29th April 2020
Dear Parents, I hope this letter finds you all well and safe. Thank you to everyone who responded to the recent Distance Learning Survey. The results and feedback have been shared with all the teachers. We found the feedback extremely valuable to inform future planning of how best to support our pupils during this unprecedented school closure while being cognisant of the needs and demands on families as many parents continue to work from home. We were glad that the vast majority of parents were happy with the amount of work given each week. We recognise that parents continue to want a balance between online and pencil-and-paper work. We know that there remain issues with connectivity, access to online resources, collection of books, and other issues raised and we will continue to try to devise the best strategy in planning going forward that suits the majority of pupils and their families. We would love to allow for collection of books; however, we have been advised by the Patron’s Office that this is not permitted at this time. Should circumstances change, we will review this. I have met with all the teachers this week online. The following changes were agreed and will be implemented from this May bank holiday weekend.
In the next few days, you will receive a text message containing your registration link. There will be one link per parent which will allow the parent to access information for all their children in the school from one user account. Please do not forward this text or share this link as this is a unique registration code for each parent for your child/children in this school. During registration you will choose a password that will be used in conjunction with your email address to securely access the Aladdin Connect going forward. Once you are registered you will be sent an email with links to download the Aladdin Connect App for your mobile device. The main advantage of using the App is to receive immediate alerts for app messages sent by your school. Downloading the App is highly recommended to enhance both the parent and school's Connect experience. Aladdin Connect is a fantastic way to enhance a school's communication with parents. It enables parents to stay connected and informed about their child's education by:
Finally, do not forget that our Active Schools Committee has asked us all to take part in the “Active at Home Week” this week to help us achieve our Active School Flag. There are plenty of ideas and activities under the Active School section of our school website and clips of some teachers taking on the challenge to become more active. You can use the link http://www.ballinaprimaryschool.com/active-school-week-2019-2020 to view them. If any parents wish to send pictures, video clips or emails of our active pupils please send them to [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]. We congratulate all the pupils for their efforts to complete their work at home during this closure. We sincerely thank the parents for encouraging the children to continue some study at home at this time. Having spoken to many parents over the last fortnight, we understand great learning is taking place other than the academic work set out. Families are enjoying quality time together and undertaking many different activities such as learning to cycle, enjoying some story books, learning new sports skills, baking, cooking, and gardening. We have enjoyed hearing about these new skills and look forward to more news from you all in the coming weeks. The well-being of school community is of paramount concern and importance to us all at this time. Príomhoide Bernice. Comments are closed.
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