27.03.20

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I hope you and your families are all well. These are difficult days and I know that life is stressful for everyone at the moment. Many of you are trying to work from home or may have financial or health worries, whilst trying to look after your children at this time.

As you will be aware, the Department of Education has announced that all schools will remain closed until 20^th April 2020.

The teachers prepared learning activities and recommended websites for the children to help keep them occupied for the initial 2-week closure up until today.  We hope you found these suggestions helpful, for those of you who had an opportunity to look at them.

Now that this closure will be extended until after Easter, teachers will be keeping in touch with their classes via SEESAW, for parents who wish to sign up. If you are having difficulty signing up please let us know via the email address below and we will assist you. Teachers will recommend activities on SEESAW which children may engage with if they wish.  We will also post up ideas for activities on our school Facebook page.

Please do not place yourself under any additional pressure by feeling you have to teach your children or complete learning activities on top of everything else that is going on at the moment.  It is vital that you look after your well-being and minimise stress at a time like this. Many parents and children are not getting to do “school work” and that is okay. Activities such as making Lego, reading, cooking, playing board games and getting exercise are all learning experiences.  Your child’s wellbeing is far more important than academic work, particularly during this difficult time.

When school reopens, teachers will help each child settle back into school routines.  No child will be “left behind” as a result of these closures.

The most important thing you can do right now is look after your own mental health and well-being, and that of your child. Remember, children are resilient and there will be many more learning opportunities for them in school in the years ahead.

Please stay well. If you wish, you may contact the school via email: info@scoilmhuiretullamore.ie

Assuring you of the support of the entire staff at Scoil Mhuire,

B.Naughton

Principal

The girls of 6th class were delighted to present the money raised from our last cake sale to Barnardos. A fantastic organisation that plays a significant role in the lives of so many children and families in Tullamore and throughout the country. A huge thank you to Ms Mahon and Ms Fahy for organising the cake sale.

Paraic Creedon from The Explorers Education Programme came to chat with the children of 1st class today.  He brought some native fish found in the sea around Ireland for the students to take care of for the next 4 weeks. Pádraig supplied the students with a fish tank, 2 anemones, a blenny, goby,  prawn, cushion star, juvenile mullet and a hermit crab. There are already a number of budding marine biologists in both classes judging from the excellent observations!

Christmas is a distant memory and we are all settled back into the routine of school life. But before we lament those holidays- here is a look back on all the fantastic activities that took place here in Scoil Mhuire since last September.

The Green Team got straight back to work putting up the bird feeders and organising the food appeal before Christmas.

We had Maths Week, Science Week, Football matches, Witch Walk, Hurling Skills, Lanello, Christmas Concerts, Daltaí performances, computer coding, trips to the library, lots of amazing art and even talent shows. If this is what we can fit into the first term – imagine what we can can do this term!

Music: https://www.bensound.com

Last training session for the Scoil Mhuire girls before their football final against Gael Scoil an Eiscir Riada, Tullamore in O’Connor Park at 11.15am this Wednesday. Come & show the girls your support. They have worked so hard to get to this point and deserve all the encouragement!

It was such an eventful week here at Scoil Mhuire.  Maths Week took place and every class found an interesting way to bring Maths to life. The weather behaved and lots of maths trails were explored outdoors. From IZAK9 cubes in 5th to giant leaps in 2nd – it was such a fun week!!

The girls thoroughly enjoyed a most informative and interactive Goal workshop today, looking at serious issues such as drought and poverty in rural communities in Ethiopia, through drama and discussion.

Maths Week is taking place all this week across the country. Scoil Mhuire is very much involved in this annual event with many of the classes kicking today off with a variety of problem-solving and puzzles. Here the students of Ms Mahon’s class created some interesting creatures using tangrams.

Well done to all the winners of our annual Anti-Bullying Poster competition. The standard was very high and we are very pleased to see how well the students responded to their class lessons on anti-bullying. Well done everyone!

The girls of Daltaí represented Scoil Mhuire with the most amazing performance on Friday night in Charleville Castle. Well done everyone- you were absolutely wonderful!! Congratulations to Catherine and Tanya for preparing the girls so well.