Updated 2021 School Calendar
Dear parents/guardians,
I hope that you are all keeping safe and well (and warm) there this week.
I want to inform you all of a change to the arrangements for our February and May midterm breaks. The February break was scheduled to take place for two days (Thursday 18th and Friday 19th February) next week. Having considered the best course of action over the remainder of the school year, the Board has decided to approve a change to this original plan so that our midterm break will now take place for the full week next week.
This is due to the exceptional circumstances of the past month’s school closure, and in order to ensure as many in-school days for the children between now and the end of the school year. We will make up for this change to the February midterm by taking a shorter midterm break in term 3, when we had originally scheduled to take a full week off (from Monday 3rd May). The midterm break in May will now be shortened to just the Bank Holiday plus Tuesday 4th May. Please see the attached and updated school calendar for this year, which includes the changes to the midterm breaks that I have outlined.
The rationale for this change is to maximise the amount of contact time in school for the rest of the school year, and to avoid taking another week out of school in May, given that we’ve missed so much contact time over the past year already. This change will mean that everyone (children, parents, teachers and SNAs) can take a full break next week to hopefully recharge their energies after a tough 5 weeks of online teaching and learning. Having spoken with a range of people in the school community in recent days, there is a sense that we could all do with a full week’s break next week, and that it would be a good time to take the extra days.
We are awaiting an announcement on the date of reopening of all primary school classes, and we will be in contact with you again as soon as we have any more information. We are looking forward to welcoming the children in Seolta back to school on 22nd February and we hope that it will not be too much longer before we have all of the children back in school again. Online teaching and learning for all of the other classes will resume after our midterm break on Monday 22nd February.
I do appreciate that it is very short notice to be making a change to the school calendar, and I do apologise if these changes affect any plans you had made for the midterm break in May, but we are trying to do what we can to maximise the time in school for the children for the rest of the year. Thank you to everyone at home for your support in helping us to work with the children over the past few weeks. This support is vital to ensuring the children have as positive an experience as possible at this time. I very much hope that you all manage to enjoy the break over the next week and we will be back in contact with you all, either in person or remotely, on 22nd February.
Best regards,
Conor