Back to School Email 18/08/2025

Dear Parents/Guardians,

It is hard to believe it’s almost the end of August. I hope you all had a lovely summer.

When will the children return to school?

Glounaguillagh National School will re-open on Monday, September 1st, at 8:50am.

Early Finish:

Reminder: Junior Infants will finish school at 12 noon for the first two weeks, from Monday 1st  September until Friday 12th September inclusive. They will finish daily thereafter at 1:30pm.

Where do I go to drop-off and collect my child from school?

We will continue to use both front access gates for drop-off and collection. The children can use the gate closest to their drop-off point for entering the school each day. It is strictly children only inside the gates. Parents can accompany our new Junior Infants to their door initially. Junior and senior infant classes will be brought out to the yard by their teacher at going home time.

For entering the school:

Ms. O Sullivan’s  2nd & 3rd class,  Ms. Quirke's Senior Infants,  Mrs. Fleming's  1st & 2nd Class,  Mrs. Galvin's 4th & 5th Class will use the main front door

Mrs. Doyle’s Junior Infants and Ms. O'Shea's 5th & 6th Class will use the side office door (pitch side)

The school will open to accept pupils, and morning supervision begins, from 8:40am. Pupils should NOT be left unattended on the school grounds before 8:40am. To reduce congestion, parents are welcome to drop pupils between 8:40am & 9:10am.

Please remember that it gets very busy around the school in the mornings and evenings. Think about where you will park, park appropriately and walk with your child to the school gate. Please do not linger around the school at drop-off times. It is strictly “drop and go” to allow for other parents to park and drop their children to school.

Curriculum Days:

As you may be aware, the Primary School Curriculum is being redeveloped. Staff are being supported by Oide to introduce, implement and embed the new curriculum. We attended training during the last school year around the Maths curriculum and will again during the school year 2025/2026. We received details of our school closure days during the summer. We will be closed on Wednesday February 25th and Tuesday May 19th as all staff members will be attending a training session off-site on these days.

Calendar:

As a result of the additional School Closure Days, I am attaching an updated School Calendar.

School Office & Contact:

The School office is now located at the side of the school. A bell is located at the right hand side of the door for attention. Entry to the school during school hours will be through this door only.

Jean’s hours are as follows:

Monday 9-2.30

Tuesday 9-2

Wednesday 9-2

Friday 9-12

Where possible, please avoid ringing outside of these hours as all staff members are in class. Contact us at office@glounaguillaghne.ie  and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Please remember that the only way to contact any member of staff is via phone call or email to the school office. Contacting a teacher on their personal mobile phone is completely inappropriate and must not happen under any circumstances.

Aladdin Connect:

We will shortly roll out Aladdin Connect to parents/guardians of our Junior Infants children. The school uses the Aladdin Schools software service for administrative purposes and Connect will give you secure access to messages from the school via secure login from your internet browser or a free Aladdin Connect App. More details to follow. If there are any existing parents who need to be reconnected please contact the office.

School Therapy Dog:

Great News!! Our application for a school therapy dog has been accepted and we are delighted to be able to confirm that the puppy will be joining our school this September. Mrs. Fleming will be our puppy handler and will be in charge of the pup during school hours and at home. She will undergo training throughout the year and we are very excited to share more details with you soon.

Road Works:

Please note a section of the road around the quarry entrance will be closed from 25th August to 1st December 2025. Having been in contact with the Council, we will not be impacted as a new road is being developed to maintain access to and from school. Please see attached map.

Please note that you cannot reply to this email. Please contact us via the office@glounaguillaghns.ie email address.

We are looking forward to welcoming our new junior infants and all other children back to school on September 1st. See you then!

Kind regards,

Sinéad Pigott

Principal