Mrs. Gallagher

Friday 24th April
Dear Parents,
We will have completed our first full week in Google Classroom this afternoon and I want to tell you that I am so impressed with the motivation of the children and their hard work. It has been a huge transition in learning and teaching for us all but we have risen to the challenge.I have ,no doubt that what they have learned during these past weeks will contribute hugely in their preparation for second level .They are communicating with me as they work throughout the ‘school ‘ day and I respond to whatever questions they have straight away .As the weeks progressed their confidence has grown and they have improved so much in their typing and editing skills .I am getting great project work as well and they are showing their skills in researching and abstracting the main points . All essential skills for the future.
We must keep focussed on the positives of this lockdown and your child’s progress in the Google Classroom is one of many .
Thank you for your support in providing the structure and the device for the children as it would not happen otherwise.
I am at my desk for the children and parents between 9 and 3 daily .I attend to corrections and grading afterwards and prepare and post next days work so we teachers have been busier than ever !
We are all only too delighted to continue to support you and your child in their learning and adjustment to this strange New World .
We do not wish to contribute to the stress in family life in any way .We understand that every family has worries and many parents are juggling home schooling and working both at home and away .Keep us posted if you have any concerns at all as it looks like this situation will be with us for a while .
Please drop me a few lines to let me know your thoughts on any of the above .
Kind Regards to you all ,
Síofra

Dear Parents and Guardians

This is indeed a difficult time for your families and extended families and friends. As you know the schools across Ireland were closed indefinitely with just one hour’s notice last Thursday, leaving teachers with little or no time to plan for the coming weeks.

We, as a staff, wish to support you and your children in remote learning to the best of our ability. We have planned two methods of communicating with our parents and pupils:

Pupils from junior infants up to IV class will have work assigned to them by their class teachers. This work will include worksheets, references to textbooks, referrals to educational websites, etc. Communication will be directly between parents and relevant teachers by email only. Each teacher will use a specific email address and she will make contact with the parents of her pupils using her new specific email.

Pupils of V &VI classes will communicate directly through their @tinahely.com emails, by using their GoogleDocs user-names and passwords through the Gmail app. These emails are in a closed network confined to pupils in the school and their teachers, so no outsiders can enter the network and the pupils cannot send emails outside the network, using their @tinahely.com addresses. There they will have an invitation to join my class, accept the invitation and after checking their emails, they can look for a square made up of 9 dots, which they will find on the top righthand corner of the email screen. The will see a button that asks about joining a class. The class code they will need is w6tv7yh . This will bring them into the classroom where they will find Senior Principal’s box. If they tap on this it will bring them into assignments. They can leave a comment on the page to let me know that they have accessed the classroom.

Many pupils are already doing this and returning work completed over the internet for correction. If problems arise, however, parents can email me at the school email address.

With these systems up and running, pupils from the school will be able to keep in touch with their studies, and their education will suffer as little as possible during this time of national lock down. However, it will take a little time to get the system fully up and running, but it will be worth it in the long run. Each teacher will make time available in the day to respond by email to any queries you may have.

Regarding schoolbooks for pupils from junior infants to IV classes, we will have them available for collection at the school on Saturday morning between 10:00 and 1:00. Each child’s books will be bagged and labelled, and each parcel will be resting on the school front wall by the gate. When collecting your child’s books, please observe social distancing rules, and do not delay at the wall, and do not enter the school itself, as it is not open to the public at this time.

Siofra Gallagher, Principal

Tinahely NS