Good Afternoon everyone.

Fr Austin has released a provisional date for the Sacrament of Confirmation, Wednesday 26th May 2021 @5pm in Star of the Sea. Dr Greene will prepare the children who attend St. Colum's Primary School for this sacrament.

There will be a "Season of the Eucharist" this year for those children who will receive their First Holy Communion. Parents can book a date for their child's FHC through the Parish office. It is envisaged that like last year, small groups of children can receive the sacrament at the weekend Masses from Saturday 29th May onward. Please contact the Parish Office should you have any inquiries or if you wish to reserve your booking, 028 70832534. Mr Shaw will prepare the children who attend St. Colum's Primary School for this sacrament.

Thank you,

Mrs McCullagh

Principal

Break Hatch is open again next week.

As well as toast, bagels and muffins, Lynne's yummy homemade scones are available. Order from The Shop on our SchoolMoney online system.

If you have any problems accessing SchoolMoney, please contact the office 02870833010

#LynnesScones #StColumsCanteen #BreakHatch #yummy #CashlessSchool

Lunch menu for next week, from Monday 8th March 2021. 

Please book online through our new SchoolMoney system. School lunches should be booked by 11pm the previous evening. 

Follow the link for our Parents Guide to SchoolMoney...https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/st-colums-primary-school/UploadedDocument/5b9a7461fe0c47a89d5c1cfd4f09acc5/school-money-parent-guide.pdf   If you have any problems accessing SchoolMoney, please contact the office ☎ 02870833010

Direct payments in place of free school meals will not be made to pupils who are required to attend school(P1-P3). Free school meals will not be provided to children of key workers and vulnerable children entitled to free school meals when they are at school for supervised learning as their parents will receive a direct payment.

Any pupil at school who wishes, including vulnerable children and children of key workers, may purchase a meal. Otherwise they should bring a packed lunch.
 

Dear parents,

Please see open letter from the Education Minister on our newsletter page.... Open letter from Education Minister

Nursery and Primary 1 to Primary 3

Nursery and Primary 1 to Primary 3 pupils will return to school on 8 March. Between 8 March and 19 March pupils within this group who are entitled to Free School Meals will receive a meal in school but will NOT receive a free school payment.

For pupils who cannot attend school for medical reasons and who are entitled to free school meals, parents/ guardians should contact their school principal regarding food parcel entitlement.

From 22 March to 26 March online/ blended learning will return and a one week food payment will be made to families of pupils who are entitled to free school meal.

Primary 4 to Primary 7

For primary 4 to primary 7 pupils online/blended learning will continue from 8 March to 26 March and pupils entitled to a free school meal will continue to receive a payment.

Post Primary

Years 12-14 will return on 22 March for one week. Those pupils entitled to free school meals will continue to receive direct payment up to March 19. From 22 March to 26 March catering service will be available for years 12-14. Payment will continue for years 8-11 for pupils entitled to free school meals from 22 March to 26 March.

Special Schools and EOTAS

Special schools and EOTAS continue to remain open and pupils entitled to receive free school meal will receive a meal in school. For pupils of special schools and EOTAS who cannot attend school for medical reasons, parents/ guardians should contact the EA helpdesk, 02838 368186, to order their food parcels.

Vulnerable children and children of key workers

Any pupil attending school, including vulnerable children and children of key workers, may purchase a meal from the school meals service as normal or they can bring a packed lunch.

Payments

Any payments to be made for period 8 March to 26 March will be paid into nominated bank accounts on 18 March. If we do not have your nominated bank account a cheque will be posted on 16 March.

Our third Interschool Parent Wellbeing sessions run by Parenting NI for St. Colum's Primary School and Portstewart Primary School takes place next Tuesday, 9th March at 7pm via Zoom.

Our third online webinar is Children's Emotional Health.

The aims and objectives of the session are:

• To explore the importance of promoting children’s positive emotional health and wellbeing.
• To raise awareness on the effects on children with positive emotional health and wellbeing.
• To promote activities parents can use to enhance their children’s social and emotional learning.
• To equip parents with the skills to improve their children’s emotional health and wellbeing.

To register for this session click here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/139271235013

Please note that numbers are limited to 10 parents per school for each online session.

#MentalHealth #Wellbeing #SaveTheDate #resilience #resolvingconflict #emotionalhealth

Having a bit of a Spring Clean or a clear-out of old or unwanted textiles?  Our next Cash For Clobber collection is tomorrow, Wednesday, 10th March.

What can you put in the bag??

• All types of clothing (even with holes!)
• Bags and shoes (please tie shoes together with laces)
• Hats and belts
• Towels and curtains
• Bed linen (sheets, pillow cases, duvet covers)

** Remember all items must be clean.** 

Slightly different arrangements this year... bring your bags of unwanted textiles to school 8:30am - 9:15am on Wednesday and pass 'over the wall' to staff at the front of the school.  Remember to observe social distancing.

Please help us recycle and raise funds for our school.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Dear Parents,

Extract from DENI Letter to Principals. “Minister Weir wishes to explore the level of interest in a summer school programme this year, should funding be made available, with an expansion to post-primary and EOTAS settings. We know that teachers and school principals have been under continuous pressure for two years dealing with the outworkings of Covid-19 and deserve their Summer break. At the same time, we know that many children have been significantly impacted by long periods of lockdown and could really benefit from the opportunities to meet their friends, take part in physical and fun activities outside and get the emotional health and wellbeing support they might need. The emphasis of the Summer Scheme 2021 is on emotional health and well-being, being physically active and reconnecting and rebuilding relationships with friends, with teachers and other adults in school. Schools are being asked to express an interest at an early stage, in order to allow sufficient time to plan for any agreed programmes. In reaching a decision, I would ask you, please, to seek the views of the children and young people, parents and carers who belong to your school.”

There is no plan nor indication as to who would manage this summer school, how long it would last or what it would entail. These are the only details I have at present.

Please discuss this with your child and submit your submit your response. https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=-yeCOETeDkaBkAVAK4mNqPQkWBviVz1AiMxfcggbvz5UQVI4T1lFUzMzWVMwQkFPTUo0QTQ4Sjk5Mi4u

Mrs McCullagh

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all well. It is great to see a stretch in the evenings now as we approach Easter. Hopefully Spring and Summer will see an easing of the Covid-19 restrictions we have all been abiding by.

As you know P1/P2/P3 are all back in their classrooms next week. We will all be very excited to see them and I hope they are looking forward to it too.

I have not as yet been informed of any planned dates for the return to the classroom for children from P4-P7. They will continue with their remote learning.

Children from P4-P7 who are vulnerable/key workers’ children, will continue with their supervised learning in the school assembly hall during this time. The children will be supervised by classroom assistants. Please remember to book your child into supervised learning in advance on School Money as this helps us to manage health and safety in the school.

On Monday 8th March school will operate for children in P1-P3 as before with staggered arrival and pick-up times. Parents arriving at the school gates should wear a mask unless exempt for medical purposes. Please be mindful of social distancing at all times.

The children should line up as usual on the dots in the P2/P3 playground and at the fire exit in P1. A teacher/classroom assistant will be there to greet them.

The school canteen will be operational during this two-week period. Any child in school can avail of this service and must book their break/lunch through School Money to inform our catering. We have been informed that families with a P4–P7 pupil in receipt of Free School Meals will have already received a payment from the Education Authority so they can choose to send in a packed lunch or pay for a lunch from the canteen at this time. Families with pupils in P1-P3 in receipt of Free School Meals will not have received a payment from the Education Authority and may receive a free lunch from the canteen.

At present the re-start arrangement for schools deems that P1-P3 will be in school for 2 weeks, Monday 8th March-Friday 19th March. On 22nd March these children will revert to remote learning until Easter and they will resume school again on Monday 12th April.

I have decided that in order to avoid further disruption to the two-week period for which the children are in school that the school day will operate as normal on Wednesday 17th March.

School will close for all children for Easter on Tuesday 30th March.

Mrs KS McCullagh

Principal

The online admissions process for post-primary schools opens on Education Authority website today, Monday 1 March at 12 noon and will remain open until 4pm on 16 March.  https://www.eani.org.uk/

It is important to note that places are NOT allocated on a first come first served basis. Schools will not begin to process applications until after March 16.

You can also check how your admissions choices might affect eligibility for transport assistance by using our transport eligibility checker - www.eani.org.uk/checktransport

During busy periods our admissions process will operate a queueing system, so you may find that you have to wait to access the system.

The busiest periods tend to be in the initial days after the admissions process opens.

For help and advice parents/ guardians can contact EA via email on: postprimaryadmissions@eani.org.uk

A telephone help desk will also from 1 March to 16 March, 8am to 8pm Monday to Thursday and 8am to 5pm Friday.