St Kevin’s Junior National School

June 2020
We hope this newsletter finds you and your family well during these unusual times.
All the staff of St Kevin’s JNS are missing all of our students and we are trying our best to link in
with as many of our students/families as possible through zoom, phone calls, google classroom
and emails. It is a very challenging time for all and we are hoping to be back fully on the 31 st of
August! We acknowledge that there will be some changes to ensure that the health and safety
of all our students and staff are meet however, we remain hopeful that these will changes will
be around managing the corona virus in a school environment and not impact on the teaching
and learning in our primary school. We continue to await further guidelines from the
Department of Education and Skills around managing this.

All our teaching staff have been busy working on our children’s school reports. All school
reports will be posted on Friday the 19th of June. Included with the reports are a copy of our
proposed school calendar for 2020/21 and your child’s booklist, additional copies attached.
This year we will not be attending the Helix panto due to the current pandemic, this has been
reflected in the school fees. All fees can be paid in September.
If you have moved home, please ensure you email our school with an updated correspondence
address prior to the above posting date.
This year all our reports will reflect the position our students have been placed in i.e. That we
did not complete all strand units of the curriculum or complete the annual standardised tests.
We are mindful that standardised testing is only one aspect which reflects learning progression.
As a staff we always feel that some of the best qualities in our students are not measured by
tests!
 Within the reports you may have questions or concerns that you wish to address, please
continue to link in with your child’s teacher through google classroom or by email as they are
happy to discuss any concerns with you.

All our students will process to the next class level this year; our teachers have been busy
preparing for this transition to ensure that any gaps in the curriculum will be covered. We are
mindful that you as parents have been supportive in supporting blended learning which will
help your child progress. We appreciate this is not an easy task and children benefit from a
classroom environment therefore, in September we will revise core strand units to enable
progression. However, we ask that you please continue to promote reading over the Summer
months to ensure their reading skills remain and develop.
 Classes of 2020/21
Junior Infant Teachers: Margaret and Kate
Senior Infant Teachers: Grainne M (Margaret’s class) & Claire (Arlene’s Class)
First Class Teachers: Michelle (Kate’s Class) & Teacher to be confirmed (Gráinne’s Class)
Second Class Teachers: Tracey (Claire’s Class) & Fiona (Ciara’s Class)

Special Class Teacher : Grainne N & Orla

Special Education Teachers / Learning Support: Daracha, Aisling, Claire (New teacher) & Emma.

Arlene has been granted leave for next year. We wish to take this opportunity to wish her well.

New Entrants of 2020/21

 We have a few places left in our Junior Infant classes. If you know a family in our community
looking for a school place or have a child due to start with us, please email the school and a pre-
enrolment form will be issued without delay. Please be advised our post is collected daily.

Due to government guidelines we were placed in the unfortunate position that we had to
cancel our information meeting with our new entrants and their families. This is always an
important visit for our new entrants therefore I have included some visuals for you to share
with your child in the hope it gives them a sense of familiarity when transitioning to St Kevin’s
JNS.

2nd Class Graduation 2020

We are mindful that we have a fantastic bunch of children leaving our school after 4 years. We
have watched them grow and develop since Junior Infants. It has not been easy for our second
class children therefore we wish to organise a graduation “drive by” on the 24 th and 25th of
June… save the date!!!!! Second class will receive an individual email with all the details.

Simon Archer has contacted the school as he has offered that he is willing to take “communion”
portraits or family portraits in his studio with the agreement that he will charge “school rates”.
Click on the following link for further information or contact Simon Archer photography directly
http://www.simonarcher.ie/st-kevins-jns password Kevin.
 In St Kevin’s we are always trying to make improvements to our school and this year is no
exception! We have received preliminary grant approval for some works and we hope these
will go ahead over the summer months.
The Minister of Education announced Summer programmes for children however on child
welfare and health and safety grounds we are unable to provide an appropriate safe space for
any summer programme.

Virtual Sports Day!

Who would have thought our children would be asked to participate in a virtual sports day
rather than a traditional sports day? All our teachers have linked in with their classes with a
suggestion of activities to do. Please take some pictures and send them to your class teacher as
we wish to upload some photos of our virtual sports day on our website!
Virtual badges/medals will be given to all participants!

As the year draws to a close the staff of St Kevin’s Junior National School wish to take this
opportunity to thank you all for your support throughout the year. We hope to see you all on
the 31st of August and we remain hopeful that we will return to a full school day/week.
N.B. If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us on: stkevinsjns@gmail.com.