The School Day
School starts at 8:50a.m for all pupils and finishes at 2:30p.m, these times may be subject to change in the infant setting.
Please ensure that your child is collected on time at the end of the school day.
The School Calendar
The school year is 183 days as laid down by the Department of Education and Science. A school calendar of holidays will be prepared in the first months of school to determine holidays and staff meetings and is made available on our school website. You will be notified of these days in due course.
Breaks
There are two breaks during the day. There is a short snack break of 10 minutes at 11a.m. At 12:30p.m, there is a longer supervised lunch and play break when, weather permitting, children can go outdoors.
Lunches
The school offers optional heated lunches. The school operates a healthy lunch policy. In the interest of your child’s health, pupils are not permitted to bring fizzy drinks, juice, cordial, sweets, chocolates, biscuits, cake, buns or crisps. There will be occasional party days.
For safety reasons children should not bring drinks in glass bottles, an aluminum bottle and lunch box is recommended. Children are required to bring home any uneaten food. This way you will know what they have eaten. Please give younger children lunches and drinks containers they can manage to open themselves.
Social Media
Lehinch N.S has a twitter and facebook account which is regularly updated with news and events. Please visit our site at www.facebook.com/Lehinch-Primary and we tweet to schools around the world at @lehinchprimary
Please see out Internet Acceptable Use Policy in our Admin menu for further details.
Here is a Safety Online Family Agreement we recommend you use at home which promotes good practice of online use.
Smoking
We would like parents to be aware that the school premises is a no smoking area.
Care of Books and Materials
Care of all material, be it personal, school material or items belonging to others is stressed and encouraged on an ongoing basis.
Home-School Communication
A child’s progress and enjoyment of school is enhanced by a positive home-school partnership. If you have any concerns relating to your child, please discuss these with the child’s class teacher. If you need to meet the teacher privately, please make an appointment in order for the teacher to make the necessary arrangements and meet you without distractions. The school will be sending home notices frequently, usually by email or text message. Please keep an eye on our calendar of events on our website which is updated regularly.
Day Trips
Throughout the school year, the pupils may be taken to various events which support the curriculum. You can indicate your consent for your child to be taken on occasional trips by signing the appropriate part of the General Consent Form.
Photograph Consent
Please indicate your consent in relation to photographs of your child being published in print and social media by signing the appropriate part of the General Consent Form.
Health and Safety
If your child has a particular health condition such as allergies, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy or is prone to anaphylactic attacks etc. you should advise the school and talk to your child’s class teacher. Children who are sick should not be sent to school. If your child has an infectious illness, please inform the school immediately. Head lice are a common problem in Primary Schools. You should check your child’s head regularly and if you discover head lice please don’t be embarrassed to let the school know. When we are aware of an outbreak, we can inform all parents immediately. Your child is sharing toilet facilities with other children. Please discuss the importance of personal hygiene with your child.
Book Rental
The school will be operating a book rental scheme. A fee will be set out for book rental and photocopying at the start of the school year 2016-17.
Absences
The recent Education Welfare Act obliges schools to notify the Department of Education and Science about children who are absent from school for twenty or more days during a school year. If your child is absent from school, it is necessary that you send a note to your child’s class teacher when your child rejoins his/her class.
Child Protection
If your child has to leave school early or if you want to collect your child early, please notify the class teacher or principal and make arrangements in advance. If someone other than a parent or regular guardian is collecting your child, please advise the class teacher in advance. The National Guidelines for the protection and welfare of children (Children First) give direction and guidance to school management authorities and school personnel in dealing with allegations or suspicions of child abuse. The guidelines may be accessed on the website of the Department of Health and Children. Schools must follow these guidelines, which emphasise that the safety and well being of children must be a priority at all times. In addressing its responsibilities, the school uses the stay safe programme which educates children on the prevention of abuse. Parents can view this on staysafe.ie
The Department of Education and Science, Child Protection Guidelines can be read on the department’s website, www.education.ie . Parents/Guardians are also welcome to look through the guidelines here at the school.
Homework
Homework is an important part of your child’s work. It serves several purposes.
- Consolidation of schoolwork
- An opportunity to develop independent work
- Enables parents to observe their child in a working situation.
We include the following tips for parents from the Irish National Teacher Organisation Booklet – ‘Your Child in the Primary School’
- Establish a homework routine.
- Set aside a quiet, regular time.
- Make sure your child is sitting comfortably at a table.
- Encourage your child to keep books and copies clean and tidy.
- If your child is able to work independently, make sure your are available to help and show interest in what is being done.
- Praise your child’s efforts at every opportunity.
- If you are working with your child and you feel yourself becoming impatient, stop.
- If your child is persistently having problems with homework, talk to your child’s class teacher.
- If for whatever reason, homework cannot be done, please let your child’s class teacher know in writing.
Activities organised by Parents
The school welcomes the involvement of parents who may have a particular interest or skill that they wish to share with children during school hours e.g. sport, drama, art, baking and technology or to give a talk on a particular topic. Interested people should talk to the Principal.
The Board of Management invites submissions from parents who wish to organise after school activities or classes for children. All proposals will be given due consideration by the B.O.M. Applications should be submitted in writing to the B.O.M.
The School Day
School starts at 8:50a.m for all pupils and finishes at 2:30p.m, these times may be subject to change in the infant setting.
Please ensure that your child is collected on time at the end of the school day.
The School Calendar
The school year is 183 days as laid down by the Department of Education and Science. A school calendar will be prepared in the first months of school to determine holidays and staff meetings. You will be notified of these days in due course. A calendar of events is available on our website. This details events all year round and is updated regularly. Please keep a close eye on this calendar.
Clothing
The uniform is a black pants/skirt, red sweater and white shirt, worn from Monday to Wednesday. A black tracksuit bottoms, white polo shirt and red sweathshirt is worn on Thursday and Friday. The school crest must be worn on both the school sweater and sweat shirt. The school crest is available from Nichola at Newtown Embroidery, Ballindine. Uniforms can be purchased in Tesco, Dunnes, Lidl or Marks and Spencers.
Names should be written clearly on all clothing and personal belongings, especially coats, bags, jumpers, hats, scarves, gloves, lunch boxes and drinks containers. Please ensure that your child can recognise his or her belongings. In the interest of safety, jewellery should be kept to a minimum. We don’t recommend long chains or necklaces, rings bracelets or long earrings as they can catch in clothing during playtime and cause injury. The school cannot take responsibility for personal property brought to school.
Our Crest
Our crest is a crest of hands in different skin colours reaching for the stars. This depicts our willingness to be welcoming, accepting and understanding of all ethnicities, religious beliefs and varied family units along with our willingness to strive to do the best we can with our own unique abilities. The school crest is available from Nicola at Newtown Embroidery, Ballindine. Once you have purchased your child’s school sweaters and sweatshirts, please bring them to Nicola to be crested.
Health and Safety
If your child has a particular health condition such as allergies, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy or is prone to anaphylactic attacks etc. you should advise the school and talk to your child’s class teacher. Children who are sick should not be sent to school. If your child has an infectious illness, please inform the school immediately. Head lice are a common problem in Primary Schools. You should check your child’s head regularly and if you discover head lice please don’t be embarrassed to let the school know. When we are aware of an outbreak, we can inform all parents immediately. Your child is sharing toilet facilities with other children. Please discuss the importance of personal hygiene with your child.