Dear parents/guardians,

As we begin to gradually re-open and return to some sense of normality, we are delighted to announce the reintroduction of some during school and after school activities that have occured over the past two weeks and into the near future. 

1. Our students are once again allowed to mix on the yard and staff/students don't have the added distraction of staggered breaks to contend with.
2. Our chamber choir led by Ms. Quaine) restarted on the 10th of March after a break of two years.
3. First Confession for our 2nd class pupils took place on the 10th of March in St. Peter's Church
4. Olus Education will provide some CPD to staff members on the 16th of March over the course of the day with a particular focus on the Student Portal.
5. Our strings' project (pupils picked up violins for the first time in over two years) restarted properly on the 7th of March.
6. Our first Student Council meeting (directed by Ms. Hughes) took place during lunch break on the 10th of March. 
7. Preparations have begun for our whole school mass on the 1st of April (in honour of our colleague Aoife Donegan).
8. Preparations have also begun for our Seachtain na Gaeilge performances in the hall in mid-March.
9. Ms. Kelly is going to set up a volleyball league for our 5th and 6th class pupils over the next few weeks.
10. Our 5th and 6th class mentors will be once again displaying their leadership capacity while overseeing and guiding our junior infants-2nd class pupils.
11. Our whole school Hot Meals programme (organised by Ms. Vaughan) will start shortly.
12. School tours will take place from mid May-late June with students and staff travelling from Balbriggan to Mulllingar in Co. Westmeath. 
13. Paula (our Drama teacher) will restart after school classes before the end of the year.
14. The school may seek to employ a teacher to conduct after school dance/ballet classes at some stage after the Easter Holidays.
15. Our annual book fair (it hasn't been held since January 2020) will take place at the beginning of May.
16. We will welcome our new infants into the school with their parents/guardians on the 12th of May.

Although the situation with COVID-19 has certainly not abated, we look forward to slowly easing back into regular school life once again.

Ray Ryan

Dear parents, 

I write to you at the official end of Winter, to provide you with a brief update on some of the things that have happened in St. Peter’s over the past few weeks. 

The school was awash with festive cheer in the run up to Christmas with our Christmas Door competition, art competition winners, our festive pantomime, our Christmas raffle and arrival of our annuals, a visit from the man himself (Mr. Claus) and many more events and happenings (to keep us on our toes).

Having a well deserved break, we all expected to return ready and refreshed for the new term on the 6th of January 2021. Unfortunately, that was not to be and we had to revert to our remote teaching and learning platforms. 

We were far more prepared this time, however, with teachers already familiar with our online resources and digital tools for teaching and learning. Here are some of the ways in which the staff of St. Peter’s supports your child:

• Parents collected books on the 12^th of January (lessening the need to print off resources etc. compared to the first lockdown).
• Devices were delivered to families in need.
• Teachers have/are working extremely hard to upskill and make use of effective digital tools to enhance teaching and learning.
• All staff are engaging daily (Class Dojo teachers develop pre-prepared/recorded lessons for their students as well as assigning a range of tasks/activities covering all aspects of the curriculum. They are available throughout the day to correct assignments/tasks, provide feedback and support to their students).
• Pupils from 4^th-6^th classes are engaging in 2 hours of live teaching daily via MS Teams. Times are co-ordinated to avoid clashes (in cases where two siblings within the same family were sharing a device). The entire curriculum is covered over the course of each week, with students also assigned independent tasks and activities (to complete outside of their live lessons).
• SEN teachers connect with their students on Class Dojo via pre-recorded lessons, tasks and activities as well as delivering one-to-one Zoom lessons with their SSP pupils and live group lessons with their 4^th-6^th class pupils on MS Teams. Once again, all live lessons/sessions are scheduled to avoid clashes (as cited above). SETs also prepared additional resources for their students and deliver them (in person).
• SNAs are engaging in regular check-ins with their students (SSP pupils) via phone calls initially and subsequently via Zoom.
• We are proud to report very high levels of engagement (particularly in the senior classes with participation levels of 96% and above daily).
• For pupils not engaging/having difficulty with technology, our HSCL provides  daily/weekly work packs.
• Having conducted a survey with the parents on the 25^th of January, 82% of respondents found our online platforms very helpful, 85% thought our weekly plans of work were very helpful, 89% found the level of work provided as ‘just right’ and 88% of parents believed that our level of communication is ‘just right’. The comments were overwhelmingly positive. (Survey results can be found in the News section of the school website). 

Of course, remote teaching and learning will never replace the face- to- face interaction and we hope to welcome back all of our students to St. Peter’s very soon. 

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to make contact with the school (office@stpetersns.net), through your child’s class teachers, myself (rryan@stpetersns.net) or Ms. Vaughan (H.S.C.L.) mvaughan@stpetersns.net. 

Please refer to the website for regular updates, news, events occurring within your child’s class and around the school.

Take care and keep safe,

Le meas,

R. Ryan