronavirus is cruel in how it has altered our lives, he is hearing so many stories of human kindness. Boys and girls, I am certain that lots of those stories are coming from Celbridge, because I know that you are all doing your very best at home to be kind to each other at this time. And we all know how kind all of the healthcare workers are. They are working so hard, and with such kindness and love every day. On behalf of all of the staff and the Board of Management of Scoil Mochua, I would like to extend our thanks to all of the healthcare workers in our school community. We are indebted to you. Our Taoiseach also thanked us all for doing what has been asked of us (staying at home, washing hands, cough etiquette), for our remarkable courage, and for the sense of solidarity that we all feel. Solidarity is when we stick together and help each other. Finally, the Taoiseach talked about hope. We have a plan for getting back to a new normal, and this gives us all hope. So, while we are all very sad that we will not be back in school together before September, let us all look forward to beating this virus over the next few months. The teachers were all very sad when they heard they would not be meeting you again until September. We cannot wait to get back. Teaching you from a distance is just not as much fun!
To all of the 6th class boys and girls, we are aware that this is not how your years in Scoil Mochua should end. The teachers are working together to see how we can mark your leaving. Leave that to us!
Parents, we will continue to support your child’s learning from home. Please communicate with the class teacher if your child needs help with any of the work, or if you have some questions about it. Each week, the teachers will suggest which items of work should be submitted to them. If you can reach on this, then please do so. The purpose of the feedback from the teacher is to motivate the children, and to encourage them to continue working away. As the weeks go by, it is more and more important that you keep in touch with the teacher, and allow 2-way communication with the teacher and your child via feedback on work submitted. We do not want to add any pressure to home life – if you can even submit one piece of work, then that will still enable the teacher to praise and encourage your child’s efforts.
Boys and girls, enjoy the short week this week. Your teachers can’t wait to see the great work you’ll get done!
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
27th April 2020
Hi boys and girls,
I hope you are all keeping well as we begin another new week. I really hope you are making the most of your time at home. Remember to be kind, help out in the house, and get out for plenty of fresh air every day. Unfortunately, you still cannot call for friends and go out to play with them. I know you are all missing that so much, but it is so important that you obey the rules. That is the only way we will get through this. We must all continue to do what our government are telling us:
Parents/Guardians, the teachers have all shared their email addresses with you. These were emailed to you. If you have not received an email (check spam folder too), please email [email protected] and this will be forwarded to your teacher. It is really important that we have correct email addresses for all of you. Please check your inbox for communications from teachers. The teachers have agreed methods of providing feedback on the children’s school work. Please continue to send the work to the teachers. It will motivate the children, and it makes the work more meaningful. It also enables the teachers to progress the learning. Thanks for the fantastic support you are providing to your children at this time – we appreciate it! Please do not worry about the lack of daily lessons - we will adjust our learning objectives when we return to school and ensure that the learning continues from where the children are at. That is our job. We will work hard to make up for lost time. Right now, if you can provide daily routine and ensure that your child reads every day and stays in touch with the various subjects, you will have done a fantastic job! Based on feedback from you last week, the work for each class will be available on the website by Sunday evening. We appreciate that you may need to set the children up for the week ahead in advance of Monday morning. Please continue to provide feedback on how we can improve our support.
Boys and girls, your teachers were delighted with all of the school work you sent them last week. I heard lots of accounts, and saw many examples, of lovely stories, artwork, diary entries and more. Please try your best to do as much of the work as you can. We still have the rule that you will not be in trouble if you don’t get all of the work done, so there is no need to worry. Your teacher knows what your best effort is, and so do you! So we are trusting you to do your best. We know that you will and we are very proud of you all.
Finally, I have two very nice things to share with you all.
Have a good week, and stay in touch.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
Hi boys and girls,
I hope you are all keeping well as we begin another new week. I really hope you are making the most of your time at home. Remember to be kind, help out in the house, and get out for plenty of fresh air every day. Unfortunately, you still cannot call for friends and go out to play with them. I know you are all missing that so much, but it is so important that you obey the rules. That is the only way we will get through this. We must all continue to do what our government are telling us:
- Wash our hands really well with soap and water
- Cough and sneeze into your elbow
- Keep your distance from people outside your household
Parents/Guardians, the teachers have all shared their email addresses with you. These were emailed to you. If you have not received an email (check spam folder too), please email [email protected] and this will be forwarded to your teacher. It is really important that we have correct email addresses for all of you. Please check your inbox for communications from teachers. The teachers have agreed methods of providing feedback on the children’s school work. Please continue to send the work to the teachers. It will motivate the children, and it makes the work more meaningful. It also enables the teachers to progress the learning. Thanks for the fantastic support you are providing to your children at this time – we appreciate it! Please do not worry about the lack of daily lessons - we will adjust our learning objectives when we return to school and ensure that the learning continues from where the children are at. That is our job. We will work hard to make up for lost time. Right now, if you can provide daily routine and ensure that your child reads every day and stays in touch with the various subjects, you will have done a fantastic job! Based on feedback from you last week, the work for each class will be available on the website by Sunday evening. We appreciate that you may need to set the children up for the week ahead in advance of Monday morning. Please continue to provide feedback on how we can improve our support.
Boys and girls, your teachers were delighted with all of the school work you sent them last week. I heard lots of accounts, and saw many examples, of lovely stories, artwork, diary entries and more. Please try your best to do as much of the work as you can. We still have the rule that you will not be in trouble if you don’t get all of the work done, so there is no need to worry. Your teacher knows what your best effort is, and so do you! So we are trusting you to do your best. We know that you will and we are very proud of you all.
Finally, I have two very nice things to share with you all.
- This week is usually Active Schools Week. This year, because of Covid-19, it’s Active HOME week. So, when you need a break from work, get out into the fresh air and get some exercise every day. There is a nice chart at the link above where you can record your exercise, and a certificate that you can download at the end of the week. If you can, we would love you to share your certificates, or your exercise charts, with us on Twitter @ScoilMochua.
- The most important thing to all of us in Scoil Mochua is that all of our children are safe and happy. This is a strange time for all of us and it is more important than ever that we all look after ourselves and each other. We are very lucky to have a teacher called Jackie who has been teaching mindfulness classes in Scoil Mochua. She has created some videos and has very kindly shared them with us. These are lovely, relaxing sessions and are beneficial to all of us! Enjoy and thanks Jackie! Mindfulness sessions
Have a good week, and stay in touch.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher, Principal
Monday 20th April 2020
Hi boys and girls and parents.
Welcome back to Term 3! I hope you all had a lovely Easter break. I waved at lots of you over the holidays as we were all out enjoying the good weather. It was lovely to see you out walking with your families. It was also nice to meet some of your dogs!
This is not the Term 3 we had hoped for but I want to reassure you all that we will continue to support you in every way we can. Teacher have all shared their email addresses at this stage. Please do not hesitate to contact them if you have any queries on work assigned, or need support in a particular area. If you have any other queries, you can email [email protected].
Boys and girls, please continue to do your best with the school work that your teachers have assigned. New work will be assigned every Monday morning. We only ever ask for your best effort. We do not want anyone to feel sad or worried about the work. Just do what you can. It is a really good idea to do out a simple timetable or plan each evening for the following day. This will help you to focus and stay on track. Your parents or an older sibling can help you with this plan – there should be some school work, some outdoor activities (walk, cycle, activities in the garden, etc), some fun activities and reading every day. There is a really good example of a daily plan here. Have a look – I think you will like it! If you want to use this, click here for a blank one that you can use.
Parents and Guardian, please do not worry about your children ‘falling behind’. We must all accept that your children doing school work at home is not the same as attending school. Parents are not trained teachers and when we teach in school we are not also minding younger children, teaching a variety of age-groups, feeding a household and trying to keep up with our own work at the same time, not to mention caring for elderly relatives. Take comfort in the fact that all children are in the same boat – a child is only at risk of ‘falling behind’ if they are out of school for a prolonged period of time while the teaching and learning is continuing for the rest of the class. When the school re-opens, it will be our responsibility to restart the teaching and learning from where the children are at. We will readjust the curricula, reprioritise and differentiate to ensure important topics are covered. Please do not allow worry or anxiety about school prevent you from making the most of this time with your children. Leave it to us to progress the children’s teaching and learning when we are back at school – and we will do this, for every child. The best way you can support your children right now is to ensure they have some routine, lots of reading and plenty of fun. We have uploaded a very useful document to the homepage of the website – A Guide for Parents During School Closures. It is a brief document with some very helpful tips and advice. I particularly like the daily plan which I referred to above. It is realistic with a nice mix of school work and downtime. Please adjust according to your child’s stage and be guided by class teachers.
Let’s make the most of the situation we find ourselves in. These are unprecedented times for all of us. We need to support each other and follow the government’s advice and guidelines. It is our sincere hope that schools will re-open sooner rather than later. The more diligent we are in following the HSE guidelines, the sooner that will be a reality.
Please check back here for regular updates, and class pages for details of school work.
Once again, please do not hesitate to contact us if you need to discuss anything.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher,
Principal
Hi boys and girls and parents.
Welcome back to Term 3! I hope you all had a lovely Easter break. I waved at lots of you over the holidays as we were all out enjoying the good weather. It was lovely to see you out walking with your families. It was also nice to meet some of your dogs!
This is not the Term 3 we had hoped for but I want to reassure you all that we will continue to support you in every way we can. Teacher have all shared their email addresses at this stage. Please do not hesitate to contact them if you have any queries on work assigned, or need support in a particular area. If you have any other queries, you can email [email protected].
Boys and girls, please continue to do your best with the school work that your teachers have assigned. New work will be assigned every Monday morning. We only ever ask for your best effort. We do not want anyone to feel sad or worried about the work. Just do what you can. It is a really good idea to do out a simple timetable or plan each evening for the following day. This will help you to focus and stay on track. Your parents or an older sibling can help you with this plan – there should be some school work, some outdoor activities (walk, cycle, activities in the garden, etc), some fun activities and reading every day. There is a really good example of a daily plan here. Have a look – I think you will like it! If you want to use this, click here for a blank one that you can use.
Parents and Guardian, please do not worry about your children ‘falling behind’. We must all accept that your children doing school work at home is not the same as attending school. Parents are not trained teachers and when we teach in school we are not also minding younger children, teaching a variety of age-groups, feeding a household and trying to keep up with our own work at the same time, not to mention caring for elderly relatives. Take comfort in the fact that all children are in the same boat – a child is only at risk of ‘falling behind’ if they are out of school for a prolonged period of time while the teaching and learning is continuing for the rest of the class. When the school re-opens, it will be our responsibility to restart the teaching and learning from where the children are at. We will readjust the curricula, reprioritise and differentiate to ensure important topics are covered. Please do not allow worry or anxiety about school prevent you from making the most of this time with your children. Leave it to us to progress the children’s teaching and learning when we are back at school – and we will do this, for every child. The best way you can support your children right now is to ensure they have some routine, lots of reading and plenty of fun. We have uploaded a very useful document to the homepage of the website – A Guide for Parents During School Closures. It is a brief document with some very helpful tips and advice. I particularly like the daily plan which I referred to above. It is realistic with a nice mix of school work and downtime. Please adjust according to your child’s stage and be guided by class teachers.
Let’s make the most of the situation we find ourselves in. These are unprecedented times for all of us. We need to support each other and follow the government’s advice and guidelines. It is our sincere hope that schools will re-open sooner rather than later. The more diligent we are in following the HSE guidelines, the sooner that will be a reality.
Please check back here for regular updates, and class pages for details of school work.
Once again, please do not hesitate to contact us if you need to discuss anything.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher,
Principal
MARCH 30TH 2020
Good Morning to everyone. I hope you are all keeping safe and well, and are adjusting to our new way of living.
I have been asked to deliver a very important message to all the boys and girls in Scoil Mochua. In order to make sure that the virus does not make many people sick in Ireland, it is important that all you do the following, every single day:
We have just one more week until the Easter holidays. Your teachers have all set more work for you, so please do your best with the work, and remember, read plenty, play lots of games, and be kind and helpful at home. Try to keep a routine going each day – why not make a timetable to help you. Include some school work every day, and then some reading time, and some fun activities such as lego / jigsaw/gardening/baking… And don’t forget, tune in to RTE at 11am every day for the ‘School on TV’. That can be part of your daily timetable. Remember to include lot of little breaks in your timetable, this helps you to stay fresh.
On Friday, the Taosieach, Leo Varadkar, announced that everyone over the age of 70 has to cocoon at home for the next 2 weeks. Cocooning means keeping safe by staying at home all of the time. It is more important than ever that you keep in touch with any grandparents that are cocooning. We know how much you love your grandparents, because we hear lots of lovely stories in school about them. So please show them how much you love them by phoning them or maybe you can video-call them and cheer them up with a song or a dance?! Or how about telling them some of the great jokes you share with me at the corner every morning?! Tell them stories about school, who your friends are, what games you play in the yard. Ask them to tell you about school when they were young. It will be the best history lesson!
Your parents all have email addresses for your teachers, so if you have any questions or need help with something, please email your teacher, or email me at [email protected].
Have a good week everyone, and stay safe and well.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher
Good Morning to everyone. I hope you are all keeping safe and well, and are adjusting to our new way of living.
I have been asked to deliver a very important message to all the boys and girls in Scoil Mochua. In order to make sure that the virus does not make many people sick in Ireland, it is important that all you do the following, every single day:
- Wash your hand regularly with soap and water. Keep rubbing the soap in while you count to 20, or while you sing Happy Birthday twice. This will make sure that ALL germs are gone!
- When you cough or sneeze, make sure it’s into a tissue, and then throw the tissue into the bin immediately. If you don’t have a tissue, then sneeze or cough into your elbow. This stops germs from travelling around.
- When you are out with your family, you can wave and say hi to friends that you might meet, but you must stay 2 metres away from them. That is the equivalent of 2 giant adult-steps.
- This one is the hardest of all, but one of the most important: for the next while, you cannot go out playing with your friends. The coronavirus spreads very easily, and the best way to stop it is by staying at home with your family. Before too long, you will be able to play with your friends again, but for now we all have to follow these rules.
We have just one more week until the Easter holidays. Your teachers have all set more work for you, so please do your best with the work, and remember, read plenty, play lots of games, and be kind and helpful at home. Try to keep a routine going each day – why not make a timetable to help you. Include some school work every day, and then some reading time, and some fun activities such as lego / jigsaw/gardening/baking… And don’t forget, tune in to RTE at 11am every day for the ‘School on TV’. That can be part of your daily timetable. Remember to include lot of little breaks in your timetable, this helps you to stay fresh.
On Friday, the Taosieach, Leo Varadkar, announced that everyone over the age of 70 has to cocoon at home for the next 2 weeks. Cocooning means keeping safe by staying at home all of the time. It is more important than ever that you keep in touch with any grandparents that are cocooning. We know how much you love your grandparents, because we hear lots of lovely stories in school about them. So please show them how much you love them by phoning them or maybe you can video-call them and cheer them up with a song or a dance?! Or how about telling them some of the great jokes you share with me at the corner every morning?! Tell them stories about school, who your friends are, what games you play in the yard. Ask them to tell you about school when they were young. It will be the best history lesson!
Your parents all have email addresses for your teachers, so if you have any questions or need help with something, please email your teacher, or email me at [email protected].
Have a good week everyone, and stay safe and well.
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher
MARCH 23RD 2020
Good morning boys and girls, mums and dads. I hope you all managed to enjoy the beautiful weather over the weekend despite the social restrictions we are now living with. The sun was shining, the daffodils are blooming and we can all look forward to enjoying our lovely village of Celbridge again before too long. Happy Mother’s day to all our Mums – I hope you were all well looked after yesterday!
As many of you know, Fr Joe McDonald is our new Parish Priest here in Celbridge. In Scoil Mochua we are lucky enough to have Fr Joe as the Chairperson of our Board of Management. That means boys and girls, that we have regular meetings and Fr Joe advises us and helps us to make decisions about the school. He was a principal of a big secondary school for many years so he has lots of experience and expertise to share with us. As I was thinking about a message to send out to you all today, I read a letter that Fr Joe wrote to the Irish Times and which appears in today’s edition. It sums up perfectly the message that we here in Scoil Mochua want to send out to all of you.
These are unprecedented times. What is happening is beyond our control, it is bigger than any of us. We have no option but to heed the HSE advice and follow it strictly in order to slow the spread of the virus and ultimately, to save lives. It is time to stay at home with family. This is a rare opportunity for us to down tools and spend quality time with our loved ones. At every other time in our lives we move at breakneck speed and our lives are timetabled to the last minute – or so it often seems! Let us embrace this time together. Boys and girls, learn to cook a new dish (and tidy up afterwards!); play with your siblings; take out the board games and play with them; do the Lego Challenge; go into the back garden and try out the challenge that our Spanish friend sent us (we have posted this on Twitter @ScoilMochua - be warned, it’s harder than it looks!! ;) play cards; help out in the garden; stack or empty the dishwasher; hang out the washing; phone your grandparents and send them emails; paint or draw; listen to a free audio book on Audible; read, read, read… The list is endless! There should be no time to be bored – if you mention the words “I’m Bored”, then go to the I’m Bored list on the homepage and pick something from it.
The teachers have sent home plenty of school work with each of you. It would be great if you do a little work each day but we want to be clear, this work is not intended to put pressure on any of you. Online resources may cause problems as there is such pressure on Broadband at the moment – if this is the case, then switch off and read a book. Some of the school work might be too hard and your parents might be busy working or looking after younger siblings – if this is the case, then just skip what you can’t do and move on to what you are able to do yourself. You might want to get more school work done but someone in the house might be sick or worried about their job – if this is the case, then don’t worry about the school work. Instead read, draw, play games and watch a family movie. You might think you will be in trouble if you don’t finish all of your school work – that is not the case! I assure you that all of the teachers just want you to stay safe and well. We want you to do your best to enjoy this family time. A little school work and a lot of play is the best mix! Keep sharing all your fun activities with us on Twitter – we love seeing them!
Mums and dads, please have a read of Fr Joe’s words of wisdom below – we can all learn from them. Thanks Fr Joe.
We are thinking of you all during this time. Please do not hesitate to contact us via email (info@scoilmochua) if you need to and we will respond as soon as we can.
Further updates will be posted here and on class pages.
Stay safe and well,
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher
Good morning boys and girls, mums and dads. I hope you all managed to enjoy the beautiful weather over the weekend despite the social restrictions we are now living with. The sun was shining, the daffodils are blooming and we can all look forward to enjoying our lovely village of Celbridge again before too long. Happy Mother’s day to all our Mums – I hope you were all well looked after yesterday!
As many of you know, Fr Joe McDonald is our new Parish Priest here in Celbridge. In Scoil Mochua we are lucky enough to have Fr Joe as the Chairperson of our Board of Management. That means boys and girls, that we have regular meetings and Fr Joe advises us and helps us to make decisions about the school. He was a principal of a big secondary school for many years so he has lots of experience and expertise to share with us. As I was thinking about a message to send out to you all today, I read a letter that Fr Joe wrote to the Irish Times and which appears in today’s edition. It sums up perfectly the message that we here in Scoil Mochua want to send out to all of you.
These are unprecedented times. What is happening is beyond our control, it is bigger than any of us. We have no option but to heed the HSE advice and follow it strictly in order to slow the spread of the virus and ultimately, to save lives. It is time to stay at home with family. This is a rare opportunity for us to down tools and spend quality time with our loved ones. At every other time in our lives we move at breakneck speed and our lives are timetabled to the last minute – or so it often seems! Let us embrace this time together. Boys and girls, learn to cook a new dish (and tidy up afterwards!); play with your siblings; take out the board games and play with them; do the Lego Challenge; go into the back garden and try out the challenge that our Spanish friend sent us (we have posted this on Twitter @ScoilMochua - be warned, it’s harder than it looks!! ;) play cards; help out in the garden; stack or empty the dishwasher; hang out the washing; phone your grandparents and send them emails; paint or draw; listen to a free audio book on Audible; read, read, read… The list is endless! There should be no time to be bored – if you mention the words “I’m Bored”, then go to the I’m Bored list on the homepage and pick something from it.
The teachers have sent home plenty of school work with each of you. It would be great if you do a little work each day but we want to be clear, this work is not intended to put pressure on any of you. Online resources may cause problems as there is such pressure on Broadband at the moment – if this is the case, then switch off and read a book. Some of the school work might be too hard and your parents might be busy working or looking after younger siblings – if this is the case, then just skip what you can’t do and move on to what you are able to do yourself. You might want to get more school work done but someone in the house might be sick or worried about their job – if this is the case, then don’t worry about the school work. Instead read, draw, play games and watch a family movie. You might think you will be in trouble if you don’t finish all of your school work – that is not the case! I assure you that all of the teachers just want you to stay safe and well. We want you to do your best to enjoy this family time. A little school work and a lot of play is the best mix! Keep sharing all your fun activities with us on Twitter – we love seeing them!
Mums and dads, please have a read of Fr Joe’s words of wisdom below – we can all learn from them. Thanks Fr Joe.
We are thinking of you all during this time. Please do not hesitate to contact us via email (info@scoilmochua) if you need to and we will respond as soon as we can.
Further updates will be posted here and on class pages.
Stay safe and well,
Kind Regards,
Catherine Carragher
MARCH 18TH 2020
Hi to all our students, and parents. I hope you are all keeping well in these strange times. Our health and wellbeing is the most important thing, and we must do all we can to ensure that we follow the advice of the HSE and expert groups who will guide us through this unprecedented challenge.
Boys and girls, I hope you had a nice long weekend, and managed to enjoy St Patrick’s Day with your family. I have seen some lovely art work in windows around Celbridge, and a super lego St Patrick’s Day parade made by one of our students – a budding engineer – and featured on our Twitter feed @ScoilMochua. Well done on all the creative work!! If your parents are on Twitter, ask them to follow us and they can send us pictures of your work – we love seeing it!
The last few days have been a school holiday, but now it’s time to get some routine going. Your teachers have all set school work for you to complete. It is important to do some of this work every day, otherwise it will pile up.
For the younger children, parents can help them with tricky words, sounds, and some revision of handwriting every day. Short, regular sessions are more effective than long sessions. Please read with your child every day to develop vocabulary and imagination. And remember, children learn most from playing, so make sure there is plenty of time for playing – indoors and outdoors – every day! The teachers have compiled a collection of excellent online resources for the various subjects, many of which are suitable for the infants. Have a browse and you will find some interesting and fun learning opportunities to engage in with your child – click here to find out more.
The older children should spend a couple of hours every day on the class work which their teachers have set for them. Take short movement breaks between subjects. Please read for pleasure every single day. This is an excellent opportunity to spend plenty of time curled up with a good book. There is no better learning. Lots of reading will develop your imagination, your creative writing skills, your spelling and, best of all it will transport you into another world. Please take this opportunity and get lost in lots of books! Then have a browse through the collection of online resources the teachers have compiled – the link is here. Choose something that grabs your interest and spend some time on it. Why not embark on a project on a topic that interests you? Choose a topic in Science, Geography, History or any other subject. Do the research, and compile your learning on paper, or why not develop a PowerPoint slideshow. The choice is yours! Another idea: you could keep a diary for each day that the schools are closed. It would be fascinating to look back on this in years to come.
For all children: there are two links below I want to highlight. The Lego Challenge and the I’m Bored list - both are on the homepage of the website. Lego is a super activity. It gets your brain, and your imagination, working. Go ahead and take up the challenge. Ask your parents to send us some pictures of your creations via Twitter if you like. If you have a printer, I would like you to print off the I’m Bored list. If you don’t have a printer, then get a blank page and copy it from the screen. Then stick it up in the kitchen, and anytime you feel bored, pick something from the list. Simple and fun!!
Our Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, gave us some great advice on the TV last night. He told us all that we have to help each other and be kind to each other. Your teachers and I see you being helpful and kind to each other every day in school. Please do your very best to continue this at home. Help out at home and play games with each other. You can’t go out to play at the moment, so make the most of this family time. And, most importantly, set aside time to chat on the phone / skype / facetime your grandparents or other relatives that you cannot visit at the moment. Tell them about your day. I am sure they would love to hear about the Lego Challenge, or project work, or the I’m Bored list!
Please check back here for updates, and check your class pages for updates from teachers.
From all of us in Scoil Mochua, take care of yourselves. Our health is our wealth, and it is the priority over the coming weeks. I hope the above message, and the work set by the teachers, will help to maintain some sense of routine and normality in these unusual times. Children, stay safe, have fun and be kind.
We look forward to getting back to normal and seeing you all back in school before too long. Mind yourselves and each other.
Best Wishes,
Catherine Carragher
Hi to all our students, and parents. I hope you are all keeping well in these strange times. Our health and wellbeing is the most important thing, and we must do all we can to ensure that we follow the advice of the HSE and expert groups who will guide us through this unprecedented challenge.
Boys and girls, I hope you had a nice long weekend, and managed to enjoy St Patrick’s Day with your family. I have seen some lovely art work in windows around Celbridge, and a super lego St Patrick’s Day parade made by one of our students – a budding engineer – and featured on our Twitter feed @ScoilMochua. Well done on all the creative work!! If your parents are on Twitter, ask them to follow us and they can send us pictures of your work – we love seeing it!
The last few days have been a school holiday, but now it’s time to get some routine going. Your teachers have all set school work for you to complete. It is important to do some of this work every day, otherwise it will pile up.
For the younger children, parents can help them with tricky words, sounds, and some revision of handwriting every day. Short, regular sessions are more effective than long sessions. Please read with your child every day to develop vocabulary and imagination. And remember, children learn most from playing, so make sure there is plenty of time for playing – indoors and outdoors – every day! The teachers have compiled a collection of excellent online resources for the various subjects, many of which are suitable for the infants. Have a browse and you will find some interesting and fun learning opportunities to engage in with your child – click here to find out more.
The older children should spend a couple of hours every day on the class work which their teachers have set for them. Take short movement breaks between subjects. Please read for pleasure every single day. This is an excellent opportunity to spend plenty of time curled up with a good book. There is no better learning. Lots of reading will develop your imagination, your creative writing skills, your spelling and, best of all it will transport you into another world. Please take this opportunity and get lost in lots of books! Then have a browse through the collection of online resources the teachers have compiled – the link is here. Choose something that grabs your interest and spend some time on it. Why not embark on a project on a topic that interests you? Choose a topic in Science, Geography, History or any other subject. Do the research, and compile your learning on paper, or why not develop a PowerPoint slideshow. The choice is yours! Another idea: you could keep a diary for each day that the schools are closed. It would be fascinating to look back on this in years to come.
For all children: there are two links below I want to highlight. The Lego Challenge and the I’m Bored list - both are on the homepage of the website. Lego is a super activity. It gets your brain, and your imagination, working. Go ahead and take up the challenge. Ask your parents to send us some pictures of your creations via Twitter if you like. If you have a printer, I would like you to print off the I’m Bored list. If you don’t have a printer, then get a blank page and copy it from the screen. Then stick it up in the kitchen, and anytime you feel bored, pick something from the list. Simple and fun!!
Our Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, gave us some great advice on the TV last night. He told us all that we have to help each other and be kind to each other. Your teachers and I see you being helpful and kind to each other every day in school. Please do your very best to continue this at home. Help out at home and play games with each other. You can’t go out to play at the moment, so make the most of this family time. And, most importantly, set aside time to chat on the phone / skype / facetime your grandparents or other relatives that you cannot visit at the moment. Tell them about your day. I am sure they would love to hear about the Lego Challenge, or project work, or the I’m Bored list!
Please check back here for updates, and check your class pages for updates from teachers.
From all of us in Scoil Mochua, take care of yourselves. Our health is our wealth, and it is the priority over the coming weeks. I hope the above message, and the work set by the teachers, will help to maintain some sense of routine and normality in these unusual times. Children, stay safe, have fun and be kind.
We look forward to getting back to normal and seeing you all back in school before too long. Mind yourselves and each other.
Best Wishes,
Catherine Carragher
