Dear Parents,

I hope you are all well and are keeping safe.

I want to congratulate you on the wonderful home schooling you have been doing.

We have over 85% of our children engaging in remote learning during this lockdown which is fantastic. However, as you all know this brings stresses and strains to families as we all wrestle with technology glitches, social isolation for children and juggling working from home and home schooling.  So for those of you who are finding some or all of this difficult I just wanted to add some reassurance, particularly today when we are facing the possibility of a further extension of home-schooling beyond the mid-term break.

If you are finding the demands of home-schooling is too great at any time, please remember that the work is not an exact prescription of what your child has to do at home on a given day. Use your own sound intuition. You are with your children each day. You are the best judge of their mood, their energy levels, their anxiety levels…not to mention your own. 

The definition of a Seesaw is:

a long plank balanced in the middle on a fixed support, on each end of which children sit and swing up and down by pushing the ground alternately with their feet.

I think balance and support are key words here. We are using “Seesaw” as an online platform to support your children’s learning.

If the balance is off .... and you feel the support can’t hold the weight, or the child’s side of the seesaw is hitting the ground with a hard bump...it’s time to get off the seesaw and take a break. 

We are working together as a school community. No-one is “judging” anyone’s efforts. This is not a court of law. This is a community of St Colum’s families living through a global pandemic and doing what they believe is best for their own family.

At a time when many things are beyond our control let’s keep our eye on our “circle of influence” and focus on what we can control.

Serenity Prayer.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

In managing the well-being of all staff I too may have to make changes. Teaching staff may be added to the supervision of key workers and vulnerable children in school. 

If your child’s class teacher has to attend school for supervision duties no new work will be uploaded for your child that day. We will let you know in advance if your child’s class teacher will not be available on a particular day.

I wish to emphasise once again the importance of booking your child’s place online for supervised learning at school. You can do this through School Money and you will find the free registration under the heading “clubs”. This is critical to the health and safety of all and ensures appropriate decisions are made around supervision.

Once again I thank those of you who continue to support the work of the staff in the school at this most challenging time.

Take care everyone,

Mrs Mc Cullagh.