Some Practicalities
A summary of some key school practices
Contacting the School
If you would like to talk to your child’s Teacher or the Principal, please call the office first to make an appointment, and meetings will be facilitated as soon as possible.
T: 074 93 84136
School Opening Hours
School gates open at 9:20.
Please do not leave your children to school before 9:20am.
Front Gate: Bus children enter and exit the school via this gate
(If your child normally travels by bus but they are being collected at home time instead, please inform the school via call or note and meet your child at the front gate as they will leave their classroom in the bus line as normal)
Graveyard Gate: This gate is used by walkers and family groups. Siblings will meet on a designated X at the end of the day. Parent(s)/Guardian(s) are invited to line up in the graveyard parallel to the school fence and children/families will be called forward in their turn
Pitch Gate: This gate is used by children with no siblings at the school.
Children will be informed of the gate they will use at the start of the year. For management of safe exit of the children and to avoid confusion, it is important that each child enters and exits via the same school gate each day, even if there is a change to how the child is being collected on a particular day e.g. if a child who is usually collected at the pitch gate is walking home from school, they should exit via the pitch gate.
Infant Collection:
Infants enter the school in the morning via different gates (e.g. if they travelling by bus they will use the bus gate,) however Infants always exit the school at 2:10 at the front gate.
Mrs Mc Hugh’s Junior Infants exit via the upper gate near the bus lane
Mrs Mc Nally’s Junior Infants exit through the buzzer gate
Senior Infants exit via the central staff gate
Parents are invited to line up at the relevant gate and their children will be called forward in their turn
Infant Collection on a Shorter Day:
Infants with siblings at the school will meet their older siblings and exit via the regular gate their siblings use.
Infants with no siblings at the school will exit via the front gate as normal
Drop-Off/Collection by Childcare Service:
Please inform the school if your child is being dropped off/collected by a childcare service. For entry in the morning, the pitch gate is used. For infant collection, the front gates are used, for senior collection, the pitch gate is used.
Please contact the school if you have any queries.
School Day
9:30 School starts
11:00-11:10 Break
12:25 Lunchtime Crunch (Exercises in each classroom)
12:30 Eating time
12:35-1:00 Lunchtime
2:10 End of Junior Day
3:10 End of Senior Day
Signing Child in and out
As per Child Safeguarding, children must be signed in and out at the office when leaving or entering the school outside of regular arrival and dismissal times, the person who takes your child out to the gate will fill in the slip on your behalf.
If Your Child is Late for School:
Gates are not attended after 9:30am. Please bring your child to the main gate and use the buzzer at the gate/telephone the school and if someone is available, they will come to the gate to admit your child.
Collecting/Dropping Off Your Child During the Day:
Come to the main school gate and use the buzzer, your child will be brought out to meet you at the gate/collected from you at the gate.
As per Child Safeguarding, if you need to take your child out of class, the usual slip will be filled in by the person who leaves/meets your child at the gate.
Changes to Collections from school
Please send in a note to your child’s class teacher or telephone the school if your child is to be collected by someone other than the usual person.
Absences
If a child is absent from school, please fill in the information on the absence in the Aladdin Connect app.
Uniform
Please ensure each item is labelled with the child’s name and check that this does not come off during the year.
Formal School Uniform
Grey trousers/skirt/pinafore, white shirt, green and yellow striped tie, green jumper with school logo, black shoes and green school coat.
PE Uniform - worn only on each class’ PE days
Yellow polo-shirt, green tracksuit bottoms and green jumper with school logo and black runners.
Please ensure each child wears the correct uniform on the correct days.
PE Days:
JI: Tuesdays & Fridays
SI: Mondays & Thursdays
1st: Tuesdays & Fridays
2nd: Tuesdays & Thursdays
3rd: Mondays & Fridays
4th & 5th: Tuesdays & Thursdays
6th: Fridays
Lunchtime Activities
We are fortunate to be able to offer a huge range of activities at lunch time and have really noticed the difference this consistent training is making to the children’s fitness, resilience and sporting ability.
Monday: Senior Boys’ Soccer, Crosscountry & Junior football/yoga/fundamental movements (from October onwards)
Tuesday: GAA
Wednesday: Circuits
Thursday: Senior Girls’ Soccer & Choir
Friday: Athletics
Children wear their sporting clothes underneath their uniform and change in the classroom before lunchtime activities so that their uniform does not get wet. Children doing sports at lunchtime should bring a spare pair of shoes and socks in case they get wet. A plastic bag should be taken in for football boots.
SUPPORTING ADDITIONAL NEEDS
We follow the Continuum of Support model. Some children will receive extra Classroom Support from their Class Teacher and some will receive School Support with a Special Education Teacher. Education plans with targets for the children to achieve are prepared in consultation with parents and reviewed on a regular basis.
Healthy Eating
Our healthy eating policy does not permit sugary treats, crisps, biscuits or sugary drinks at school. Our healthy eating policy can be viewed here.
STAY SAFE
The Stay Safe Programme, which teaches personal safety skills, is completed annually with each class. Parents are welcome to familiarise themselves with the content of the lessons at www.staysafe.ie/teachers/resources.htm and invited to please contact the school if they wish to discuss the programme further.
Letter to Parents re Stay Safe Programme
Free lunch scheme
Scoil Naomh Bríd participates in the 'School Meals Scheme’ funded by the Department of Social and Family Affairs. The scheme enables the school to offer the pupils a lunch free of charge during the school year.
An app is used to communicate directly with the lunch provider. Please contact them through the app if you would like to make changes to your order.
Water
Please send in a full water bottle with your child each day.
TISSUES
Please send in tissues with your child.
Online Photos
We use our Facebook page to keep our school community informed and to showcase what is happening in Scoil Naomh Bríd. Parental/Guardian permission is required before photos can be posted online. If you would like to give or withdraw permission for your child mid-year, please write in a note to the school Principal.