School Uniform Pupils must wear our school uniform to school everyday. This is not optional as in previous years. School uniform consists of grey jumper, grey trousers/skirt, white shirt, red tie (optional), black shoes. Our sports uniform for P.E. consists of a plain navy tracksuit top/bottoms and pale blue polo shirt. School uniforms are to be worn each day with the exception of P.E. days. If pupils have out grown uniforms, which are still in good condition, these can be sent to the school and will be given to other pupils. Indeed, a change of clothes should be available in the event that your child has an accident and requires changing. Contact Information You are reminded that it is essential to inform the school if there are any changes to contact telephone numbers. You should also keep the school informed about any changes in your child’s medical conditions, or if they are taking medication on a regular basis. In addition, it is important to be contactable if you’re child is unwell and needs to be collected. Emergency contact numbers must be available and kept up to date. Consent Forms Parents/Guardians were requested to sign relevant consent forms regarding permission for social outings, access to Multidisciplinary Services, photography etc. If you have not already done so, it is important to send back all forms. Additional forms are available from the school office upon request. In additional, consent forms were sent home to all parents of pupils embarking upon the Junior Certificate Level 2 syllabus this year. Please return these forms without delay if you have not already done so. Healthy Eating and Lunches We continue to pursue a healthy eating practice on a daily basis. The school is provided with a sandwich and a carton of milk daily for your child. There is also a piece of fruit available four days a week. For Health and Safety reasons, children are not allowed to share lunches and must not bring nuts or products containing bones with them to school. Please note there is no facility in the school to heat lunches and food should be brought in in a thermal container if necessary. All pupils are encouraged to use lunch boxes and plastic bottles where possible, to avoid additional waste, such as wrappings, tin foil or disposable bottles. Any food left over will be returned in your child’s lunch box. Pupils are not permitted to bring fizzy drinks to school or treats from Monday to Thursdays. School Transport Please note that pupils must be ready from 8.00 a.m. to be collected by school transport and parents/guardians must be available from 3.00 pm onwards to receive their child. Bus escorts cannot get off the bus to collect/drop pupils at houses. You must inform the bus escort if your child is carrying any medications in their bags. You may speak with the bus escort regarding any queries. Communication Journals All parents/guardians are asked to use the Homework/ Communication Journal daily. The information provided to teachers is invaluable in understanding your child’s needs and their form on any given day and we ask that all parents/guardians use these without exception daily. Attendance It is important you are aware that the school must report to the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) when a child has accumulated 20 days of absenteeism. Every effort should be made to explain your child's absence in writing, which will be communicated to NEWB where necessary. Please complete the relevant section in your child’s school journal for this purpose. You're co-operation with this is essential and appreciated. In addition, it is important to note that school roll calls are taken daily at 10.30 a.m. Intimate Care/ Toileting Needs Parents must provide the necessary supplies (nappies, wipes, gloves, cream etc.) required for your child in a regular and timely fashion. The school cannot cover provide these items for pupils and cannot cover these costs. Green Flag Initiative Staff and pupils are working hard towards meeting all objectives necessary for our First Green Flag. The topic for this flag is Waste- Litter. Pupils are shown how to sort waste into domestic waste and recycling waste. We encourage you to continue this practice at home. Ms Michelle Doody is leading this 'Green Flag' committee. Individual Education Plan (I.E.P.) Meetings and Parent/Teacher Meetings Thank you to all parents/guardians who attended the I.E.P. meetings and agreed goals for their child for the current school year. All completed I.E.Ps should be sent home before 18th December. School Shop Our school shop continues to be a great success and a big hit with the pupils. It is ran every Friday morning by Staff and senior pupils in Rooms 3 and 4. This activity supports our pupils in addressing numeracy targets, understanding the value of money and the practical application of using money. Parents/guardians are asked to take your child to the shops and encourage them to practice using money as much as possible. Oral Language and Communication Staff and pupils are working hard on implementing oral language and communication goals. Whether pupils use Lamh, PECS or verbal means to communicate it is important that there is a consistent approach used between home and school to ensure transferring of skills across the different locations and an efffective means of communication for each pupil is available. From January, teachers will inform you of monthly core vocabulary and you are strongly encouraged to use these words and means of communication as homework. The Speech and Language therapist is also providing workshops to parents around this. Policies School policies are available from the Office upon request. School Bills Thank you to all parents/guardians who have paid the school bills for their child. All other parents are requested to do so without delay. These costs only cover a fraction of the expenses incurred by each pupil in providing the necessary supplies/books and in providing insurance cover. Sensory Room I am delighted to say that the school was successful in receiving a grant from the Department of Education and Skills towards the cost of a sensory room (€12,500), which was fitted out during July. Pupils are truly benefitting from this facility and are taking great care to ensure it is maintained in a great condition. Fundraising Project As previously mentioned, we are working towards yard equipment/playground resources for our schoolyard. The provision of a well-equipped yard/playground is deemed an essential and vital component in trying to meet the needs of all our pupils. We welcome any support to fundraise for this project which will cost in excess of €52,000. Indeed if you know anybody in business or anyone with corporal fundraising grants, please contact the school, so that applications can be made. I am happy to provide you with the plan and quotations (and charity number for the school), for this playground where necessary. To date, we have raised just in excess of €4,000. ​Home Economics In Home Economics pupils are encouraged to eat more healthily, this term we focused on vegetables. They have learnt to cook omelette muffins by adding broccoli, mushrooms & peppers. It’s been very successfully. The pupils taste and eat cucumber & brown bread as part of developing healthy eating routines. Hocine, Joey, Caitlin, Gavin and many others has developed and expanded their taste buds. All pupils are learning cookery skills such as: cracking eggs, rubbing in flour & butter to cook scones. We are currently running a programme called Cooking for Mates. It is a working very well. We are also running a social training programme in collaboration with room 8. The pupils go to the shops to buy groceries for Home Economics. It is great fun and the students really enjoy it. It is a very functional and practical learning experience for them and has been a big success.

for Parents and Guardians