EASING OF COVID-19 RESTRICITIONS IN MCS
EFFECTIVE FROM MONDAY, 28TH FEBRUARY 2022
A Thuismitheoir/Chaomhnóir, a chara | Dear Parent/Guardian,
I hope you are well and that you have enjoyed this mid-term break. As you may be aware, the Department of Education has issued advice to schools regarding the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. In general, we will now resume normal teaching and learning activities from tomorrow, Monday 28th February 2022. Please note the following in relation to our school:
a. In line with the recommendations of NPHET, remaining restrictions relating to mask-wearing and physical distancing have now been removed in MCS.
b. While the wearing of face masks in MCS is no longer mandatory, if students wish to continue wearing face masks or coverings, they may do so. We have many students and staff who will continue to wear face coverings for the foreseeable future, myself included.
c. Continued adoption of good infection prevention and control measures such as hand washing, respiratory hygiene, and ventilation has been advised by the Department and will continue in MCS.
d. The air-break/mask-break will continue during all classes to aid with ventilation requirements. We are awaiting delivery of HEPA filtration units for those classrooms where a need for same has been identified by our engineer.
e. Please respect the individual decision(s) of Students and Staff in relation to face coverings.
f. Critical components of the collective response in relation to COVID-19 continue to apply including self-isolation if symptomatic (even if fully vaccinated/boosted) or if having a positive COVID-19 test. Please seek advice from your GP if you have questions in this regard.
g. All classes and break times will continue as per the current timetable. We look forward to a full return to our normal school layout during the summer months!
h. Our temporary marquee on the basketball court will be removed in the coming weeks. Until then, the current arrangements for its use before school and at break times will continue, beginning with First Years for this coming week.
i. Lunchtime: 2nd and 3rd Year Students may now leave the campus at lunchtime only with Parental Permission. If you wish to allow your son/daughter to leave the school during lunchtime, please put a note in their School Journal. They need to present this note to their Class Tutor tomorrow morning.
j. Canteen: Current arrangements for ordering and collecting lunches will continue until at least the end of the current school year.
k. PE: As our changing rooms continue to be used as temporary storage areas for canteen and other furniture, they will remain out of use until we re-arrange the school over the summer months. Therefore, the current arrangement, whereby students are permitted to attend school in PE gear on the day of PE only, remains in place until at least the end of the year.
l. If you need to collect your son/daughter early during the school day, you should continue to notify the office in advance and come in to the school when you arrive to collect them. You may, if you wish, continue to phone Marion when you have arrived in the car park to collect. If you are coming into the school building, please wear a face covering. There is no access to the Main Office, please engage with Marion through the hatch.
m. Lockers will be re-introduced for Junior Cycle Students in the coming weeks. Senior Cycle Students may be offered available lockers after Easter.
n. Should you wish to meet with any teacher or school management, this will continue to be by appointment only. Please phone Marion and she will assist you in this regard.
The last two years have been incredibly difficult for us all. I want to thank each and every one of you for your support of our efforts to keep everyone safe.
I have not had any notification by the HSE of community transmission of Covid-19 within our school since the pandemic began. The measures we put in place worked but only because every member of our school community rowed in and did what needed to be done. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.
Our priority now is ensuring that our students remain in school for in person classes for the remainder of the year. Our 3rd and 6th Year Students will have their State Examinations in June and we will continue to support them in their preparations.
Kind regards,
Pól Ó Síodhcháin
Principal
Covid-19
COVID-19 CLOSURE PROCEDURES (the below procedures were in place during the school closure from March-August 2020. Should a further closure be necessary, these procedures will again be utilised. Some changes may occur. Please visit this page regularly.
Please note: Students must log in to their school email accounts access work being set by teachers.
All students are asked to send their teacher a very short acknowledgement (a thumbs up will suffice) that they have received the work.
Teachers will respond directly to students once they have assessed their work.
Students can take a photo of written work to upload and send to their teachers-it is not necessary to type everything to send it to us.
All teachers in MCS wish to acknowledge the great efforts being made by our students and the support of parents to stay on top of their schoolwork. This is a new way of doing things and we are all learning by doing. As a staff, we are constantly reviewing our practice and trying new methods. We are in this together and we will come through this together.
All of our teachers in MCS are using Microsoft Office 365 to upload class material and to assess student work. Teachers will be available, in so far as practicable, during school hours to communicate with students via email and Office 365. The Department of Education has published very useful advice to young people while schools are closed (click here to read) which has been emailed to all students. Students have also been emailed a suggested template for organising their day (see here) and a useful guide to relaxation techniques (see here). We encourage you to read this documents and to talk to your child(ren) about them.
Should your child have any difficulty accessing their Office 365 account/school email, please contact the school office by email or phone. Our School Secretary, Marion Buckley, is available during normal school hours to answer your calls and emails.
We kindly ask all students and parents to keep up-to-date with their classwork online and with any homework assignments during this enforced period of school closure:
Try to ensure that your child writes their homework into their School Journal in the usual manner and tick it off when completed, just as they normally would.
If at all possible, ensure your child completes their schoolwork during the normal school day, routines are very important for us all during this uncertain time.
If your child is having difficulty with any aspect of their online learning, please encourage them to let their teacher know by email or by contacting the school office.
Teachers are using email, Microsoft Sharepoint, Teams and OneDrive to communicate with students and to set and assess homework assignments.
Please support your child’s efforts with online learning during this time. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Further information on Microsoft Office 365 is below, if required:
Distance learning with Office 365: Guidance for parents and guardians
Your child’s learning can happen anywhere with Office 365 online and your child’s core subjects and class discussions can happen with support from Microsoft Education.
Protecting your student’s data is a top priority. Read more here about privacy in Office 365 apps.
Note: The guidance below is meant to introduce some of the many possibilities for students learning remotely using Office 365. Teachers in MCS may use Office 365 in different ways that work for their class.
What does my CHILD need to sign in to their Office 365 account?
Your child needs their MCS school email address and password. They can access Office 365 for free. Students can log into their school accounts at Office.com, where they’ll have access to Microsoft Teams, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and much more. From this home base, students can open Office apps in their web browser, or select Install Office to download the desktop versions to their device (download capability may vary depending on the device your child is using).
What are the best devices for my CHILD to use with Office 365?
Office 365 is accessible on any device with internet access. Students may prefer to use a PC/laptop or tablet with a keyboard. Our experience to date in MCS has shown us that students prefer using the actual keyboard rather than the touchscreen for typing and formatting classwork and homework.
How will my CHILD communicate with their teachers and classmates?
Using SharePoint or Teams. Teams is an online classroom hub, where your child can chat with their whole class, in groups with other students, and one-on-one with their teachers. Through Teams, your child can also make video calls altough this is very much in its infancy in MCS as present!
Each of your student’s classes (if they have more than one) gets its own Sharepoint site or Team, which is set up by each individual class teacher.
How does my child join a team? How do they know if they’re part of their class team?
To explore Teams and see the class teams they're in, your child can sign in to their school Office 365 account at Office.com and select the Teams app. Students will also receive an email notification when they've been added to a team.
How is my CHILD’s communication and activity monitored in Teams?
Teams for Education is designed to serve as a digital classroom hub. It features many ways to support teachers in classroom management. As a communication platform with specific features to support teaching and learning, Teams presents opportunities for students to build and practice digital citizenship alongside their academic learning.
Is Teams simply a chat app, or can my CHILD study, work and complete assessments as well?
With the Assignments app built right into Teams, your child can see work their teachers have assigned them, submit that work, and see their grades and feedback.
How does my child turn in assignments using Teams? Can they check their grades in Teams?
Students can turn in their assignments by navigating to the Assignments tab in the General channel of their class team, then selecting an assignment. They can attach any appropriate work and select Turn in.
Students can read more here about keeping track of and turning in assignments.
Where can my child access help on how to best use Microsoft Education tools?
Students have a help centre. From covering the basics of using Teams all the way to project ideas, this student help center is all about showing students how they can leverage Office 365 for their learning, engagement, and creativity. Students can also email their class teacher directly. If they have difficulty logging in or accessing any of the functionality of Office 365, please contact the school office by email or by phone.
What is a SharePoint team site?
Most classes will now have an active Sharepoint team site. A SharePoint team site connects students to the content, information, and apps they need for their online classwork. On a team site home page, students can view links to important team files, apps, and web pages and see recent site activity in the activity feed.
Students can access their team site from the SharePoint start page, from the Files section of their Office 365 group, or on the go with the SharePoint mobile apps. They can also find your SharePoint files in OneDrive.
Left-hand navigation pane
On the left-hand side of the site, at the top of the navigation pane, there is a search box where students can search for files on their class site. Suggestions are shown, as they type, based on files they've recently worked on or viewed.
Under the search box, there are links to the default class document library, the team OneNote notebook, site pages, site contents, and the site recycle bin.
Home page
The class home page contains various default web parts and an activity feed that lets students see, at a glance, when someone adds or edits a file, page, or list on their site.