School Hours :
· 9.00 a.m. - 2.40p.m. (Infants 1.40 p.m.)
· Junior Infant pupils should arrive no earlier than 9.00 a.m. and no later than 9.15 a.m.
· Lunch: 12.00 p.m. - 12.30 p.m.

Lunch Break :
If you wish your son to come home for lunch, please fill in the appropriate form attached to this letter. I would ask you to bear in mind the short duration for the lunch break (i.e. 30 minutes). Except your son lives very near, it would be more beneficial for him to stay in School and not be rushing to and from School and eating a hurried meal.

PLEASE NOTE ONLY THOSE BOYS WHOSE PARENTS HAVE FILLED IN THE CONSENT FORM ARE ALLOWED HOME FOR LUNCH.

Home/School Contact:
Parents please note that you are welcome to come to the School to consult with the Class Teacher, Remedial Teacher or Principal Teacher re your son's progress.

Parent/Teacher meetings will be organised during the School year at which you will be afforded the opportunity of discussing your son's progress on a one to one basis with the Class Teacher.

Special Parent/Teacher meetings will be arranged for the pupils of First Communion and Confirmation classes at an appropriate time.

If for any reason, you would like to consult with us, we ask you to contact us in advance so that a suitable time and day can be arranged for all concerned.
1.

Homework:
It is the policy of the School to give homework to the pupils. We request that parents co-operate by ;-
(a) Ensuring that homework is completed properly, completely and neatly.
(b) Checking the homework.
(c) Signing the homework diary every night when, and only when, you are happy that the homework is completed to your satisfaction.

The homework diary should be used as a direct means of communication with the Class Teacher and all comments, notes re absences etc., should be entered in the appropriate section of the weekly page. Guidelines for homework are as follows ;

Junior Infants : No Homework
Senior Infants : 15 minutes
1st Class : 30 minutes
2nd Class : 30/45 minutes
3rd Class : 45 minutes
4th Class : 45/60 minutes
5th Class : 1 hr. 15 mins.
6th Class : 1 hr. 15/30 mins.

If your son has not completed his homework within the time above, stop him and send a note, in the homework diary, to the Teacher. If he consistently cannot complete the homework within the time above, please consult the Class Teacher.
"Punishment exercise" (lines etc.) should not be considered as part of homework.

PLEASE NOTE A SPECIAL HOMEWORK DIARY WILL BE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SCHOOL.

Absences:
If for any reason, your son has to absent himself from School, please write him a note for the Class Teacher on his return. There is no need to ring the school re. absences. If your son has a dental appointment, he may be marked present on the rollbook, provided he shows the Teacher the card beforehand.

If you wish your child to leave the School early for any reason, it will be necessary to inform the school in writing. Otherwise, he will not be allowed to leave the School. .
Please note brothers or sisters or any person, other than parents, coming to the school to seek the early release of a pupil, will not be accommodated if there is no written permission from one or both parents/guardians.

2.

Punctuality:
It is a necessary part of your son's education to learn to be punctual. We ask that all parents would co-operate with us by ensuring that their son is in time for School.

Lunch:
We would ask parents, in the interests of their son's health, to ensure that a proper lunch is given to him each day. Crisps, sweets or soft drinks are not a proper lunch and certainly cost a lot more than sandwiches/fruit and/or milk/tea. To those people who want their sons to avail of milk and sandwiches free in School I have attached a form and I would appreciate if you would fill it up and return it to the School.

Uniform: Grey Shirt.
Red tie with diagonal silver/white stripe.
Grey V neck jumper with red and white piping around the v neck.
Grey trousers.

The Objectives of the Uniform are :-
1) To give the boys a sense of identity with the school
2) To give the boys pride in the way they dress
3) To make it easier for parents to dress their boys properly for school.

I am asking all parents to ensure that their boys come to school in their uniform every day. To enable this to happen it may be necessary for your son to have a second set of uniform clothes.
Jeans are not permitted under any circumstances.
Details of purchase of the uniform/tracksuit from the official suppliers, are being sent separately.

P.E. School Track suit:
It is School Policy that a School track suit should be worn for P.E. Details on this are given separately..

Physical Education:
P.E. is part and parcel of the programme. Normally, each Class has
one lesson per week. It is vital, from an hygenic point of view, that all boys have P.E. gear (runners, shorts and jersey/singlet) for the lesson. Boys not having the basic P.E. gear on the day, will not be allowed to participate. Parents are asked to ensure :-
1) That your son has the basic P.E. gear
2) That your son wears his P.E. gear to School only on the day the Class has P.E.
We will have the use of the Artane/Beaumont Family Recreation Centre from October to Easter. This facility will cost us money and we ask parents to subscribe to cover part of the cost of renting the Hall
3.

Reception of Pupils in the Morning:
While the School grounds are open prior to 9 a.m., the School cannot accept responsibility for children prior to 9 a.m. It should also be noted that the School cannot accept responsibility for boys on their way to/from lunch (12 -12.30 p.m.) or remaining in the School grounds after School.

Insurance:
The School insurers have advised us that a policy can be supplied to
cover pupils who acquire an injury by accident (i.e. broken teeth, limbs etc.) which could result in major expense for parents and which is not covered by the Schools insurance. The cost works out at £3.00 (or £5 for 24 hour cover) per annum. Any parent interested in availing of this scheme should fill in the form which will be issued in September.

Staff Meetings:
Staff meetings will be held at various times throughout the school year. On staff meeting days pupils will be released early from school. You will receive prior notification and details concerning this early closure, as it arises.

Dental Health:
During the year, Teachers will place a lot of emphasis on the importance of your Son getting into the habit of cleaning his teeth properly every day. We would ask Parents to co-operate in this regard by seeing to it that your son has a toothbrush and toothpaste and uses them regularly at home.

Discipline:
We cannot stress enough the importance of your son having a sense of discipline. The basic aim of discipline should be to introduce your son into activities, modes of conduct and thought which have standards of honesty, loyalty and industry written into them. We cannot hope to accomplish this aim without your whole-hearted support as behaviour in school cannot be separated from behaviour outside school and especially in the home.

Code of Discipline:
Each parent of new pupils will be given a copy of the Schools Code of Discipline.

Parking Outside School:
PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT PARK your car on the yellow zig zag lines outside the School in the morning or afternoon. This is a source of danger to both your son and the other pupils of the School. Some parents persist in parking in such a way that it obstructs the Lollipop Warden. This is totally unfair and I would ask parents to desist from parking on the zig zag lines. I suggest if you are collecting or dropping your son to School by car that you would park in Maryfield Drive which is the road directly across from the School. Your co-operation in this matter is urgently and earnestly requested. Please note there is no facility for parking in the school grounds.
4.
Lost Property:
We are encountering quite a few problems with pupils misplacing or losing items of property and in particular P.E. gear. If your son loses something, he should immediately report same to his Class Teacher who in turn will refer him to the Caretaker to look through items unclaimed during the year. The pupils are allowed to inspect same and take what is theirs. To help reduce the incidence of boys losing property, I am appealing to all Parents to ensure that all articles brought to the School i.e. coats, hats, bags, lunch boxes, P.E. gear etc., are clearly marked with the child's name and/or address/telephone number.

General Points:
The following points are provided to clear up any areas not covered already:-
· Drinks in glass containers are dangerous and should be avoided.
· Chewing gum is not allowed inside the School grounds.
· Advise your child to stay at the Office for collection in the event of you being unavoidably delayed, if you collect your son in the evening. The same applies, for pupils going home by bus, who miss their bus.
· Encourage your child by word and example to cross the road only at the point where the Traffic Warden operates.
· There is not a facility for Parents to park cars in the School grounds during School hours, or indeed to drive into the school grounds when collecting/dropping off your son.
· A calendar of School closures will be issued early in the new Year.
· In so far as possible the School will convey advance notice of unscheduled closures to you.
· It may be necessary occasionally, to close the School due to heating failure
or inclement weather. On such occasions, it may not be possible to convey advance notice of closure to you. In the event of the School being unable to conduct Classes due to unforeseen reasons a decision not to open would be made before 9 a.m. on the morning in question. Parents should have a pre arranged procedure organised with their sons to cover this eventuality.
· Ear, face and nose jewellery is not permitted under any circumstances. In the interest of safety boys coming to school with this type of jewellery, will be asked to remove same or have it removed for them. Parents are requested to co-operate with this policy. This policy also covers chains or other loose gear which can be a source of danger to the pupils.