Presentation by Andreas Schleicher Tackling the School Absenteeism Crisis 30 ...
Starting school 2016 17 clonmoney version
1.
2. 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
3. Meet Our Staff….
Front (left to Right): Yvonne Enright, Doris Vaughan, David McCormack, Marion Crimmins,
Kelly MacLean
Back: Claire Cullinan, Anne-Marie Griffin, Garrett Barry, Ciara O’Sullivan, Helen O’Connell
5. 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
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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
9. 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.
10. • 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.
11. 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
12. 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.
13. Play
Play 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
14. 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.
15. This is the scheme used for
learning letters and their sounds
and overall in beginning to read.
Sound Copy- note for parents on
inside cover.
Beginning to read…
16. 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
17. 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.
18. 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)
19. Letter formation
Correct 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
20. Other Subjects
• Maths-very concrete and hands on.
• Irish-speaking and listening.
• History, Geography, Science
• Music, Drama, Art
• SPHE
• RE
21. • 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.
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. 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.
