A Little Bit About Us……….

• Projected total enrolment for 2016/17 – 155 Pupils • Junior Infant Class: 20 Pupils• Mainstream Class Teacher Allocation: 6 Classes• Resource/Support Teachers: 2 Teachers• Teacher’s Name: Mrs Claire Cullinan• School Principal: Mr David McCormack• Deputy Principal: Mrs Marion Crimmins• School Secretary: Mrs Yvonne Enright

Meet Our Staff….

Front (left to Right): Yvonne Enright, Doris Vaughan, David McCormack, Marion Crimmins, Kelly MacLeanBack: Claire Cullinan, Anne-Marie Griffin, Garrett Barry, Ciara O’Sullivan, Helen O’Connell

Extra-Curricular Activities

Our Parents Association

Clonmoney NS Parents Association Annual Events

On an annual basis these are some of the activities that the Parents Association are involved in :

· September – Sponsored Walk

· October – Halloween Activity / 1st Cash For Clobber

· December – Christmas Carol Singing / Christmas Fundraiser

· Pancake Tuesday – Pancakes for all students

· Easter – Competition and prizes

· April - 1st Holy Communion / 2nd Cash for Clobber

· May – Confirmation / Book Sale

· June - Sports Day BBQ weather permitting

Welcome!!Welcome all parents to a new and exciting stage in your child’s life. During this year your child will make new friends and enjoy a variety of new experiences.

Your child’s teacher for Juniors will be Claire Cullinan and she will be teaching her new Infants in this room. I look forward to having this opportunity to work with each of you as partners to ensure that at the end of this school year your child will have a positive attitude towards education based on social and academic confidence.

School begins at 8.50am, the bells rings and all children are brought in from the yard. All infants go home at 1:30 pm.In order to introduce each infant to the school children will be going home at 12.00 pm for the 1st day and 1st week.If there are any special collection arrangements please let us know by note.

Breaks • There are two breaks during the day. The first is a short one from 11:00 to 11:15am. Additional time for eating is given before break begins.

• The second is a longer break from 12:55 to 1.25pm. Again, additional time for eating is given during this break before they go out-1.02 to 1.25pm.

• An area of the playground is reserved especially for infants.

• All children go outside except during rainy weather. • Use lunchboxes & bottles that they can open/close

themselves

The children wear the standard uniform each day. This consists of a navy pants, blue shirt and navy jumper and navy tie.

We also have a school tracksuit which each child requires.

Please ensure that all clothes likely to be removed i.e. coats, hats, scarves, gloves, jumpers etc. are clearly labelled with your child’s name as many children possess similar items.

• Reading aloud to your child. This will help cultivate an interest in, and love of reading as well as teaching them some basic skills.

• Good writing is all about muscle and motor control so it will help your child greatly if he/she has lots of practise at colouring, drawing, painting, manipulating materials such as playdough, building blocks, cutting, jigsaws etc.

• Noting visual differences in images is essential to reading and this skill can be practised and encouraged by use of matching games, spot the ‘odd one out’ games, spot the difference, jigsaws etc.

• Involve them in activities that get them thinking mathematically like setting the table; ‘How many forks do we need?’. Tidying their toys; ‘Does the car belong with the farm set?’ Counting cows in the field.

Please be positive with your child in preparing him for school and explain to him/her what will happen re. teacher, other children, breaks, sitting down, tidy-up time and home time.

On arrival it is very helpful if you can show your child where to hang their coat and leave his/her lunch. Coats and bags can be hung up outside the classroom under the child’s name.

It is very helpful too if your child can zip up & open his/her coat. Velcro runners also very useful!

First day back is Wednesday 31st August 2016

Help them to find a seat and get a toy to play with- Encourage them to sit with friends for the first few days.

Show them around the classroom, where the toilets are, the library and story corner and all the different toys. You could also find some children that they know to help settle any nerves.

Once your child is settled, it is of benefit to the child for parent(s) to leave promptly in order to avoid undue anxiety on the part of the child.

PlayPlay is a significant part of your child’s development in school and is carried out on a daily basis. There are many types of play which attribute to holistic development during the early childhood years: language play, physical play, pretend play, creative play and games with rules.

Play helps your young child to •Build Relationships: learn to share, take turns, problem solve…•Be Creative•Read, Write and Learn about Numbers•Think•Use Language•Use fine and gross motor skills

There is no need for children to bring in toys into school and we do not encourage this practice because of breakages, competition and peer pressure.

We have plenty of toys in school.

This is the scheme used for learning letters and their sounds and overall in beginning to read.

Sound Copy- note for parents oninside cover.

Beginning to read…

We use the Magic Emerald English Language Programme:

It consists of 4 readers:

Hip! Hip! Hippo! Up! Up! Up!Little Hippo Gets Lost!Animals in the Trolley

2. Shared Reading Scheme (Parent & Child read together)

From the second week: each child will get a new book every week. This is a reader with lots of unknown words but your child will be able to sound out most of them and will also come across some ‘tricky’ words. Your role is to guide your child through the reader, prompting when necessary.

This book will be sent home for the week with the aim of your child reading a few simple words at the end of the week.

* Every child develops their reading skills at different paces *

Your child will be learning to write lower case (small) letters initially. We would ask parents if you are going to get your child to practice writing his name please only use a capital letter at the start of his name i.e. John, Tom etc. Many children come to school writing their name all in capital letters and it can prove difficult to re-learn it the correct way.

Pencil Grip = Froggy Legs!!!

‘Frog on the log’ (index finger on the pencil –log)

Letter formationCorrect formation is so important as it help fluency in writing.

To help with learning the correct movements for forming each letter, I have put them into groups.

•Caterpillar ‘C’ letters: c, a, d, g, o, q

•‘Down and Bounce’ letters: r, n, m, h, b, k, p

•‘Down and Flick’ letters: i, l, t, f, j

•‘Zig-Zag’ letters: v, w, z

•‘Wavy’ letters: u, y

•Tricky letters: e, x, s

Other Subjects• Maths-very concrete and hands on.

• Irish-speaking and listening.

• History, Geography, Science• Music, Drama, Art

• SPHE• RE

• Children can wear their tracksuits for P.E. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This may change in September with timetables.

• A hurling coach comes to the school for a few weeks in the year, so PE day may be changed but you will be notified.

Homework

• Starts in October!

Sound Copy *Word pocket

Workbook (Tues./ Thurs night)

.

We have a “healthy eating” policy in our school, agreed upon by parents, teachers and students. Lunch boxes do not include items such as biscuits, crisps, sweets, cake, fizzy and sugary drinks, bars and desserts and now cereal bars.

On starting school many children are too keyed up and distracted to eat a large lunch so we recommend a small nutritious snack, for example two sandwiches, milk or unsweetened fruit juice, a piece of cheese, yoghurt or fruit.

We try to ensure that the children eat a good portion of their lunch, food not eaten will be brought home again in the lunch box. Please ensure that your child’s lunch box is clearly labeled with your child’s name.

Assessment • Informal assessment will be continually

made by your child’s teacher.• Phonics/Reading & Maths assessments

will be done at Christmas, Easter and Summer.

• In October/November a parent-teacher meeting will take place which provides an opportunity for discussing each child’s progress.

• Formal written reports are sent out at the end of the Summer term.*Please do not hesitate to

approach me at any time if there is anything you feel anxious about and we can

arrange a convenient time to meet and discuss the issue.

Health and Safety

• As part of our school health programme we encourage regular washing of hands, particularly around eating time and after toilet use. We are not however always able to oversee this so please remind your child of its importance. Unfortunately germs and viruses spread very quickly in a classroom environment so it is vital that the children are encouraged to use a tissue when blowing their nose and to cover their mouth and turn away when coughing.

• If your child develops any contagious illness such as chickenpox please keep him away from school until the period of contamination is over and inform his teacher immediately. We recommend that you check your child regularly for lice which are highly contagious, treat immediately if they occur and inform the teacher so that notification of possible risk may be sent out to other parents. All information regarding your child’s health is treated in the strictest confidence.

• Occasionally your permission will be required for dental, eye or other health examinations.

Developing Independence

• It is also extremely helpful to develop your child’s independence from an early stage by getting them to walk into their room from the yard after the first few weeks.

Book List• Each parent will receive a

book list tonight and can buy your child's books.

• Please label and cover each book before coming to school. The majority of books will be kept in the classroom and may be placed in your child’s school bag occasionally if he/she has to complete an exercise for homework.

See you in September!

!!