Junior Infants 2020 INFORMATION EVENING - Greystones Community National ...

Junior Infants 2020
INFORMATION EVENING

Building Update

Typical classroom layout in new building

Meet the Teachers

   For those who are new to our school:

   Ms. Tara D’Arcy our Acting Deputy Principal

   Ms. Lara Campbell – Junior Infants 2020 / 21

   Ms. Natalie Parkinson – Junior Infants 2020/21

Timetable & Calendar

   School calendar for the academic year 2020 / 2021 is on our website under the Parent section,
    school term will commence on Thursday, August 27th 2020.

   Generally, children in Junior Infants would begin school with a transition timetable. This is essential
    for ensuring a successful and less stressful transition for the children, even more important this year.
    It’s fair to assume that all children will struggle with the return to school and the long days.

   We aim to have our calendar with events such as Maths Week, Dress Up Day (World Book Day), DS
    Ice Cream Family Day, Creative Week etc. finalised in September and uploaded then to the
    school calendar so that you know what is coming up in the school well in advance.

Junior Infants 2019 Transition Timetable

   Day 1 (Friday): 09:00 – 10.15. Parents packed one small snack and a drink

   Week 1: 09:00 – 11:45. Parents packed a snack and small lunch with a
    drink. This allowed the children to practice keeping some food for their
    lunch break – a skill that takes many months to perfect!

   Week 2 progressed to full week of 08:45 – 1:25

Uniform

   We are extremely proud of our uniform and crest which were decided upon in consultation with
    the parents and children of our first class back in 2015.

   Children wear what is comfortable for them providing it is one of the following:
•   Purple school jumper or cardigan to be purchased in The Schoolwearhouse in Tesco, Greystones.
•   A white polo neck t-shirt or shirt – purchased anywhere
•   Grey tracksuit bottoms, trousers, skirt or pinafore – purchased anywhere
•   Black shoes – no laces unless your child can independently tie them. Velcro is best. Purchased
    anywhere.
   On P.E. days (not decided until September) your child must wear grey tracksuit bottoms and
    black runners.

What are Community National Schools?

   Community National Schools were established in 2008 and are managed by local Education
    and Training Boards, ours being Kildare & Wicklow KWETB.

   Community National Schools are child-centred, multidenominational schools that strive for
    excellence in teaching and learning.

   Being a CNS means we are supported by the organisation of the KWETB, from the
    administration associated with running the school to upskilling staff, accessing grants and
    offering courses for our parents & guardians.

   We are also supported greatly by Education & Training Boards Ireland who provide support
    for our principals & teachers nationally. All this support benefits the children enormously and
    ensures the highest standards in education are being achieved.

Vision & Mission Statement for GCNS
       2020
                    Our Vision                      Our Mission
   Greystones Community National School was
    established by the Department of Education
    and Skills in 2015 under the patronage of
    Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training
    Board.

   As a school, every day we strive to provide a
    happy, safe school for every member of our
    school community. We do this by valuing
    each individual, maintaining a positive
    environment, working together, celebrating
    uniqueness, respecting ourselves and others
    and living the ethos of Community National
    Schools.

GMGY! Curriculum

A day in Junior Infants

   We teach 11 curriculum subjects in primary school and the GMGY Curriculum: Language
    (English and Gaeilge), Maths, Geography, History, Science, P.E., Social Personal Health
    Education, Art, Drama and Music.

   We use play as a methodology and we have invested heavily in the right resources to support
    a play based and interactive curriculum for our children.

   Lessons in the infant classroom are typically 30 minutes in length.

   2 eating & playing breaks – a smaller fruit snack in the morning around 10:30 and a bigger
    lunch break around 12:30. Children need to be independent with their lunch boxes, beakers
    and food.

Teaching & Learning in GCNS

   We had a Literacy Evaluation from the DES in March 2019 and received the highest praise in
    the published report from the two inspectors for the teaching and learning of Literacy in our
    school.

   We are passionate about getting the foundations right in Junior Infants, leading to a love of
    learning that will last throughout life. For this reason, we don’t engage in formal reading with
    Junior Infants as a whole class. Instead we concentrate on phonological awareness, phonics,
    comprehension and other fundamental skills we need to know when reading.

   When we have a better sense of the children’s abilities, around January, we use blended
    approach of Station Teaching, whole class teaching and small group instruction. This allows us
    to match specific learning outcomes to specific groups of children where appropriate thus
    ensuring the children are reaching their full potential.

Programmes we have invested in

   DabbledooMusic – Interactive music programme

   Move Well, Move Often – a P.E. programme used in all classes based on the strand of Athletics.

   Go With the Flow pre-cursive handwriting programme – multi-sensory programme spending a lot
    of time developing fine motor skills and pencil skills necessary before introducing letters.

   Jolly Phonics / Letter and Sounds / Read Write Ink – we use a mix of these programmes to teach
    letter sounds (phonics) to our children and eventually reading.

   Starlights – An engaging interactive Literacy programme we use to support the teaching and
    learning of Oral Language and Reading.

   We are looking to buy a class set of Chromebooks to support teaching & learning in our school.

Possible Covid Implications to our
       regular approaches

   Phased timetable & induction of Junior Infants for September 2020

   We like to mix the children’s groups throughout the day to allow for development of social skills in
    authentic situations – group they sit with, group they work with, Aistear groups, P.E. groups etc. This
    will all depend on DES Guidelines in the coming weeks.

   The sharing of toys and resources between children for play based learning might need to
    change.

   Borrowing of books from the school library may have to be suspended for a time.

Fees

   Given all the uncertainty around Covid-19 and the reopening of schools, we have decided this
    year to hold off on collecting school fees for the academic year 2020/21 until possibly late
    September or early October. You pay us and we provide everything your child needs for the
    year.
   The fees are broken down into a compulsory charge to cover your child’s - Books / Copies /
    Folders / Stationery / Photocopying / Licences and a voluntary contribution. The voluntary
    contribution is used to pay for specialist teachers, art & crafts supplies, books for class and
    school libraries etc.
   We teach children not programmes and therefore we don’t use or rely on many workbooks or
    textbooks in GCNS. Infants usually only have a handwriting book and a maths book.

   Normally, we provide stationery for the children to share in school which provides authentic
    social interactions however that will not be possible this year. We will instead purchase materials
    for each individual child. This will of course be more expensive and the fees will have to reflect
    this.

Communicating with you

   In line with Green Schools, all our communications are done online – through email, Aladdin
    Connect App, School Website and the SeeSaw Platform.

   You are asked to respect normal working hours when contacting the school and class teacher.

   We operate an open-door policy however sometimes meetings will need to be scheduled to
    discuss bigger issues or concerns.

   We offer 2 parent teacher meetings a year with a progress report also. A meeting in Term 1 and
    again in Term 3.

Our Achievements

   4 x DPSM Plaque of Excellence in STEM (1 more pending Covid)

   1st Green School Flag, working on our 2nd

   We are in our 2nd year of applying for the Active School's Flag – 2 year process

   We are a Creative School

   We have a Student’s Council

Discipline for Learning – See Code of
    Behaviour Policy

   Star chart in each classroom

   Dojo points?? Not confirmed for 2020/21

   Shark cards for each child in our school, 10 colours to progress through

   Super walks to show another teacher and class excellent work

   Friday assemblies – 2 workers of the week and 1 Lámh signer of the week

Homework

   Homework won’t be given until the children are settled into school life. Every child borrows a
    new book from our school library each week. Lost or damaged homework readers and library
    books must be replaced by parents.

   We give homework to provide a link between the home and school and to show to the
    children that what they do in school is not just for school.

   We hope to develop good attitudes and routines for the children in relation to homework /
    learning at home early in their school life.

   Tasks last no longer that 10 / 15 minutes in infant classes and take the form of one literacy, one
    numeracy, a shared reading book and one other task over the course of the week. Homework
    is given out on Monday and collected on Friday. Homework tasks become differentiated as the
    year goes on and the children progress.

Practicalities

   Uniform - be mindful of your child’s fine motor skills when purchasing – will they be able to manage
    buttons & zips independently? NO LACES on school shoes or runners. If a staff member needs to stoop
    down to tie a shoe lace, they are no longer supervising the children and alert to potential dangers.
   Children must have a reusable drink bottle for school (to support our Green School Work) and a
    lunchbox that they can open. Yoghurts are not permitted in Junior Infants until after the October mid-
    term break. Frubes are likely to be spilt on uniforms.
   Your child needs a school bag that can hold an A4 folder. School bags with wheels are not permitted.
    Your child will not be carrying anything heavy and for 3 days of the week they will only carry the
    lunchbox. Practice putting on / taking off the school bag over the summer.
   Toileting in the classroom – children don't have to ask to use the toilet, the only rule is that there can only
    be 1 child in the bathroom at one time. Your child must be able to use the toilet independently and also
    change themselves in the event of an accident, excepting children with additional needs.
   You will be asked to provide a change of clothes for your child – socks, trousers and underwear.
   Practice putting on / taking off and closing coats over the summer.

For August 27th 2020

   Our school is a Nut Free school – please ensure that your child’s lunchbox does not have any nuts
    e.g. peanut butter on bread
   If your child has an epipen, inhaler or other emergency medication, you must make an appointment
    with the office to help us create a care plan for you child which you will need to sign
   You will be asked for the name of the person who will collect your child each day – this is extremely
    important as we will not release a child at the end of the day to someone who is not on this list. If
    there are any changes to pick up, you must first notify the office and the class teacher.
   When you sign up for Aladdin, you will have the option to share some information with other parents
    in the class, you do not need to do this, however it can be useful around birthday parties! You will
    only see the information of other parents if you consent to sharing your information – your name,
    your child’s name.

What you need to do this week

   Download the Aladdin Connect App on your phone, login using the details emailed to you. When you
    are logged in, check that the information we have for your child is correct. If you find a mistake, you
    can edit yourself within the app e.g. DoB or address.
   By downloading / using the SeeSaw Platform you are consenting to the use of the App. In using the
    App your child will be able to see video messages their new teacher. Your child can send work back to
    their teacher by means of photo, voice note or video. We ask that you sit with your child when they are
    using the App.
   Familiarise yourself with the SeeSaw Platform – you can either download the SeeSaw Class App or
    access the platform online www.seesaw.com. Login as a ‘student’.
   There will be a page on our website dedicated to Junior Infants 2020 with information and links. Please
    feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns
   When you enrolled your child in GCNS, you agreed to receive communications by email. You must not
    unsubscribe to our emails.
   If you change your mind and decide not to send your child to GCNS this year, please let us know in
    writing ASAP so we can offer the place to a child on our waiting list.

Next Week – June 15th – 19th
        SeeSaw with your child’s Class Teacher

   Ideally a tablet would be best but please do not purchase a tablet if you do not have one already.
    Phones will work but the screen will be smaller and more difficult for your child to interact with.
   Your class teacher will set a daily task for your child to complete. The reason we are doing this, is to
    develop a relationship between your child and their teacher. The content and quality of the work is
    not at all important. We want to get to know your child, their likes & interests, their talents, their
    strengths etc.
   We will send a video of the school & classroom when we know where and how we will be
    reopening in September.
   Tara, our deputy principal, will quickly explain SeeSaw as a parent using it with her own children.
   Lara & Natalie will explain the nature of the activities on SeeSaw

Our School

A few words from the PTP
MICHELLE BOEHM, PTP CHAIR 2019/2020