Junior Infants

2020/2021
Scoil Mhuire Caisleán Nua
Scoil Mhuire, Caisleán Nua

 Junior Infants 2019/2020- Currently 11 girls and 4 boys.

 Staffing- Principal, 9 teachers, 6 SNA’s, School Secretary, School Cleaner,
School Caretakes, Classroom Assistant.
 Current enrolment- 140 pupils.
 Board of Management
 Parents’ Association
 Green School
 Active School
 Health Promoting School
 Important Dates to Remember

Infant morning whereby the children attend school, meet the teacher and
become familiar with their new environment will be finalised at a later date -
9.30am-11am (regular clothes).
First official day of school- Thursday, August 27th – 10am. For first three weeks of
school Junior Infants will go home at 12pm. ( 14th September:1:40pm).
School calendar for 2020/2021 will be provided on the school website.
General Information

 School Times-Infants 9:00am-1:40pm.

 Class Arrangements-To be confirmed.
 Homework -Sent home on Monday and returned on Friday.
 Uniform- Junior and Senior Infants wear PE uniform consisting of plain navy
tracksuit bottoms, a white polo shirt and a blue school jumper. During warm
weather navy shorts will suffice. Please make sure all school jumpers are
clearly labelled.
 Absences- Please send in a note explaining absence reason via Aladdin
Connect.
 Security System- All visitors to the school must wait to be buzzed into the
school.
 Meeting with Teachers/ Principal- please make an appointment.
General Information

 When collecting your child early or if dropping them after school has started
please ensure that you sign them in or out via the ‘Sign In/Out Book’ located
near the front door.
 Please ensure all contact details supplied are correct and contact the school
if your contact details change at any time so that we will be able to reach you
promptly if required.
 N.B -Please inform us if your child has any allergies.
 N. B-If your child requires medication while at school you must fill out the
relevant Administration of Medicines Forms which you can receive from
the school if necessary.
Code of Behaviour

-A high standard of behaviour is achieved in Scoil Mhuire through the co-

operation of pupils, parents and teachers.
-Whether in class, in the playground, around the school or travelling to and from
school we hope and expect that all our pupils will behave in an appropriate
manner.
-The approach to school discipline focuses on promoting good behaviour which
is built on respect- for ourselves, for each other and for our school.
-We follow the Golden Rules in Scoil Mhuire. We ask parents/ guardians to try
and support the school in implementing and upholding these rules.
Anti-Bullying Policy

 Dept of Education and Science guidelines define bullying as

 ... repeated aggression, verbal, psychological or physical, conducted by
an individual or group against others. Isolated incidents of aggressive
behaviour, which should not be condoned, can scarcely be described as
bullying. However, when the behaviour is systematic and ongoing it is
bullying.
 Signs and Symptoms: Stay Safe Booklet
• All incidents of bullying no matter how trivial are noted, dealt with and
investigated. Children will be reminded; ‘In this school we do/ do not... .’.
• Parents will be informed at the earliest opportunity of bullying incidents
involving their children.
 Where cases of bullying remain unresolved at school, the matter will be
referred to the Board of Management.
 Sanctions: The degree of misdemeanour – minor, serious or gross will be
judged by the teacher and Principal based on a common sense approach.
Child Protection

 Child Protection Safeguarding Statement

 Dept of Ed.- Guidelines and Procedures for all schools in relation to Child
Protection and Welfare- promote safety and welfare of all children.
 B.O.M adopted these guidelines as school policy.
 If school staff are alerted to child abuse they are obliged to refer the matter
to the H.S.E.
 H.S.E will then assess the situation and provide support for the child
concerned.
Stay Safe

 The Stay Safe Programme is a personal safety skills programme for primary schools
- both mainstream and special. Its overall objective is to prevent child abuse,
bullying and other forms of victimisation.
 The programme develops children's ability to recognise, resist and report risk
situations or abusive encounters by teaching children...
 To identify for themselves unsafe or upsetting situations
 Simple rules to help them avoid abuse
 To respect and value the rights of others
 The language and skills they require to seek help.
 The programme also informs parents and teachers about preventing bullying and
child abuse, whilst seeking to create a greater public awareness about the
problems children can and do experience.
 5 topics- Feeling Safe/ Unsafe, Bullying, Touches, Secrets and Telling, Strangers.
 www.staysafe.ie- lessons and further information is available.
How Best to Prepare your Child-Before
they Start
 Ensure that your child can button and unbutton his/her coat
and hang it up independently. Label the coat clearly.
 Ensure that your child can fasten their shoes- Velcro
fastenings.
 Ensure that your child can open and close their schoolbag and
lunchbox independently- the less complicated the better.
 Ensure that your child can use the toilet without help and
manage pants buttons
 Ensure that your child is aware of and can practice good
personal hygiene and cleanliness. It is extremely important
that your child is aware of practicing good hand hygiene and
appropriate cough and sneeze etiquette and can use a tissue
independently as required.
 Ensure that your child can flush the toilet and wash his/her
hands without having to be told.
 Ensure that your child can tidy up and put away his/ her
belongings.
The Big Day
 Be as casual as you can
 ‘Drop and go’.
 Trust the teacher
 Try and not show any signs of distress
 Try and be firm from the start
 Books labelled-collected by teacher and will already be in school.
 Stationary-ensure your child has the an appropriate pencil case and
stationary in their school bags- labelled where possible.
General Information

 Seating-Information to be provided by Dept.

 No need to bring toys or personal belongings to school.
 Booklist and School bags
 Check folder for notes
 Go home 12pm – first three weeks( Sept 14th).
 Home time 1:40pm- try and not be late- please line-up
at the gate.
 Important let teacher and child know if somebody
different is collecting your child.
Healthy Lunches
 Very important- Sandwich, fruit, fruit bar, cheese, water, fruit
juices.
 Give food that they can manage ( no yoghurts/pastry/popcorn)
 Frubes/ Yoghurt Pouches are fine once your child can open them
independently)
 Ensure that your child can open and close their lunchbox and the
items within independently.
 All Rubbish is brought home.
 Allergies- NB informed- sharing lunches.
Infant Curriculum

 Subjects:
 Irish
 English
 Maths
 S.E.S.E- Science, History, Geography
 Arts- Visual Arts, Music, Drama
 P.E
 S.P.H.E( Social, Personal and Health Ed).
 Religion
English-Jolly Phonics

 Phonics programme used to teach children to read and

write
 Taught main 42 sounds of English, not just alphabet
sounds
 Begin blend sounds from words and then read.
 Taught to write by identifying sounds in words and the
letters in these sounds.
 Very colourful, child-friendly programme
 Big books, story for each sound, CD, soundbook.
Ready Set Go Maths

 Ready Set Go Maths

 Ready Steady Go Maths is an initiative to help improve
the overall standard of Maths in schools. It provides a
range of teaching and learning approaches to develop key
concepts and skills in early number.
It works on the basic mathematical skills and concepts
required to begin working as a mathematician.
It makes Maths fun by providing the teacher with suitable
teaching materials.
Aistear

 What is Aistear?
 Aistear is the new early childhood curriculum framework for children from birth
to six years in Ireland. Because early childhood marks the beginning of children’s
lifelong learning journeys, this framework is called Aistear, the Irish word for
journey.
 Unlike the Primary School Curriculum, Aistear does this using four themes rather
than using subjects and curriculum areas.
 The themes are-

 • Well-being
 • Identity and Belonging
 • Communicating
 • Exploring and Thinking.
 Each theme connects with most, if not all, of the subjects in
 the Primary School Curriculum.
Scoil Mhuire, Caisleán Nua

 Conclusion- Additional relevant information may be found in the infant pack

provided or is accessible on our school website.
 Questions- If you have any further questions please feel free to contact the
school via email and we will get back to you as soon as possible.