The return-to-school schedule for students is outlined below.

 Students will receive their timetables on the day they return to school, and 1st, 2nd and Transition Year students will also be informed of their new class groupings then too. Timetables will also be available for parents to view on the VSWare App (see below) once school has started. Please note that 5th Years do not have base classes as such – they will only be all together for roll call.

BOOKS

This year the Department of Education is providing students with all school books free of charge, and a starter pack of classroom resources including copybooks and pens will also be supplied. These will be distributed to students in school by their class teachers and Year Heads at the start of the school year. Please note that if any book is lost or damaged, it will need to be replaced by parents/guardians, and you will need to provide replacement stationery during the year as the starter pack gets used up.

LOCKERS

We provide lockers requiring padlocks and this year the school will provide one padlock to each student at the start of the year.

GENERAL UPDATES

Please note the following change to our school day: the first teaching class now starts at 8.37am and all students are required to be present for this and should avoid lateness which may disrupt their own learning and the learning of others. Assembly has moved to third period (9.57am for 8 minutes), when all students will meet with their class teacher before continuing on with their day as normal.

In relation to our new school development, we expect an application for planning permission to be submitted in the next few weeks. We will keep you informed as more progress is made.

Many thanks to those parents who helped out with the painting of the school PE hall during the summer – it looks really well and we are delighted with it.

Please read the below carefully

CONTACTING THE SCHOOL

Your main point of contact with the school will be your child’s Year Head. Details are below; please remember however that Year Heads are also teachers so will be unlikely to be in a position to answer your call immediately but if you leave a message, they will get back to you as soon as possible. You can also email them or call the school office.

Please note: For urgent matters do not contact Year Heads as they may be in class. We kindly request that you contact the school office at 021-4811325. Many thanks for your co-operation in this.

VSWARE APP

On the VSware App you will be able to access your children’s term reports, enter their absence notes and requests, and have access to their timetables and their attendance records. We will notify you when the timetables are available to view on the App.

NB - The VSware absence note will replace putting absence requests/explanations in the journal, and there will be no need to ring the office. When entering reasons for absence, detailed explanations are not required; for example, if your child is sick, just enter ‘Sick’ or ‘Illness’.

We are also using the VSware App as our primary way of contacting you during the year with any information or updates – these will come through the VSware Mail system rather than through text messaging.

Full information on using this system can be viewed here: Parent App - Everything you need to know (vsware.ie). If you haven’t already done so, we would appreciate it if you could download the free VSware app and ensure Push Notifications are turned on – you'll find full instructions here: Parent App - Downloading the app and logging in (vsware.ie) The school URL is https://cobhcc.vsware.ie/ If you don’t know your VSWare username, please contact the office at cobhcc@corketb.ie and we will supply it.

If you are experiencing any difficulties logging into the app, please contact the office as soon as possible. VSWare emails are more efficient and reduce the running costs for our school.

School website:  www.carrignfoycc.ie

YEAR HEADS

 1^st Year

Ms Claire McNally (claire.mcnally@corketb.ie 0860657960)

2^nd Year

Mr. Ross Durity (ross.durity@corketb.ie  0860657959)

3^rd Year

Ms Laurie O Driscoll (laurie.odriscoll@corketb.ie  0860657961)

Transition Year

Ms Meghan Murphy (meghan.murphy@corketb.ie  0861285081) and TY Co-ordinator Ms. Kathy Murphy (kathy.murphy@corketb.ie)

5^th Year & LCA1

Ms TY Co-ordinatorMs. Kathy Murphy – TY Year Head (kathy.murphy@corketb.ie)

5^th Year & LCA

Mr. Andy Dixon (andy.dixon@corketb.ie  - phone number tbc, until then please contact the office 021 – 4811325).

6^th Year & LCA2

TBC

All students will also have a class teacher.

Our Home School Community Liaison Teacher is Ms Mary Geary, who is always available for parent queries, and her mobile number is 086 8337677, or you can also call her through the main school number.

Our SEN co-ordinator, Ms Elaine O’Meara, can be contacted at elaine.omeara@corketb.ie or 0860657957.

GENERAL SCHOOL UPDATES & REMINDERS

As per our school’s Code of Behaviour, students are not permitted to use mobile phones in the school building, on the school grounds and on school trips, and therefore should not bring mobile phones to school.If you need to contact your child urgently, please phone the school office at 021-4811325 (the office will no longer close for lunch). Your child can also contact you either through the school office or through their year head.

• Hot school lunches will be provided free of charge to all students for the coming year, with the facility for each student to order their choice of lunch and a snack each day. Further details will be available shortly. School meals will begin mid-September so students will need to bring their own lunches up until then.
• Water dispensers are provided around the school so students can bring re-fillable bottles, but please note that bottles can only be filled before and after school and at breaktimes; not between classes.
• Break times: Just a reminder that students may not leave the school premises at morning break (10.45am). 1st Year, 2^nd  and 3^rd Year students must also stay on the premises at lunch break (1pm-1.30pm) and may eat lunch in their year group area. Thank you for your co-operation with this.
• The school day starts at 8.37am. School will finish at 3.30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays; at 1pm on Wednesdays and at 2.50pm on Fridays.
• Cashless school: We are required by Cork ETB to operate as a cashless school, and all payments, large and small, will be through the Way2Pay system. If you have any queries on this, please contact the school office.
• School books: All students will receive their schoolbooks on the day they return to school. 2^nd, 3^rd and 6^th Year students should have some of their books at home already, so please check this in advance of the return.

HEALTH & SAFETY

 In order to ensure the smooth movement of our student population around the building, designated entrances for students are as follows:

• 1^st Year: Double doors at the track side of the front of the school (1^st Years will be met outside on their induction day)
• 2^nd Year and 3^rd Year: Double doors at the back of the school opposite the astroturf
• TY: Main school door
• 5^th and 6^th Year: Double doors at the Gaelscoil side of the front of the school
• We ask all students to keep to the left-hand side of the corridor when moving around the school.

BLENDED LEARNING

• Some elements of blended learning will be part of all school life going forward, and it is likely that future closures for extreme weather and so on will see learning move online temporarily.
• Students in 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th Year have already been provided with Cork ETB email addresses, which allow them free access to the Microsoft Office online learning system, which we will be using for homework etc, and which will be vital in the event that the school has to close again. These addresses will be provided to all incoming 1^st Year students on the return to school. If your child has forgotten their password, please contact the Year Head and we can resolve this.

ILLNESS & CONTACTING SCHOOL

• If your child is unable to attend school due to illness, it is very important that you fill in an absence note on the VSWare App
• Emergency contact: If your child gets sick at school, they will need to be collected immediately. We will need all parents to provide emergency contact numbers in the event that we cannot get you due to work or other commitments.

·Absences: If your child needs to leave during the school day for an appointment etc, please indicate this in advance on the VSware app. We will not be in a position to phone you to check if your child has permission and they will not be able to leave the school without it. We really appreciate your co-operation with this.

SPECIAL/ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

If your child has special educational needs and you would like to speak to one of the team with any concerns, please contact the school at cobhcc@corketb.ie and we will be in touch. All students who have Irish exemptions will be provided with resource classes at Irish time, and a number of other supports will be in place depending on your child’s needs. Please note that SNA provision is quite different at second level than at primary school, and again, if you have any concerns, please contact us without delay.

SCHOOL UNIFORM

Please note that students may wear either the full school uniform or the official PE uniform (not a combination of the two) - full details of this are attached again with this email.

The school jacket and or school fleece is a requirement for all 1^st, 2^{nd, and} 3^rd Year students and is optional for other year groups. Next year, it will be a requirement for 1^st, 2^nd, 3^{rd year} and TY students and so on each year after until it is in place across the school.  Please note that TY, 5^th and 6^th year students may not wear any jacket in school other than the school jacket or fleece.

Uniform is an important part of the preparation of our students for their future working lives, where they will often be required to dress in a particular way, and we really appreciate your support in this area.

Only full school uniform will be accepted and if your child is not in full uniform, parents will either need to bring their child’s uniform to the school or we may have to send them home to change. This will be a last resort – we do have a selection of spare uniform items available each day to loan to students who may accidentally have forgotten something. These items will need to be returned washed after use or paid for.

SCHOOL FEES

As previously communicated, you will all have received Way2Pay payment requests for the book rental scheme if your child is in Senior Cycle. This offers a huge saving on the cost of books. We also ask for our small family contribution, which helps us to provide the best possible environment for your child.  We really appreciate your payment of these fees, and we do understand that parents may need to pay these in instalments – for any issues, please contact the school office on 021-4811325.

All schools charge an additional fee for Transition Year, due to the high cost of activities, and this payment has been requested separately. We will issue a full breakdown once the list of activities is confirmed, but please note that the payment only goes some way towards the cost of TY to the school and activities are organised on the on the assumption that payments will be made. Thank you once again for your support on this.

STUDENT RETURN-TO-SCHOOL SCHEDULE