Newsletter No.134 Monday 07-03-22

Newsletter No.134 Monday 07-03-22

Semester 3 Week 1

6^th Year News.

Open day season will kick off in earnest over the coming weeks. It is important to regularly check the Events Calendar on either Qualifax https://www.qualifax.ie/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=22 or Careersportal https://careersportal.ie/ to select the events you wish to attend.

CareersPortal CareersPortal is Ireland's leading Careers Guidance website. It is a one-stop-shop for people of all ages who need information and guidance regarding their next career decision. careersportal.ie

State Examinations Timetables

Please visit our school website for details on the state examinations timetables.

https://cpsetanta.ie/page/State-Examinations/92625/Index.html

Dear Principal On 8th February of this year the State Examinations Commission (SEC) issued circular S06/22 to all schools outlining the timetable for the 2022 written certificate examinations. This circular is a follow up to S06/22 and the purpose of this circular is to inform you that the Schedule of Examination Dates 2022 for Junior Cycle, Leaving Certificate/Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme and Leaving Certificate Applied have been published and are available at https://www.examinations.ie/?l=en&mc=ex&sc=aa . The schedule of dates for each of the three examinations is presented as a stand-alone document. Schools are asked to arrange for local printing (in either A3 or A4 format) and display of the Schedule of Dates in schools with A3 format preferred for display on school notice boards. Candidates can download their own personal copies from the Examination Information section of the SEC’s website at www.examinations.ie

Important Information in relation to adjustments to the written examinations and Online Marking 2022

To the Management Authorities of Post-primary Schools and other Entities recognised by the SEC to hold examinations:

• We have posted on our website updated versions (English and Irish) of the document “Further adjustments to the written examinations – Leaving Certificate, 2022”.

In the English version, the only substantive change is that the amended copy clarifies the nature of the choice involved in the “written production” section of Ordinary level French. There are also some adjustments to the formatting of the instructions that will appear on the examination papers in some subjects, to bring the formatting in this document into closer alignment with the formatting that will be used on the examination papers themselves.

In the Irish version, in addition to the above change, a number of issues that had arisen in the translation process across a range of subjects have been addressed in the amended version.

Details of the substantive changes to the English and Irish versions are set out on page 5 of each document.

• Please see for your attention some important information from the State Examinations Commission in relation to Online Marking, Examination Paper Design and Stationery Design 2022 which is available here. Queries related to this circular should be directed by email to onlinemark@examinations.ie or by phone to 090 6442768.

State Examinations Commission

February 2022

Appeal for supplies for Ukraine

In light of recent events unfolding in Ukraine, as part of the Yellow Flag Programme, we would like to collect supplies that are needed to be sent to the Polish border to give Ukrainians some much needed support. A full list of items that are needed are as follows below. If any staff or students would like to contribute any of the following items, please give them to Ms. Baraut (tutor room 112) or Ms Kelly (tutor room 225) on or before Friday 11^th and she will drop them off to a collection point on Friday 11^th.

List of items required:

Sleeping bags, bedsheets, pillows, and blankets

Nappies and sanitary towels

Personal hygiene products (shampoo, shower gel, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes)

Dressings (bandages, sterilized gauze, disinfectants, plasters, wipes)

Tea and Coffee (non-grained)

Cans with an opener (soup, beans, stews, stuffed cabbage)

Food (porridge, rice, pasta, cereal)

Soups (in packets)

Baby food (formula milk in powders, boxes or bottles, food in jars and sachets)

Disposable cutlery and plates, kitchen towels

Sweets (chocolate, bars)

Rice wafers and crackers

Food for pets

Toys for children, stuffed animals

Notebooks, crayons, colouring books

Battery operated flashlights

Earplugs

Disposable gloves and facemasks

International Women's Day (IWD)

International Women's Day will take place on Tuesday March 8th. We, as a school community, will be marking the day with various activities, games, competitions etc. We will also be taking the opportunity to recognise the work from the female members of our college community. Staff and students will be receiving various resources and activities on the day. Please find further details on these activities below:

Fundraising

There is a non-uniform day on IWD, March 8th, to fundraise for Women's Aid. Students, and staff, are encouraged to wear purple or green. Purple represents justice and green represents hope. There will also be a collection amongst staff for Women's Aid.

Tutorial

There will be a PowerPoint presentation for tutors to go through in tutorial, and teachers to use as a foundation for any lesson on International Women's Day. This PowerPoint goes through the importance of IWD and what is available in our school community. The link to the PowerPoint can also be found here - CPS - IWD - 2022.pptx

Announcements

At the start of each lesson on IWD, a 'Lesson for a Lesson' , which can be found here (Lesson for a Lesson.docx ) can be read out. This is a quote/story from or about inspirational women in history to mark the day.

Mural

The mural created by some of our students and will be revealed at 11:10am, on IWD, beside Ms Mairead McGuire's office and 122. If teachers are not in class at this time, you are welcome to come see our grand reveal, otherwise it will be featured on the school Twitter later that day. A big thank you to Mr John Harrington for putting together the base for this mural.

Bench

To recognise the remarkable female members in our college community there is a bench being dedicated. The dedication on the bench was put together by Ms Norma Walsh. This will be a space to remind us of all of the powerful women and girls that surround each of us. This can be viewed in our school courtyard at any time.

Petition

Students have been collecting signatures for a petition to lobby for additional lighting on the 'rat road'. This petition will be sent to local ministers and presented to members of our Board of Management at 11am on IWD.

Acts of Random Kindness

There will be a jar in the upstairs staffroom full of different acts of kindness. We encourage everyone to take an idea from the jar and show a woman, or anyone, in their life some extra kindness and appreciation on IWD. There will a jar for students placed outside the staffroom for students to take an act of kindness from too. There are also sheets, in the staffroom, with acts of kindness for anyone who would like to take a sheet for tutorial, SPHE and CSPE classes - or any class at all!

Competitions

The winners of our rap/poetry and poster competitions will be revealed and awarded their prizes. The winning and runners-up entries will be available on our school Twitter for all to have a read over. These competitions took place for our first, second and TY students.

Staffrooms

Staff are encouraged to bring in different treats to share with those at their tables. Taking the time to check in with those we share our workspace with. Sharing kind words, sweet treats and acknowledging the importance of IWD.

Staff Kahoot

Staff will be sent a link to a Kahoot Competition. Please complete this by 3pm on IWD, with the winner announced shortly afterwards.

Junior Cycle Kahoot

There will be a Kahoot competition for all Junior Cycle students during P2 on IWD. The link will be emailed to all staff at the start of the lesson.

Senior Cycle Kahoot

There will be a Kahoot competition for all Senior Cycle students during P6 on IWD. The link will be emailed to all staff at the start of the lesson.

Classroom resources

Below are a range of activities teachers can use in tutorial, or in any lesson, to acknowledge International Women's Day.

Blookets

Famous Women in History - https://www.blooket.com/set/60478c6d937731001bbfc4ca

Female Singers - https://www.blooket.com/set/61e9b561f965618976caf0e3

Famous Actresses - https://www.blooket.com/set/5faa147a2ae2740004a737e7

Quizlets -

Women in History - https://quizlet.com/112421043/women-in-history-flash-cards/

Famous Women - https://quizlet.com/375729606/famous-women-flash-cards/

Female role models - Have a discussion with your students on who their female role models are. Here are some ideas, along with the reasons these women make great role models. https://www.ties.com/blog/female-role-models

Shine Festival - In 2021, The Shona Project, held SHINE FESTIVAL, possibly the biggest ever virtual gathering of inspirational Irish women and girls. You can access different parts of this festival on IWD, March 8th, and play any of these resources for your class. The running order of the day is attached to this email so you can decide what you would like to use. https://shinefestival.ie/

Keep a look out

There will be some extra prizes/acknowledgements throughout the day, so keep a look out for these!

Calendar Adjustment

Following recent developments regarding the timetabling] of LC State Exams, we have had to amend our calendar. The was communicated during the week. May 4^th is now a full school day for all students and March 21^st is a day off for all students.

Climb With Charlie: 

Climb with Charlie is a national fundraising event organised by Charlie Bird, formally of RTE, who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2021. He is hiking Croagh Patrick on the 2nd of April with family and friends to raise funds for two Irish Charities- Irish Motor Neurone Disease and Pieta House. To support Charlie on his campaign Rang Tara and Rang Uisnigh will be hiking the Great Sugarloaf in County Wicklow on the 14th of March with their tutors Ms Mullins & Ms Doyle. While our TY students are hiking up the Great Sugarloaf, our entire school will walk the loop in our locality to support them. €5 has been added to the enrol https://ams.enrol.ie/cpsetanta/Index.aspx of each student in our college. Parents, if they wish, can donate to this fundraiser by logging onto enrol and paying any amount up to €5. We appreciate all support for this worthwhile cause.
Rang Uisnigh & Rang Tara

Post Covid Restrictions

From Monday 7/3/2022 there will be some changes in our College to reflect the changes to Covid-19 restrictions as per government guidelines. As per the text that was sent last week, the waring of face masks is not optional for staff and students with no pressure on either staff of students to wear a mask or to remove a mask.

Classrooms. Our classrooms will return to the sizes needed to accommodate the number of students in each class. We will not facilitate the movement of students between classes and will not be making changes to our Colleges timetable, but we will no longer be using a Satellite Centre to accommodate the students who would not fit in the classroom because of Covid -19 restrictions. The lay out of our classrooms will also return to as it was prior to covid restrictions. This means that desks will be grouped together to facilitate AFL teaching methodologies and group work in the classroom.

Corridors. We will resume the need for students not “line up” before entering a classroom at the start of class. This was best practice in our school allowing a teacher to check journals and homework before students enter the classroom. We are currently a “students classroom based” school and therefore some students will already be in the classroom waiting for the teachers to arrive, these students do not need to line up outside the class before class starts.

Lunchtimes. There will be no change to our lunchtime arrangements. Currently students who can go home for lunch are encouraged to do so. Students must go to their own homes for lunch and are NOT ALLOWED to go to any shops or any other house for their lunch. This is a Stage 4 breach of the Learning Code https://cpsetanta.ie/Content/2019/11/Learning_Code.pdf . The canteen is currently being used as 2 classrooms and will remain so until the new school year when normal canteen facilities will resume.

Uniform. The uniform is very clearly detailed on the College website, https://cpsetanta.ie/Content/2020/5/hk33-Uniform_Policy_Statement_.pdf?29260 and it has not changed. All students must abide by the uniform policy as stated. The wearing of non-uniform items will result in them being confiscated until a parent/guardian can come to collect them. There is no deviation from the Uniform Policy.

Assemblies. On Monday we will return to whole Year Group Assemblies. Students whose assembly is taking place each morning are to go directly to the Sports Hall and line up behind their class name signpost and wait for their Tutor and Year Head to address them. Assembly days are as follows

1^st Years, Tuesday Mornings 08:18 to 08:30

2^nd Years, Monday Mornings 08:18 to 08:30

3^rd Years, Thursday Mornings 08:18 to 08:30

5^th Years & TY, Tuesday Mornings 08:18 to 08:30

6^th Years, Tuesday Mornings 08:18 to 08:30

Mock Exams Corrections

The Mock Exams have taken place in our college for 6^th and 3^rd Year students and both staff and students are pleased with their efforts. A special thanks to all who facilitated some of our students who had to take their exams remotely. A huge thanks to our Parents Association who really supported our students who took their exams in special centres and acted as scribes and readers. There is a significant cost associated with delivering the Mock Exams and this needs to be recouped. The charge for the Mocks is €50 per student to a maximum of €50 for families with more than 1 student taking the Mocks.

For clarity, all students are offered the opportunity to sit the Mocks and all Mocks will be corrected by their teachers and the results uploaded to VS Ware. The results will not be made available to parents on VS Ware and will instead be printed and posted home to the parents who have paid for the Mock results. Teachers are to return the scripts and share the results of Mock papers only with students who have paid after the mid-term break. I am asking the parents/guardians of our exam classes, 3^rd and 6^th, to pay the mocks fee on Enrol https://ams.enrol.ie/cpsetanta/Index.aspx so that their children will benefit from the feedback their teachers can offer.

Glendalough Trip:
After two cancellations due to Covid restrictions, the annual Glendalough Trip is finally back.

1^st Years Trip will take place on Monday, March 7^th. All 1^st year tutor groups will attend.
Collection time at Setanta: 8.45am

Destination: Glendalough

Departure time from venue: 1.45pm

2^nd Year Trip will take place on Monday March 14^th. All 2^nd year tutor groups and Croí will attend.
Collection time at Setanta: 8.45am

Destination: Glendalough

Departure time from venue: 1.45pm

What do wear? School P.E uniform school jacket and comfortable runners. Please do not wear brand new runners as they will hurt your feet during the walk! Students should bring a hat also.

What to bring? Packed lunch and water. The kiosks will be open if students want to buy lunch, but an extra snack will be important on the walk.

Finally

Have a lovely weekend,

Liam Walsh, Principal.