Uniform, Attendance, Punctuality & Lunches

Uniform

Our school uniform is available from County Seat, Main Street, Letterkenny 0749121763 and in other drapery stores.

 It consists of:

 Pinafore or grey kilt or grey trousers/skirt

 Grey Cardigan or Grey Jumper

 Grey Shirt/blouse          

 Wine Tie

 Black tights/white socks to be worn

Children should wear comfortable shoes (Velcro is preferable to laces) or runners

Each child is required to wear the school uniform every day.

A sample of the uniform is available for viewing at school.

On P.E. days children should wear the P.E. uniform: Navy sweater, Sky blue short sleeved polo shirt and plain navy tracksuit bottoms (no sports labels).

Full uniform must be worn every day. Pupils who are not wearing full uniform may be placed on detention during break time. P.E tracksuit should be worn on P.E. days. If your child has lunchtime training, or is attending a sporting event during the school day, s/he must wear the school P.E. tracksuit.

Attendance and Punctuality

Pupils should be ready to join their class line when the bell rings at 9a.m. This helps to ensure a smooth start to the school day. School opens to receive pupils at 9.00a.m. No arrangement exists for the supervision of children who arrive at school whether by bus, or otherwise, before 9.00 a.m. and therefore no responsibility is accepted by the school for pupils before that time. Pupils may be taken into the school hall (if it is available) on very wet mornings from 8.40a.m. The school day finishes at 1.40p.m. for infants and 2.40p.m. for all other pupils. 1st class are walked to the school gates at 2.35p.m. to help ease congestion at 2.40p.m. The school accepts no responsibility for pupils after these times and it is the responsibility of parents/guardians to arrange the safe collection of their children at these times.

Regular attendance is vital to your child’s progress at school. Children should only be absent from school when they are ill. Please supply a written note to your child’s class teacher for each absence. I am legally obliged to report any pupil who is absent for 20 days or more in any school year to TUSLA, the Child and Family Agency. An Education Welfare Officer may contact a parent if such a report must be made.

Going Home Early

Children should only go home early if they have a medical appointment. Please let the teacher know in advance by writing a note in your child’s homework diary. When you are collecting your child please call to the secretary’s office and “sign out” your child.

Contact numbers and addresses

It is vital that we have your contact number and address at all time in case of an emergency involving your child. If there is any change at any time in your contact details, please inform the school secretary immediately. Instead of writing to parents we use our “text a parent” service. If you have not received any of our texts please contact our secretary.

Healthy Lunches

I wish to remind you that children should only bring healthy options to eat and drink for lunch. Our Healthy Eating Policy can be read on our website. Items such as fizzy drinks, doughnuts and fruit winders are not allowed due to their high sugar content. Milk, water, fruit, breads and yoghurts are considered healthy options.

Allergies

Some children in the school have severe allergic reactions to peanuts/nuts. This allergic reaction can occur through ingestion of peanut/nut products, cross contamination and breathing peanuts/nuts in the air.

Since this condition can be very serious, we are asking for your help in minimising the risk to these children by:

1. Avoiding giving children peanuts or any nuts in school lunches

2. Avoiding giving peanut butter sandwiches, other spreads containing nuts such as Nutella and snacks/bars containing nuts or labelled “may contain nut traces” in school lunches

3. Asking children not to share their lunches.

It is important that all parents carry out the suggested measures and reduce the risk of an allergic reaction to these children. We also have a pupil who has an allergy to kiwis. Please continue to place fruit in your child’s lunch box but please avoid kiwis for lunch. We thank you for your co-operation.