Please note change to our holiday list:

School will close on Friday 26th March for Easter and will reopen on Monday 12th April.

The principal and board of governors are reviewing the holiday dates for next term in order to maximise face to face teaching for the children.

Lunch menu for next week, from Monday 22nd 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

 Arrangements for The New School Day, week commencing MONDAY 22nd March.

In accordance with government guidance we will continue to have separate entrance and exit points, designated assembly points for children and staggered arrival and pick up times.

Parents are advised to wear a face mask as they approach the school and are encouraged to social distance whilst waiting.

Teachers/classroom assistants will meet the children as they arrive at their designated time and we would ask parents to remain outside of the school grounds with the exception of Primary 1.

If your children have different starting times it is acceptable for you to choose the later time for dropping off your children.

School Meals/Break will be delivered as before to the classrooms. Please continue to use School Money to book for your child/children.

As we are an “Eco School”, to cut down on excessive non-recyclable waste, we would suggest that those who do not have paper disposable lunch bags use traditional lunch bags/boxes which must be thoroughly cleaned daily.

Children should not bring anything from home into school apart from their lunchbox. No schoolbags please!

At present the guidance we have been given does not permit any Breakfast Club or after school activities. I will let you know when that changes.

Regular and thorough attention to hygiene will be practised throughout the school day.

Children should wash their hands thoroughly before coming to school and again upon entering the building.

Each class will be viewed as a protective bubble and there will be staggered times for meals and play.

Stepping Stones are allowed to provide after-school care as usual.

We will endeavour to practise social distancing as far as is practical where physical capacity and curriculum delivery permit All of these measures will be kept under review and may be subject to change. Please be assured that we will continue to make every effort to make your child/children’s return to school as safe and supportive as we can.

Mrs McCullagh

Principal

Dear Parents,

Remote learning finishes for all children P4-P7 on Friday. Whilst teachers will provide guidance for the completion of work on Friday as usual they will not be available online so please do not upload any of the children's work to be marked. Due to the short notice given by the Minister for the reopening of the school the teachers will need the time on Friday to set up their classrooms in readiness for Monday. We are looking forward to welcoming all of our children back to school.

Best Wishes,

Mrs McCullagh

NON-UNIFORM DAY TOMORROW Wear something green to celebrate St. Patrick in school or if remote learning!

why not send us your photos, we'd love to see them (to our page or to your teacher via Seesaw)

#CelebrateStPatrick

🚨ATTENTION PRIMARY 7 PARENTS🚨

POST PRIMARY APPLICATION

There are just TWO days left to make your post-primary application. The process will close at 4pm on Tuesday 16 March. Please visit https://www.eani.org.uk/parents/admissions to start your application.

To get our St. Patrick's Day off to a great start, the canteen are serving hot dogs and bacon baps for breakfast on Wednesday 17th March.

Cost £1.25 with complimentary fruit juice. Please book online from THE SHOP on SchoolMoney.

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

WOW!! So many bags for our Cash for Clobber collection this week they didn't all fit in the silver shed! THANK YOU to everyone who donated bags of unwanted textiles... raising... drum roll please!!🥁🥁... £212!! Fantastic!👏👏 We really appreciate your support for this scheme - recycling and fund-raising for our school! 🚛♻️

Please continue to save your unwanted textiles for us. Our next collection will be on Wednesday 14th April. ♻️👚 👔 👗 👖👢👜🧥🧦👞🎒👡🧣

FREE SCHOOL MEAL UPDATE

Following the decision by the Northern Ireland Executive nursery and P1-P3 pupils will remain in school for week beginning March 22. For those pupils entitled to Free School Meals (FSM) arrangements are as follows:

Nursery and Primary 1 to Primary 3

For these pupils entitled to free school meals there will be no free school meal payment for week beginning March 22 as pupils will be in school and receiving a free school meal.

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.

All other pupils learning remotely

For P4-P7 pupils and all pupils in mainstream post primary who are entitled to free school meals a payment will be made for the two week period from Monday 8 March to Friday 19 March. This payment will be in your nominated bank account on 18 March. If we do not have a nominated bank account, we will issue a cheque by post.

A further update will be provided in relation to payments in lieu of FSM from 22 March 2021 onwards.