NAAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

letter for Parents april 3rd 2020

Please find attached a letter for all parents/guardians:

letter_to_parents_april_2020_covid_19.pdf
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NEW SHADOW TIMETABLE FOR SCHOOL CLOSURE

shadow_timetable_for_school_closure_23-3-2020_to_29-3-2020.pdf
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20/03/2020

Please see the NEW shadow timetable above that will begin next Monday 23/03/20. Please disregard the previous version which has been removed from the website and all school social media to avoid confusion.
There have been some changes to the timetable to facilitate tutorial classes, but also to amend some classes where teachers were double booked. Can students please ensure that they are present and on time for their classes by checking in with your teacher on Schoology. Keep up the great work and engagement with classes!

Covid-19 information available in different languages
Letter from DES

Dear Principal and Teachers,
In the current climate of uncertainty, the Department of Education and Skills appreciates that students, staff and parents are being affected in various ways by the Covid-19 pandemic.
We are equally aware that there are many students and parents in Ireland for whom English/Irish is not their first language.

With this in mind, the Department of Health and the HSE have produced Covid-19 resources in a range of languages other than Irish and English which you can access below:

https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/news/newsfeatures/covid19-updates/partner-resources/covid-19-translated-resources/

The languages currently available are Chinese, Italian, Spanish, French, Arabic, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Latvian and Lithuanian.

It is vital that this information reaches the students and parents who need it most. Given the important role you play in your own communities around the country, we are asking you to share this information in a way that is appropriate to your school community.

The site above will continue to be updated with more resources, so we encourage you to check it regularly.

We hope this information will be useful and that it will make important information more accessible to everybody.

Thank you very much for your continued efforts in getting these important messages out there. It is much appreciated.

Pearse Ó Caoimh
Higher Executive Officer — Communications

16/03/2020
RE: SHADOW TIMETABLE DURING SCHOOL CLOSURE

Dear Parents, Students and Colleagues,
You will find underneath the Shadow Timetable for each school year group. This timetable will be in operation until the end of the school closures on the 29th March 2020. It is subject to change and refinement, so please monitor the website for any updates over the coming days.
The medium for delivery is Schoology. Teachers will post work for each class group at the designated times and be available for questions and clarifications during the scheduled time slot. I suggest that the discussion blogs element of Schoology would be very useful in this regard. Class groups who have their classes spread over the week can be organised to have a structure where a topic is introduced; then work given and submitted; then feedback delivered.
This method of delivery should be adequate for the three days of tuition this week. Next week it is planned to add to this by having a video conferencing solution in place for some classes. This should allow teachers to deliver classes over video link in real time with the whole class having access to the lesson. More detail will be provided of that in the coming days.
Additional teaching and study resources are available at the following link: www.scoilnet.ie
Teachers might be interested in accessing resources for distance learning at the following link: https://www.pdst.ie/distancelearning
Each timetable has a section labelled Social Task and another labelled Discovery Task. The Social Task is meant to be overseen by parents/guardians. This task is where the student does something useful during this unusual time. Obviously, being mindful of the community distancing protocols, that is likely to be confined to the home. Perhaps this could include such things as making a phone call to an elderly relative; cleaning up around the house; helping a sibling with work; tidying the bedroom. I’m sure there is a long list of ways a young person could make themselves useful over these two weeks! Please note in the school journal what your child has done in this regard
The second section, labelled Discovery Task, will be overseen by the school. This section is meant to be for discovery based learning. In these unusual circumstances, we are going to find ourselves at home a lot more than might otherwise be the case. Why not use that time to achieve the things that we would like to achieve but never find the time for? This could be things like learn a song on a musical instrument; master a recipe; read that book you always meant to start; even learn that Tik Tok dance.
Again, the list for this section is probably endless and you are free to prioritise what you and your child prefer to do. One staff member will be overseeing this section and will be in touch shortly.
The school is contactable by email in the first instance at naascc@kwetb.ie and also by phone. We will have a skeleton staff in place during office hours. If your call is not immediately answered, please try again a few moments later. However the fastest and most efficient means of contacting us will be by email. If your child has any difficulty in accessing information, please contact us for assistance.
We hope that this closure will be limited, but please rest assured we will deal with any eventuality that presents itself over the coming weeks. There will of course be challenges; there will be cabin fever; and exam students will have to be prioritised, but we will be doing our best to ensure that the impact of these unprecedented times on our students’ education is as minimal as possible.
I think the seanfhocal “Ní neart go cur le chéile” is certainly appropriate at this time.
On behalf of the whole school, please look after yourself, wash the hands, use the tissues, keep the distance, concentrate on the reliable sources, monitor this website for updates and hopefully, enjoy the time together.
Best wishes,
Ciarán Keegan