Marist Primary School

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope that you and your families are keeping very well in these challenging times. Firstly, I want to thank you for the manner in which you have supported your children throughout this health crisis; it is hard to believe that we are now in the final weeks of the current school year. We as a school, along with every other school, are awaiting guidelines from the Department of Education, regarding arrangements for next year.  In the mean-time, we are making preparations for the children to transition to their next class level or to Senior Schools and Second Level Schools. There have been many challenges for us during this school closure but as a Staff we have felt most acutely the loss of the final weeks for and with our First Class Boys and Sixth Class Girls. We hope to celebrate the wonderful contribution these boys and girls have made to our school and say goodbye properly to them before the end of June.

For this reason and other logistical reasons to do with the end of one school year and preparation for the next I am anxious to communicate with you - for clarity, I have addressed relevant issues in bullet points.

• Class Work in June: As is apparent from the teachers' work plans they have reduced the level of ‘traditional’ school work for June on their website templates; this is in keeping with a direction from the Principals’ Forum that work in June normally places greater emphasis on outdoor activities, games and exploration. The teachers are however still very eager to hear from the children through their dedicated class emails.
• School Reports will be issued, as normal, towards the end of this month. Reports will reflect the work and engagement of your child during the period September 2019 to mid-March 2020.
• Book Bills will issue with the Report Cards. Hopefully it will be possible to pay the Book Bills using an Online Payment System; an email will be sent to you in relation to this. 
• School Uniforms will be available for purchase towards the end of August. Text, an email and/or a Notice on the Website will be sent to you re. arrangements.
• I will also communicate with each family, towards the end of August, regarding specific arrangements for your child, as they begin their new school year.
• As noted above, it is our intention to bring our First Class Boys and Sixth Class Girls back to the school grounds for outdoor socially distanced Graduations in the last week of June. Parents of these children will receive communications about this next week.
• All parents of children in Early Start - Sixth Class will/should have received a text message yesterday from Linda (School Secretary) requesting that you would provide her with your email address so that communications relating to your child’s schooling can be sent to you.  The majority of you have replied; if you have, no further action is necessary at this point, but if you have yet to do so, please send Linda your email address to maristnationalschool@gmail.com It is vital, particularly this year, that each child’s parent is contactable via email.  Many thanks.

Finally, may I thank you most sincerely for all the support and co-operation you give us at school, at all times; we are really looking forward to returning to school in the new school year.

Kindest Regards,

Sr Geraldine Campbell

Principal