Letter to Parents
1/06/2020
Dear Parent/ Guardian
I hope you and your children are all keeping safe and well and enjoying the lovely weather that we are having. It is hard to believe that we are now into our final month of the school year and the children have been out of school since mid-March. The school staff wish to pass on their best wishes to you and the children and please make the children aware that they are missed greatly by their teachers and classroom assistants.
End of Year Tests and Reports
At this time of year, we would usually be completing the end of year tests and preparing reports to be sent out to parents. The GL tests are computer based tests which have to be completed through the school C2K computer system. They are based on the premise that the children complete a full year of face to face teaching with their teacher and that the curriculum is covered in full. Unfortunately, this year, that is not the case and we are therefore not in a position to run the end of year tests. Every home will have a different approach to the home school learning programme that children are currently engaged in and it is therefore unrealistic to produce a class test that can be fair to all the children. This is something that is recognised by the wider educational community and has already led to a number of the Post- Primary Schools in the Newry area cancelling the use of the GL Transfer Test for present Primary 6 children in November.
School reports will be produced for all the children and will be posted out in the last week of June. The reports will be in a shorter format due to the reduced length of the school year and will inform you of your child’s teacher for next year.
School Closure & Reopening
The school has been providing child care for a small number of children who are children of Key Workers and the teachers and classroom assistants have been happy to support and help out our Key Worker parents. We have, however, been informed by the Education Authority that the schools will close from the 1st July and will reopen at the start of September. There has been speculation in the media regarding the type of reopening we are facing and the number of children that will be permitted to be in school at one time. At present, we have had no firm advice from the Department of Education on the manner of the school’s reopening or whether a reduced number of children will be present in school.
Primary 7 Virtual Assembly
Presently, the Primary 7 teachers are developing an idea to mark the Primary 7 children’s final year in school. There are plans to create a virtual assembly and we hope that all the P7 children will take part. We would like the children to create a short message of their favourite time or event in Tannaghmore PS and email it to smccreesh642@c2kni.net. We would like to receive all the video messages by 3pm Friday 5th June.
Primary 4 First Communion.
Fr. Brian asked if we could distribute the following message to P4 parents and children;
All First Holy Communion / P4 classes —12:15pm Mass on Sunday 14 June (St Peter's)." This mass can be viewed through the parish webcam at https://www.lurganparish.com/stpeters-webcam/.
"Could I also ask you to invite the P4 children to draw or paint a picture of JESUS, the BREAD OF LIFE and we will use them in the church and on our Facebook page for Corpus Christi weekend."
Any pictures that you create for Fr Brian can be posted on to the P4 area of our school website and we will pass them all on to the parish.
Laptop Lending Scheme
The Department of Education have asked that schools consider lending laptops to children to support home learning. We will be contacting those parents who fulfil the criteria which were stipulated by the Department of Education.
School Books
Any school text books, reading books or books for accelerated reader should be returned to the school foyer as soon as possible.
Home School Area
The work for this week has been uploaded on to the home school area. Please do not feel under pressure to complete everything the teachers upload. Every house has different circumstances and the children should not be anxious or concerned if they don’t get everything finished.
Yours sincerely
Seamus McCreesh
Principal
