|
Number 7
Monday, 30 May 2011
Dear parents/guardians,
As the school year draws to a close I wish to refer to
the following points:
State examinations
On behalf of the school community, I
extend our very best wishes to the 250 students who will
be taking their Junior and Leaving Certificate
examinations this month. This is a stressful time for
all of these students and their parents. It is important
that they are strengthened by our thoughts and prayers
at this time.
School website – loretowexford.com
Your attention is once again drawn to the
school website. Please visit this site from time to time
as it is full of up-to-date and useful school
information. The booklists and calendar for 2011/2012
will be posted on our website within a week or so.
Additionally, the application form for the Free Books
Scheme will shortly be available for downloading from
the website.
We continue to make a hard copy of all
correspondence/forms available at Reception for the
benefit of families without internet access.
Voluntary Contribution
A sincere thank you is extended once
again to all families who have kindly supported our
Voluntary Contribution this year. Any outstanding
contributions will continue to be accepted up until
Friday, 24 June.
Summer holidays
The school offices will close for the
summer holidays at 4.15 p.m. on Friday, 24 June and will
re-open at 9.00 a.m. on Monday, 15 August. Please ensure
that any Social Welfare forms are submitted for signing
before 24 June.
During the holiday period, the school website will be
updated from time to time as necessary.
Any urgent matter can be brought
to the school’s attention by e-mail to
loretowexford@eircom.net
Commencement details, 2011/2012
All students are obliged to attend
Introduction Meetings in the school as follows:
Monday, 29 August 2011
4th year 9.00 a.m. to
11.00 a.m.
5th year 11.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
6th year 2.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m.
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
1st year 9.00 a.m. to
10.20 a.m. Following the meeting, timetabled classes
will be held for 1st year students until 3.33
p.m.
2nd year 11.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
3rd year 2.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m.
Timetabled classes
will commence for all students on Wednesday, 31 August
2011, 8.50 a.m. to 3.33 p.m.
Summer works in the school
The summer months will be busy in the
school as work will be taking place on upgrading the
heating system in all buildings as well as on the
provision of improved fire safety measures.
The school acknowledges the grant-aid provided by the
Department of Education and Skills for
all of this work.
School Development Planning:
Whole School Community- Communications Review, 2010-11
Prior to Easter, the School Development
Planning Group (SDPG) conducted a survey of 2nd
year students, 5th year parents and the
teaching staff. The purpose of the survey was to
evaluate how well communications within the school are
operating.
The SDPG will carry on this self-evaluation process in
2011/2012 by making recommendations in relation to the
main findings of the survey and by moving to other key
areas in the operation of the school.
What now follows are the main findings of the survey in
relation to communications.
Text messaging:
»
The text messaging service from the school has received
an overwhelmingly positive
response from all three parties.
School website:
»
Overall, the school website,
www.loretowexford.com,
received a very positive response.
There was a mixed reaction however to the
attractiveness of the website.
There was also a low return on those who access the
website on a regular basis.
Letters to Parents:
»
There was a very positive response to
these questions with a very high percentage of
parents agreeing that letters were very
accessible on website and that letters received
were informative.
Parents’ Council:
»
When asked ‘are you aware of the work of
the Parents’ Council?’ the response was very
varied. The majority of parents are aware of its work.
However, a very low percentage of
students and staff said that they were aware.
Students’ Council:
»
When asked ‘are you aware of the work of
the Students’ Council?’ the response from
students and staff was very low.
Board of Management:
»
When asked ‘are you aware of the work of
the Board of Management?’ the response was
varied. The majority of staff and parents said that
they are aware but a very low
percentage of students said that they are aware.
Complaints/Problems/Issues that may
arise:
»
There was a very positive response to
this question with the majority of all parties saying
that they knew who to talk to if they had a problem.
Conduits of Information including, Notice
Boards, TV Screens, Intercom, E-Portal, ANSEO, Academic
Reports and Assemblies.
»
There was a very positive response from
staff regarding all the above. However, relative to
the others, intercom announcements did not receive as
positive a response.
»
There was a very positive response to all
these means of communication from both parents
and students.
Class Teachers:
»
The response to questions regarding class
teachers wasn’t as positive as other responses.
A large percentage of both students and teachers feel
that they don’t know each sufficiently
well in this role.
Staff/Department Meetings:
»
A low response to this question with many
members feeling that not enough time is
allocated to these.
Please contact me if you need any
clarification in relation to the above matters.
I hope that you and your family have a very safe,
enjoyable and refreshing summer holiday and I thank you
for your positive support of Loreto, Wexford throughout
the year.
Yours faithfully,
Billy O’ Shea,
Principal.
Number 6
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Dear parents/guardians,
The school’s Student Care Co-ordination Team is
organising a talk for parents/guardians on:
“The Internet Lives of Young People”
in the Talbot Hotel, Wexford
on Tuesday, 12 April 2011 at 7.00 p.m.
The input and discussion will conclude by 8.30 p.m.
The guest speaker is John Collins. A
practising teacher who has represented Ireland at
international conferences on computers in education,
John works with the National Centre for Technology in
Education to increase awareness of internet safety and
the safe and enjoyable use of social networking sites.
The talk will focus on the benefits and potential
dangers associated with young peoples’ use of the
internet. It will refer specifically to social network
sites and will highlight the need for good, open
communication between parents/guardians.
There is no cost to parents/guardians for this talk. You
are welcome to bring a friend or relative to the talk
who does not have to be a Loreto parent
The school strongly commends this talk to you and
expresses the hope that as many parents/guardians as
possible will attend to learn more about this important
topic.
Yours faithfully,
Billy O’ Shea,
Principal.
Number 5
Monday, 24 January 2011
.
Dear parents/guardians,
In my first letter to you of the new year, I would like,
at the outset, to extend my very best wishes to you and
your families. I am particularly mindful of those
families in which a daughter is undertaking state
examinations in June. May the next six months be as calm
and productive as possible and a period of time in which
every girl will deliver to the best of her ability. As a
school community, we are also very aware of the many
families where genuine hardship is being experienced as
a result of the current economic climate. It is now more
important than ever that Loreto functions as a caring,
tolerant community and, to this end, please be assured
of support and understanding from my colleagues and me
should you need to bring matters of concern to us in the
course of the year.
I would like to inform you of the following points in
this letter:
School improvements
Over the past few weeks some significant
improvement works have been completed:
1.
The new dressing room/shower area in Teach Mhuire is now
in use and will be of daily
benefit to all students
involved in P.E. classes and games.
2. Water conservation measures have been fitted to all taps
and toilets in the school.
This should help in reducing our annual
water charge which last year came in at €3,800.
3. The water tank and pipes serving much of the old convent
building were moved indoors in
the hope that the problems of
freezing pipes experienced before Christmas will not be
repeated.
4. The Physics lab has been fully insulated and already
students and teachers have welcomed
the huge increase in temperature and
comfort.
Over the next number of weeks,
improvement works will be carried out on spaces around
the lunchroom and vending machines in an attempt to
provide additional lunchroom and study accommodation.
With the exception of the water conservation measures,
all of this work has been and will be funded by the
school’s Board of Management. It is for this reason that
your support for the Voluntary Contribution Scheme is
now more important than ever.
Voluntary Contribution Scheme
You will recall from my last letter that
government funding to schools has been cut by 5%.
Coupled with the increased expenditure by the Board of
Management in carrying out improvement work, as outlined
above, in these very old buildings, pressure on school
finances is now serious. This makes it more important
than ever that the family voluntary contribution scheme
would be well-supported.
The request for 2010/2011 is as follows:
€150 per family
Payments can be made to the School
Secretary, Noeleen Goggin. All monies received will be
duly receipted. Contributions are now being received.
The school acknowledges the generosity of so many
families in supporting this voluntary contribution
already this year and also in the past. It is our hope
that the same level of generosity will apply once again
this year even though the financial pressures on most
families are considerable.
New building
We still await word from the Department
of Education and Skills as to when we will have
meaningful discussions and a decision as to where our
promised new school will be built – on the existing site
or on a greenfield site. Whilst the school continues to
press this matter every week (and has been doing so for
14 years at this stage!), you are asked to make this an
issue when politicians come knocking on your door in the
next few weeks. Nothing has been built to improve our
situation under six Fianna Fail Ministers for Education
(Martin, Woods, Dempsey, Hanafin, O’ Keeffe and Coughlan).
Will the opposition be any better in government for
Loreto, Wexford?
Website
Please, please, please have a look at our
website at least once a week during school time. It is
updated weekly and contains a lot of useful information
for all members of our school community. We have added a
useful links section this year that we ask you to look
at. You might find the links to the Department of
Education and Skills, Central Applications Office and
the State Examinations Commission particularly useful.
You will also be aware at this stage that school reports
are no longer posted home. Instead, you can access them
at any time on ePortal, accessible on our homepage –
www.loretowexford.com
Any parent requesting a paper copy will, however, be
accommodated.
So, the message is clear – the website has a lot to
offer! Please mark it as a favourite.
Christmas/Easter study
It was good to see that many 6th
year students availed of supervised study provided by
the school and its teachers on a voluntary basis over
the Christmas. We will make similar arrangements for the
second half of the Easter holidays.
For your diary
Please be aware of the following dates:
4th year parent-teacher meeting – 4.15pm to
6.45pm, Monday, 31 January
Classes on this day finish at 3.18pm
Staff meeting – 2.33pm to 4.33pm, Wednesday, 2 February
Classes on this day finish at 2.33pm
2nd cervical cancer vaccination for students in
years 3 to 6 – Thursday, 3 February during
normal school hours
Mock examinations – Monday, 7 February to Friday, 18 February
2nd year parent-teacher meeting – 4.15pm to
6.45pm, Thursday, 17 February
Classes on this day finish at 3.18pm
As ever, please feel free to contact me in relation to
any of the above points.
Yours faithfully,
Billy O’ Shea,
Principal.
Number 4
Thursday,
9
December 2010
Dear parents/guardians,
I write at this time to mention a few points to you, as
follows:
School closures due to snow
I am very conscious of the interruption
caused to everyone by the unexpected closure of the
school for 5 days in the last two weeks.
The decision to close is taken very seriously with the
following factors in mind:
»
The safety of the school grounds and
surrounding paths/roads for the admission of staff and
students
»
Whether Bus Eireann services are
operating
»
The ability of sufficient numbers of
staff and students to travel safely to and from school
»
Advice of An Garda Siochana
»
The state of school buildings e.g. power
supply, frozen pipes etc.
»
Consideration of what other local schools
are doing
The teaching staff and I will ensure that all courses
are covered and revised as normal over the remainder of
the school year.
As a particular support to 6th year students,
Sr. Carmel and I will be organising a total of 30 hours
of free supervised study in the school to be spread over
the second half of the Christmas and Easter holidays.
Additionally, I will very shortly be adding a new
“Urgent announcement” section to our website which will
provide updates on enforced closures should they occur
again as well as work schedules prepared for students by
teachers in such circumstances.
It appears to me that extreme weather conditions are
becoming more frequent and that, as a consequence, we
need to position ourselves better to respond to them.
The enforced school closures over the last two weeks
have also highlighted the speed and efficiency of our
text alert system. To be sure that you receive these
texts at all times, please notify the school secretary,
Noeleen Goggin (053-9142783), of any change in your
mobile number or if you have not received these text
messages.
Important message from the Student Care
Co-ordination Team (SCCT)
Loreto’s SCCT meets weekly to ensure that
appropriate care systems are in place for students who
might need extra support at different times in their
lives.
It became apparent to the team in recent weeks that many
parents are unaware of their daughter’s activity on
social networking sites like Facebook. While such sites
have their merits and are very popular with many people,
they also have a potentially darker and more dangerous
side. Accordingly, the SCCT strongly recommends that
parents/guardians familiarise themselves with such
sites, discuss them with their daughters and keep a
supervisory eye on their daughters’ internet usage.
The SCCT will discuss this matter further with the
Parents’ Council to see if additional support can be
provided for parents/guardians.
Christmas Reports
This year’s Christmas reports will be
published in full on e-Portal in the week beginning
Monday, 20 December. Please be sure that you have your
unique username and password to access these reports. If
you have lost this information, please contact Betty at
reception.
Any parents/guardians who cannot access e-Portal
information are invited to request a paper copy of the
report from Noeleen, school secretary.
Dressing room/shower area
It is expected that the new dressing
room/shower area for students will be ready for use from
10 January onwards. This represents a major improvement
in basic student facilities and has been funded entirely
by the Board of Management.
Information Technology (IT) Upgrade
With the welcome receipt of €97,904 in
state funding, the school is set to complete a major
upgrading of its IT facilities. It is planned to have
broadband access in all parts of the school, a computer
and data projector in every classroom and a second
dedicated computer room in place before the end of the
current academic year. These developments will add
considerably to the educational experience of all
students across every subject area for years to come.
School website
I draw your attention once again to the
school website –
www.loretowexford.com
This website is updated weekly and is used by the school
to communicate with all members of the school community
on topics of general interest. Information from previous
years is also archived in different sections. The
website means that general letters will no longer be
posted by the school to all families. However, families
without internet access may request paper copies of such
letters by contacting the school secretary. Paper copies
can also be obtained from Betty at reception.
Family voluntary contribution - reminder
The government has announced that funding
to schools will be cut by 5% from January next. This
measure will put even further pressure on school
finances and makes it more important than ever that the
family voluntary contribution scheme would be
well-supported.
The request for 2010/2011 is as follows:
€150 per family
Payments can be made to the School
Secretary, Noeleen Goggin. All monies received will be
duly receipted. Contributions are now being received.
The school acknowledges the generosity of so many
families in supporting this voluntary contribution
already this year and also in the past. It is our hope
that the same level of generosity will apply once again
this year even though the financial pressures on most
families are considerable.
As ever, please contact me if you wish to discuss any of
the above points.
With kind regards,
Billy O’ Shea,
Principal.
Number 3
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Dear parents/guardians,
I wish to bring the following important points to your
attention:
Appointment of home
/ school financial liaison person:
The school’s Board of Management (BOM) is
acutely aware of the financial hardship being
experienced by many families in these unprecedented
times. The BOM is keen to be pro-active in ensuring that
the full range of school activities will be available to
all students even though the cost of education may be
pressing down hard on their parents.
To this end, the Board has appointed one of the school’s
senior teachers, Ms. Gay Brennan, to the new position of
home / school financial liaison person. Ms. Brennan’s
duties are set out below.
Home / School financial liaison:
»
Administration of the Department of
Education and Skills Free Books Scheme in consultation
with the Principal
»
Liaising with the Visitor Teacher for
travellers to ensure that such students are provided
with
all necessary requirements
»
Consulting with the Board of Management
to establish, regulate and maintain an annual fund
to assist needy families with certain
payments e.g. school tour, supervised study, mock
examinations
»
Co-operating with school management,
staff and the Parents’ Council to identify families
eligible for the above fund and to inform
the school community of the existence of such fund
»
Assisting with the provision of
second-hand books and uniforms, where available, for
students
»
Being available to meet with
parents/guardians/students in relation to school-related
financial
matters
»
To conduct all the above in as
confidential and sensitive a manner as possible
Parents/guardians are invited to contact
Ms. Brennan by phone or by letter, all in the strictest
confidence, should they wish to discuss or avail of any
of the supports listed above.
Cervical cancer vaccination for girls in
3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th
years
As you are aware, the HSE cervical cancer
vaccination programme only applies to girls currently in
1st and 2nd years. A private
company called Point of Care Health Services Ltd., in
co-operation with Aviva Health, is now offering the
vaccinations to girls in all other years. The cost is
€299 per student. Full details of this vaccination will
be posted to all 3rd, 4th, 5th
and 6th year families over the next week or
so.
I simply wish to inform you of this offer so that you
can make your own decision on what is best for your
daughter. The school is not making any recommendation on
this matter.
The school’s Parents’ Council, through Ms. Patricia
Hackett, has kindly agreed to liaise with the company in
question in relation to the level of interest, cost,
dates and times of vaccinations.
Student medications
Please be aware that the school can no
longer provide students with any medication e.g.
paracetamol, panadol even if parents/guardians grant
permission. The school will contact parents/guardians in
the event of a student being unable to continue in class
due to illness.
Family voluntary contribution
The school is obliged to seek the support
of families for this year’s Voluntary Contribution
Scheme. Without this scheme, the Board of Management
would not be able to balance its budget in light of
escalating costs e.g. water charges, refuse collection,
E.S.B. charges and the huge costs associated with the
upkeep and maintenance of old buildings.
The request for 2010/2011 is as follows:
€150 per family
Payments can be made to the School
Secretary, Noeleen Goggin, in full or in three equal
instalments, one per term. All monies received will be
duly receipted. Contributions are now being received.
The school acknowledges the generosity of so many
families in supporting this voluntary contribution in
the past. It is our hope that the same level of
generosity will apply once again this year even though
the financial pressures on most families are
considerable.
Dressing room facilities
The Board of Management has decided to
proceed with the immediate conversion of an upstairs
toilet block in Teach Mhuire into a new dressing room
and shower facility for students. This will result in a
considerable improvement for girls involved in P.E.
classes and games when the work is completed over the
next two months. The entire cost of this work is being
borne by the Board. This in turn highlights the need for
as much support as possible for the voluntary
contribution scheme as outlined above.
New school building
Following the recent completion of a
report by a Department of Education and Skills (DES)
senior architect, it is expected that significant
meetings will take place over the next few weeks to
determine the future direction of our new school
building project. The choice is between developing on
the existing site or moving to a larger green field site
with nearby playing pitches. Even though this project
has been pursued by the school for close on 14 years at
this stage, there is now a sense that the DES is
prepared to advance our case in light of the new
development represented by the green field site option.
I shall keep you informed of significant developments.
School website
I draw your attention once again to the
school website –
www.loretowexford.com
This website is updated weekly and is used by the school
to communicate with all members of the school community
on topics of general interest. Information from previous
years is also archived in different sections. The
website means that general letters and notices will no
longer be posted by the school to all families. However,
families without internet access may request paper
copies of such letters and notices by contacting the
school secretary, Noeleen, on
053-9142783. Paper copies can also be obtained from
Betty at reception.
Dates for your diary
Please be reminded of forthcoming school
events that necessitate earlier closing than normal:
Tuesday, 9 November
School closes at 2.33 p.m. due to a staff
meeting.
Tuesday, 16 November
School closes at 11.49 a.m. due to a
parent-teacher meeting for 5th year students
from
1.00 p.m. to 3.30 p.m.
Supervised study will not proceed on these dates.
Please contact me if you need
clarification on any of these points.
Yours faithfully,
Billy O’ Shea,
Principal.
Number 2
Monday, 20 September 2010
Dear parents/guardians,
I wish to bring the following points to your attention:
1. The school will close to students at 1.11p.m. on
Tuesday, 5 October 2010 to facilitate a staff
planning meeting. Supervised study will not be held on this
day with students’ being
compensated for this loss by a financial adjustment in the
next half-term’s payment.
2. With the lifting of ASTI directives from today, you
are advised that all staff and parent
teacher
meetings will now proceed in accordance with the school
calendar as published in
your daughter’s diary and on the website.
3. If you are not receiving text messages from us
regarding either your daughter’s absence from
school or as reminders of school events, please notify
Noeleen (school secretary) at once so
that we can include your number.
4. You are asked once again to keep a close eye on the
school website –
www.loretowexford.com
– as this is now our principal means of communication
with the
school community and with the broader public. A hard copy of
everything on the website is
available on request from me.
Please contact me if you need clarification on any of
these points.
Yours faithfully,
Billy O’ Shea,
Principal.
Number 1
Monday, 6 September 2010
Dear parents/guardians,
As we settle back into the routine of school life for
another year, I write to provide you with important
information as follows:
Staff
changes
Over the
summer we said a sad farewell to four members of our
teaching staff who retired – Ms. Pratt, Ms. Clarkin, Ms.
Sills and Sr.Christine. We also said goodbye to Mr.
Gannon who has gone to travel the world and to Ms. O’
Carroll who will now be working in Dublin. All of these
teachers made a wonderful contribution to life in Loreto
over a long number of years and they will be
sadly-missed. On the non-teaching staff, Martin, our
caretaker, and Ann, lunchroom supervisor, also retired –
news that caused great sadness to students at last
week’s introduction meetings. We thank them both for
their valued work in the school.
As a consequence of these changes, we welcome several
new faces to our school community this year – teachers
Ms. Johns, Ms. Kennington, Ms. Ni Thuairisg and Ms.
Zimmermann. Our new lunchroom supervisor will be Glenda
and Jim will take over caretaking duties in a full-time
capacity. Filling in for maternity leave over the next
few months will be Mr. Brennan, Ms. Davey and Ms. Foley.
We hope that all new faces will enjoy their time in our
school.
Summer
works
As is
usual, a good deal of work was completed on buildings
over the summer months. The convent buildings got a
badly-needed coat of paint as well as the
repair/replacement of its timber windows. Many
classrooms and corridors were re-painted and work on the
installation of classroom projectors and laptops
continues.
Family
voluntary contribution
The school
is obliged to seek the support of families for this
year’s Voluntary Contribution Scheme. Without this
scheme, the Board of Management would not be able to
balance its budget in light of escalating costs e.g.
water charges, refuse collection, E.S.B. charges and the
huge costs associated with the upkeep and maintenance of
old buildings.
The
request for 2010/2011 is as follows:
€150 per family
Payments can be made to the School Secretary, Noeleen
Goggin, in full or in three equal instalments, one per
term. All monies received will be duly receipted.
Contributions are now being received.
The school acknowledges the generosity of so many
families in supporting this voluntary contribution in
the past. It is our hope that the same level of
generosity will apply once again this year even though
the financial pressures on most families are
considerable.
Parents’
Annual General Meeting
The AGM of
the parents’ Association will be held in the school’s
Concert Hall on Monday, 20 September beginning at 7.00
p.m.
The agenda will be as follows:
» Welcome
»
Principal’s address
»
Chairperson’s report
»
Secretary’s report
»
Treasurer’s report
»
Election of parents to the
new Board of Management, 15 October 2010 to 14 October
2013
»
Election of parents to the
Parents’ Council, 2010/2011
»
Any other business
Road
safety
I am very
grateful to Wexford Corporation for providing a
pedestrian crossing outside the school, the completion
of which is imminent. This improvement came as a result
of representations from the school’s Parents’ Council
and Board of Management over the last number of months.
I make a very strong appeal to parents/guardians not to
park on the double yellow lines on both sides of this
pedestrian crossing. Such behaviour – unfortunately we
witness it nearly every day - is a serious threat to
the safety of students and staff as they enter and leave
the school.
School
website
I draw your attention to
the school website –
www.loretowexford.com
This website is updated weekly and is used by the school
to communicate with all members of the school community
on topics of general interest. Information from previous
years is also archived in different sections. The
website means that general letters and notices will no
longer be posted by the school to all families. However,
families without internet access may request paper
copies of such letters and notices by contacting the
school secretary, Noeleen, on 053-9142783.
E-portal
Every
family has been provided with its unique username and
password to access the school’s E-portal facility from
the homepage on the school website. E-portal is now used
by the school to record student attendance, personal
details, timetables and academic reports. If you lose
your username or password please phone Betty at
reception – 053-9142783.
Text
alerts
Sr. Carmel
will send text alerts to parents/guardians whose
daughters fail to register their attendance in school
each morning. Such alerts will be sent at about 9.30a.m.
Monday to Thursday, 10.30 a.m. Friday.
The school will also send text alerts to remind
parents/guardians of particular events e.g. meetings and
to inform you of the posting of a general letter on the
school website. Text alerts will also be used in
exceptional circumstances e.g. unexpected school
closure.
School
mass
The
start-of-year school mass will take place in Rowe Street
church on Thursday, 7 October. All students will be
escorted to the church by class teachers and will return
to school before 3.33 p.m.
I hope the year goes well for all members of our school
community. Please feel free to contact me or Sr. Carmel
(Deputy Principal) if we can be of any assistance to
you.
Yours faithfully,
Billy O’ Shea,
Principal. |
