On Presentation Day 2020, we remembered and honoured Nano Nagle and all Presentation Sisters. Online webinars with the Nano Nagle Centre, singing 'Who will Light the Lantern and 'This Little Light of Mine', and learning about the life of Nano Nagle were just some of the activities that many of our classes engaged in. 

​We are very proud to be a Presentation National School! 

A big thank you to all members of Millstreet Parents' Association for their huge efforts in making Halloween 2020 a memorable event for all our pupils.

Here we share some images of the winners of the colouring competition and virtual fancy dress.

We are delighted that these girls are finally receiving the Sacrament of Eucharist today.

We hope they all enjoy this very special day with their families.  

May God bless these girls on their Communion Day and always. 

Dear Parent / Guardian                                                  
 
It’s that time of year again and the Pupil Personal Accident Insurance is up for renewal.

Pupil Personal Accident Insurance provides cover for your child in respect of Medical and Dental expenses resulting from an accident.

To maximise pupil coverage, the most competitive rate is AIG 24 hour cover at a cost of €10 per pupil.
 
The form was sent home with all pupils today.  If you wish to avail of this insurance, please fill out the form and place it in an envelope along with the €10 fee. Please note it is €10 per child.

Please clealry write the following information on the front of the envelope:

Child's Name
Class


Wishing your family a safe academic school year!

Kind regard, 
Staff of Presentation N.S. 

We encourage you to watch this video with your child ahead of our return to school on Monday. 

This video was created and published by the Department of Education. 

Please ensure you have read 'Back to School Presentation N.S.' and you and your family are familiar with the new protocols and measures we will be implementing. 

These videos were created and published by the Department of Education.

We would encourage you to watch the relevant video with your child and have a chat about what school will look like when he/ she starts back on Monday. 

Explain to your child that things will be a bit different, but try not to let them know that you are overly worried. Children pick up on your stress. 

Presentation National School will reopen on August 31st.

On 27th July 2020, the Department of Education and Skills published guidelines for reopening schools.  You can find all the published documents here.

What’s happening?
Our school will be a bit different this year, especially at the beginning, but the children will get used to it very quickly. 
Explain to your child that things will be a bit different, but try not to let them know that you are overly worried. Children pick up on your stress. 

What You Can Do to Prepare
*Practice washing hands properly, with soap, for 20 seconds.

*Make sure that your child also knows how to dry their hands thoroughly. 

*Children should also know how to use hand-sanitizer correctly, and that it should not be ingested.

*Teach your child correct cough and sneeze etiquette.

*Cough or sneeze into a tissue, or into your elbow if you do not have a tissue.
 
​*Make sure that your child can INDEPENDENTLY open and close their lunchbox and bottle, their coat, and their shoes. Shoes with laces are not recommended for younger children!

Drop-off and Collection
*The school gates will be opened for pupils at 9.10 each morning and pupils only can enter the school yard from then on.

*Each class will be assigned a specific entry gate which will be clearly identifiable on Monday Aug 31st.

*Children will go straight to their classes via a specific route that will be clearly explained upon return to school.

*We would strongly encourage those adults dropping and collecting children to wear a mask/visor around the gate area of the school and adhere to social distancing.

*In order to ensure that every pupil is familiar with the access protocol to the school in the mornings we have decided that for the first day only (Aug 31st) there will be a staggered opening as follows:

9.20-9.30: Mrs O’Mahony’s Senior Infants and Mrs. Twomey's Senior Infants/First Class


9.35-9.45: Mrs Hurley’s First Class and Miss Hickey’s 4th/5th Class


9.50-10.00: Mrs Casey’s Second Class, Ms O’Leary’s Sixth Class and Mrs Murphy’s 3rd/4th Class

10.05-10.15: Ms Hickey’s Junior Infants and Mrs. O’Mahony’s Junior Infants.

NOTE: Junior Infants will go home at 12 O’ Clock from August 31st – September 11th; Thereafter they will go home at the normal time of 2 pm.

*When school finishes, children from First to Sixth Class will be conveyed to the gate by their teacher. It is imperative that social distancing is observed at the school gate at all times.

With regard to the Junior and Senior Infants the following protocol will apply. 

​*As we have 65 pupils in Junior and Senior Infants, there will be a large number of parents congregating at 2pm. (Junior Infants will go home at 12pm until September 11th). As the space outside the gate is limited, traffic will still be using the road and to allow the class teachers easily organise the safe exit of your child from the school yard, we will be implementing the following procedures.

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*Parents form a socially distanced queue along the footpath towards Clara Road for collecting from Zone 4 (Room 1) and Zone 3 (Room 4).

*Parents form a socially distanced queue along the footpath towards the Church for collecting from Zone 1 (Room 7).

*When you reach the top of the queue, please stand behind Railing A for Room 1, the Cone for Room 4 and Railing B for Room 7.

*When the class teacher sees you at the collection point, she will call your child to exit the yard through the specific zone.

*Please move swiftly when you have collected your child and please do not proceed from the top of the queue to the collection point until the parent and child ahead of you have left. 

Cleaning
*Cleaning in schools will be increased considerably. Schools have been given a budget for the extra cleaning and cleaning materials required.

*Each classroom will be cleaned daily.

*Resources will be provided for children individually where possible, or shared with their ‘pod’. Resources that are shared between classes will be cleaned between use.

*Books, toys and resources will be cleaned regularly or quarantined for 72 hours before being reused.

*Older children may be asked to wipe down their table and chair at the end of the day.

Physical Distancing
*Children from Junior Infants to 2nd Class are not required to physical distance. Children from 3rd-6th class are expected to keep a distance of 1m where possible.

*Each class will be a ‘Bubble’. Contact between bubbles will be extremely limited and break times will be staggered.

*Classes will be divided into groups, or ‘Pods’. These children will sit, work and play together. They will stay in the same pod for a number of weeks.

*We will have a system of staggered breaks in place that will allow for each individual class to access a specific yard and which will be segregated from other classes which may be on break at the same time.

*Staff will try to maintain physical distance from children when they can, and will wear face coverings and other PPE when needed.

Hand Hygiene
*Children will perform hand hygiene regularly during the school day:
-on arrival at school
-before eating or drinking
-after using the toilet
-after a cough or sneeze after playing outdoors 
-when hands are physically dirty

​*Hand sanitiser dispensers are installed throughout the school.

*Children are not required to supply hand sanitiser or any other hand hygiene products.

​Schoolbags and Lunches
*The government have not given any guidelines regarding these items but a common-sense approach should be followed.

*Ensure that your child does not have any unnecessary items such as toys in their schoolbag.

*Choose lunchboxes, bottles and pencil cases that are easy to clean, as they will need to be cleaned frequently.  

*We ask that all children have a plentiful supply of pencils, biros etc as is appropriate to the class your child is in as there will be no bin provision in classrooms in an effort to minimise the movement of pupils in the classroom. Furthermore, pupils will be required to take home all waste from their lunchbox. 

Communication with Teachers
*Parents will not be permitted to enter the school building.

*Appointments may be made to visit the school for essential purposes.

*A contact tracing log will need to be filled out for each visit.

*This does not mean that you will be unable to communicate with your child’s teacher. You can communicate with them via the traditional methods such as homework diary, phone calls etc.

Teacher Absences
*The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation have put pressure on the Department of Education on the issue of substitute teachers. Supply panel clusters of substitute teachers are being set up to increase substitute availability.

*If the school is unable to secure a substitute teacher, the school may use a non-mainstream teacher to cover the absence. (This includes Special Education Teachers and administrative principals).

*Every effort will be made to avoid a class being split between other classes.

Starting Junior Infants
*Unfortunately, parents will not be permitted to enter the school with their child on the first day of school.

*Rest assured, the Junior Infant teachers and other school staff will do their best to make sure that every child feels happy and safe at school.

*The benefits of play are well-documented, and infant teachers are very aware of this. Lots of time will be spent playing and listening to stories. The number one priority for the first few months of school will be the children’s well-being.  
 
Children with Additional Needs
*The Special Education Team in Presentation National School will make sure that your child’s needs are catered for to the best of our ability.

*Special Education Teachers may be required to cover for mainstream teachers in the case of their absence and a substitute teacher is not available. This may mean that your child may have reduced support at times, but the school will do their best to avoid this happening.

*If you have concerns or questions, email the school within the next week. Doing it now rather than in the first week back will give them a better chance to respond and prepare where necessary.

Very high-risk Pupils
*Pupils at high risk may not be able to return to school.

*These pupils will receive appropriate support to engage with learning.

*Ongoing connection with the classmates and school community will be ensured.

*The list of people in very high risk groups includes people who:

-are over 70 years of age – even if fit and well 
-have had an organ transplant
-are undergoing active chemotherapy for cancer
-are having radical radiotherapy for lung cancer 
-have cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment are having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
-are having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors 
-have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
-have severe respiratory conditions including cystic fibrosis, severe asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, lung fibrosis, interstitial lung disease and severe COPD
-have a condition that means they have a very high risk of getting infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell) are taking medicine that makes you much more likely to get infections (such as high doses of steroids or immunosuppression therapies)
-have a serious heart condition and are pregnant  
 
Suspected Cases of COVID-19
Symptoms of COVID-19
-High temperature
-Cough
-Shortness of Breath
-Difficulty Breathing
-Loss of smell or taste, or distortion of taste

*Children should NOT ATTEND school if they are unwell or if any members of their household are unwell with symptoms of COVID-19.

*If any pupil becomes unwell or expresses a feeling of unwellness while at school, he/she will be brought to an Isolation Room and given a mask to wear. He/She will be supervised by a member of staff who will be fully kitted out with P.P.E.  Parents/Guardians will be contacted and asked to collect the child as soon as possible.

*The HSE will inform any parents of children who have come into close contact with a diagnosed case.

Reminder to anyone attending school who has travelled abroad

*The HSE Guidance clearly states:

It is a requirement for anyone coming into Ireland, from locations other than those with a rating of “normal precautions” (“green”), to restrict their movements for 14 days, and this includes school staff, parents and children or other students coming from abroad to attend school in Ireland. Restricting your movements means staying indoors in one location and avoiding contact with other people and social situations as much as possible

If this applies to any pupil we ask that you would respectfully abide by this protocol.
 

We thank you for your continued co-operation and support. ​

Booklists for Junior Infants- 6th Class are now available to view online 

Our school calendar for 2020/2021 is also available to view online 

We were delighted to welcome back this wonderful group of girls to give them the send off from Presentation N.S. they truly deserve. It was a privilege watching these girls blossom from timid Junior Infants to confident and independent young ladies. 

Thank you to all who contributed to making this Graduation a special and memorable occasion for the girls, particularly as their final year with us came to such a sudden and abrupt ending in March. 

We wish them every happiness and success as they start the next exciting chapter in their lives at Millstreet Community School. 

Your child's report card is now available to view through the 'Aladdin Connect' app. If you are experiencing diffculties logging in, please email principal@millpresns.com ​

Dear Parent/Guardian,

Our school is delighted to announce that we will shortly roll out the Aladdin Schools Connect to parents/guardians of children in our classes. The school uses the Aladdin Schools software service www.aladdin.ie for administrative purposes and Connect will give you secure access to messages from the school and to details of your child’s attendance, test results, reports cards etc via secure login from your internet browser or Aladdin Connect App.

Aladdin Connect is a fantastic way to enhance a school's communication with parents. It enables parents to stay connected and informed about their child's education by: 

*Ensuring that the school has their most up to date contact information
*Allowing schools to gather permission(s) from parents
*Allowing parents to quickly and efficiently select preferred slots for parent teacher meetings 
*Keeping parents apprised of their child's attendance
*Keeping parents up to date on school and classroom news via noticeboard messages 
*Allowing parents to view what items their child had for homework today
*Keeping parents up to date on what library book their child is currently reading and if it is due/overdue to be returned
*Allowing parents view their child's approved report card
*Giving parents the option to opt in to share contact information with their child's classmates’ parents via the Parent Privacy option for the class list. 
*Allowing parents to view their child's latest standardised test results

Along with strengthening our home/school partnership, we also envisage Aladdin Connect helping the school by:
*Helping to improve attendance by allowing parents to keep track of any school days their child may have currently missed, along with late arrival and early leaving information.
*Helping to reduce the amount of class/school notes being sent home 
*Helping the school/ teachers communicate with parents when the need arises
*Reducing costs by eliminating the need to send school report cards by post
*Reducing costs by reducing the number of text messages that need to be sent.

You can rest reassured that Aladdin Schools uses state-of-the-art security to safeguard information entered by the school and data is stored and processed in strict compliance with Irish and European data protection laws.

On Friday 12th you will receive a text/email message containing your registration link. There will be one link per parent which will allow the parent to access information for all their children in the school from one user account. Please do not forward this text/email or share this link as this is a unique registration code for each parent for your child/children in this school.

During registration you will choose a password that will be used in conjunction with your email address to securely access the Aladdin Connect going forward. If you choose you may share your own contact details with other parents of children in the same class as your children, but please be reassured that this information will not be shared unless you choose to share it. Once you are registered you will be sent an email with links to download the Aladdin Connect App for your mobile device. The main advantage of using the App is to receive immediate alerts for app messages sent by your school. Downloading the App is highly recommended to enhance both the parent and school's Connect experience.

In preparation for this please let the school know if your email address or phone number has changed recently by emailing  principal@millpresns.com


Please note: If there are any personal concerns, or legal provisions in place regarding giving access to Connect to any parent/guardian of your child please contact the school in confidence to discuss or restrict access as required.

We hope that you enjoy using Aladdin Connect. Your class teacher, the secretary or myself will welcome any feedback or questions you may have.

Yours sincerely,
Siobhan Buckley
Principal

principal@millpresns.com

Presentation N.S. will be using Edmodo to keep everyone updated! Each class teacher will use it to share important notes, assignments and more. It’s free and it takes under a minute to sign up! Learn how to get started below: 


Instructions for Parents

1.Visit edmodo.com using your smartphone or computer.

2.Click or tap  "Get Started as a STUDENT."

3.Follow the instructions to create an account.

4. The class teacher will send the login code details for the class to the email address/ Aladdin Text


Thank you for your co-operation. 

Dear Families, 

We appreciate that this is a difficult time for our pupils and their families and we are working to provide educational support in a different way than the norm.

With this in mind, we have sourced this comprehensive list of ideas and activities you might consider checking out to support your child during the coming weeks. 

Please remember that we will get through this together!

Stay safe and healthy!

Staff of Presentation N.S. 

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Here we share just a small selection of photographs of some of our pupils dressed up as various characters from their favourite books. We had lots of fun celebrating World Book Day 2020!

We wish to thank Grace for all her help during her time as librarian in Millstreet.  We will really miss you!  Best of luck in your new post.

March 5th: 
Your child is invited to bring one of their favourite story books to school.

March 6th:
Your child is invited to come to school dressed up as a book character of their choice 

Phase 1 of the 'Food Dudes' programme commenced today for Junior Infants, Senior Infants and 1st Class.  

Our senior choir will travel to Fr. Matthew Hall in Cork City tomorrow to compete in the Feis Maitiú singing competition.  The girls have been putting in so much work over the past few weeks rehearsing their two songs and we hope their hard efforts will pay off tomorrow. 
Good luck girls!

Here we share recordings of the two songs the choir will perform tomorrow: