Have a Wonderful Summer

Dear Ard Rí Community,  Anyone who suffered illness or lost loved ones over the course of the Covid pandemic, on behalf of the team at Ard Rí Community National School I would like to offer you our deepest sympathies. No doubt it was a challenging time for everyone. Social distancing, job loss, cocooning, illness all causes grief, worry and anxiety.   As a community we definitely learned how to dance in the rain!   Our frontline workers rose to the challenge in caring for the evolved needs of the country. On behalf of everyone thank you.   Parents you worked hard to ensure your children were kept safe. You protected them. You embraced remote learning. You used the time not only to teach the academics but to pass on your own skills and funds of knowledge to your children. Through baking, cooking, gardening, teaching electronics and coding, sewing, playing, exercising you were educating your children…probably without even realizing. Well done.  I would like to thank our teachers who, in a few short weeks, shifted teaching and learning from their classrooms to online and into pupil’s homes. You were dynamic and positive throughout the last 16 weeks and I am very grateful for your commitment to the school and your profession. We are dedicated to working hard to follow all the advice and have all the recommendations in place to ensure we can provide a safe learning environment for our boys and girls in September. We look forward to welcoming 36 new Junior Infants to Ard Rí CNS. We will do everything we can to make your first day in big school one to remember. Teacher recruitment is currently underway. We will let you know who your child’s class teacher for next year will be as soon as the details are finalised. Most of...

New Track for Navan

On a Tuesday night every metre of track and field at Claremont Stadium is packed with boys and girls training for Navan Athletics Club. You will find lots of the Ard Rí Community among the athletes, coaches, volunteers and spectators and plenty of the Ard Rí mums, dads and teachers will be at the adult training afterwards. Claremont is also home to PT Fitness, Badminton, Basketball, Soccer, Wheelchair Sports, Special Olympics, Navan Men’s Shed. After 20 years of training for all ages and abilities and hosting schools, county and provincial competitions the track at Claremont is worn and torn. This summer a new state of the art track is being installed and the club need to raise €50,000 to get the job over the line. Ard Rí CNS medal winners 2019 schools competition at Claremont Stadium   How can we help? There are lots of runners and walkers among us. Why not take part in the Navan AC Virtual 5k and Family 2k Fun Run Take on the Tullys in a #60secondchallenge (video below). Complete your own family challenge then donate through Go Fund Me New Track 4 Navan  Sponsor local ultra runner Keith Russell as he completes a 220km 24hour run around the track at Claremont Stadium (video below). To sponsor Keith donate at Go Fund Me New Track 4 Navan To keep up to date and share the fundraising like New Track 4 Navan on Facebook  #60SecondChallenge Family Fitness Challenge, can you match the Tully Family, Tag a family you know with the #60SecondChallenge donate, if you can, to the #NTN fundraiser to be in with a...

Class Allocation

Dear Ard Rí Community, Staffing arrangements in Primary Schools for the 2020/21 school year are laid out in Department of Education Circular 0018/2020 . Our predicted September enrolment is 270 pupils. This allows us 10 mainstream class teachers. If, for any reason, your family will not be coming back to Ard Rí in September please let us know as knowing our predicted enrolment is very important. We will organise the 10 teachers as follows: There are two main areas of change: 2020 Senior Infants will be in two groups; Teacher 2 will teach Junior Infants and Senior Infants together in multi-grade and Teacher 3 will teach Senior Infants in single-grade. 2020 4th and 5th Classes will be split into two multi-grade classes; Teacher 8 will teach one set of 4th and 5th Class together and Teacher 9 will teach the other set of 4th and 5th Class together. Both in multi-grade. When dividing classes we balance; age, gender, siblings, Special Educational Needs and any other dynamics which may exist. Friendship is an important dynamic. If your child is going into Senior Infants, 4th Class or 5th Class we invite you to email us on [email protected] a list of 2 or 3 friends your child would like in their class next year. It will not be possible to keep all friends together but we will try. If you would like your child to be in the Junior Infant/ Senior Infant multi-grade with Teacher 2 as above you can also let us know by email. Please notify us before close of business on Thursday. We will let you know which teacher each class...

6th Class Graduation

Dear 6th Class, I hope you are all doing the best you can in these very unusual and difficult times. It must be a challenge at this stage to keep motivated. I encourage you to keep going for the last few weeks of term and just do your best. Use your time constructively and positively to pursue your interests and set little challenges for yourself. Read lots, get some exercise and help around the house. Be kind and keep smiling. I am delighted to hear you are doing a few pages from the book ‘Mind the Gap’. This is a great way to start preparing yourself for the big jump to Post Primary. I know even though you missed the final term you are ready for the challenges which lie ahead and you will do very well. It would be a good idea to reach out to past pupils of Ard Rí, or neighbours, or friends who attend your particular school and ask them any questions you might have. They would be delighted to support you. You are not alone. I have now spoken to the Principals of all the Secondary Schools in the town. They know that this September will be different and they will have to do some extra work to support you. They have promised to take good care of you. If you have any questions please ask Jack on Seesaw or email the office on [email protected]. We will do our best to help. Myself and Jack are planning for your graduation night. We will hold a ceremony on Zoom on Thursday 18th June at 7pm....

Photography Challenge

Good afternoon everybody, I hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather. It is hard to believe we are coming up to the June Bank Holiday Weekend. School will be closed on Friday 29th May, Monday 1st, Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd of June. Logging on to Seesaw every day can be tiring and I hope all the boys and girls enjoy the time off. I would like to remind children that life as we know it now during COVID won’t be forever. We can see from Seesaw that everyone is making the most out of every day. Families are baking together, making clothes for their dolls, exercising together, embracing technology, meeting up with friends and relations on Zoom, reading more than ever, keeping journals, dressing-up, having picnics. You are making the most out of every day we are apart. Tomorrow teachers will be assigning a photography challenge to all classes. You can submit your entry on Seesaw on Thursday 4th of June. The theme of the challenge is ‘Gratitude’. I encourage you all to pause for a few minutes and reflect on the things you are grateful for in this challenging time. Take a photograph to represent this and you can write or submit a voice message explaining your photo. Teachers will share these photographs on Seesaw on Fab Friday- 5th of June. Here is my entry to get the creative juices flowing…   At a time when so many people were sick I am most grateful for my health. I enjoy active time with my family. This picture was taken at the Ramparts in Navan, a path along...

Distribution of Books: Sunday 24.05.2020

Hi everybody, Teachers are currently preparing packs of books to be sent home. As you know by now the Rugby Club is a COVID Test Centre so safe access to the school is very limited. For this reason we will be distributing books on Sunday 24.05.2020 as follows: First letter of Surname Time             A-C 10:00-10:30 D-G 10:30-11:00 H-L 11:00-11:30 M-O 11:30-12:00 P-Z 12:00-12:30 There will be a drive-through system in place. Remain in your car. Follow the one-way system and as you come to your child’s teacher they will hand you a bag. Follow the directions from stewards and proceed to exit. We will only be returning workbooks, copies, artwork plus any other personal property left at the school. We will not be distributing Book Rental books. We ask you return any of the following school books on Sunday: Oxford Reading Tree- Fun Readers Core Readers Library Books 3rd-6th Class- Starlight, Planet Maths etc. Class Novels e.g. Warhorse If you need to borrow a specific Book Rental book to support your child’s home learning please email a request to...

Graduation Hoodies

Dear Class of 2020, Little did we think that when we closed the school on 12th March we would not see our wonderful Sixth Class pupils again before their graduation. We are heartbroken that these young adults missed out on so many of the coming of age milestones of term 3. In the next few weeks Jack will begin to teach lessons from Springboard program; Mind the Gap. This program is designed to help support children in their transition from Primary to Post-Primary. I have been in contact with almost all the Post Primary schools. They are preparing additional induction activities to support the children in their transition to Post-Primary. We are planning a virtual graduation ceremony for the class. Please email us any pictures you would like in included in the slideshow to [email protected] (The more embarrassing the pic the better!!) Our Parent Association are organising graduation hoodies for the children. We need the following; Choose a hoodie size: Child size– 9/11 32″, 12/13 34″, Adult size– S, M, L Take a close up photograph of your child’s first name signature and attach (We can write your child’s name in script if that is easier for you- just let us know) You can send this information to us via email to [email protected] or on Seesaw. Please try to complete as soon as possible so we can avoid delays. The cost of the hoodie is €16.50 (Parent Association pay €7). When we receive message from you we will send you a Way2Pay link for payment. We will try to make the graduation as special as possible. Stay Safe, Darragh and...

Home Based Learning- Ard Rí CNS on Seesaw

10.05.2020 Dear Ard Rí Community, I hope everyone is safe and well. My letters to you are beginning to feel like I am a soldier at war or I am stranded on a desert island. When we closed our doors on 12th March we did not foresee a closure lasting until September. This is the new reality which we must all face. I think the cancellation of the Leaving Certificate this week is a sign that normality is a good way off yet. We must pace ourselves. The responses being posted to Seesaw are fantastic. I hope teacher feedback is helping the children to stay motivated and focused while working at home. Teachers will now begin to broaden courses of work to include resources like IXL, Top-Marks, Oxford-Owls, Kahoot and Read Theory. Our lessons will focus on Literacy, Numeracy and Wellness. I encourage you to incorporate play, reading and movement into every day. Set up a station with paper, pencils and some crayons and scissors so children have opportunities to express their imaginations and be creative. The length of time we have to practice the remote learning program is long. The amount of work we are assigning is designed to be sustainable for both teachers and parents. You may wish to assign additional academic work yourself. At this point children will be missing their friends most of all. I encourage you to reach out and connect with each other to set up short supervised calls or pen-palling for your child so children can feel connected while apart. Webwise.ie have some excellent videos to help teach your child skills required...

Learning at home during COVID-19 school closure

Wednesday 1st & Thursday 2nd April Ard Rí CNS- Home-Based Learning 2020 Edition 4 Here is latest Home Based Learning Guideline link. A blended approach incorporating aspects of these Inquiry-Based activities, the work pack we sent home, some reading, a few chores, the RTE Home School Hub and whatever springs from your own expertise and the funds of knowledge available in your home will work best. Do whatever you need to do to get through! The teachers are working hard this week to put a system in place which will allow them engage online with their pupils in a more tailored manor. This will be in place after Easter. Thank you to everyone who is sharing snippets from their own personal experiences of learning at home on Twitter. Share your hard work with the community @ArdRi_CNS !! ‘If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere.’- Seamus Heaney Monday 30th & Tuesday 31st March Ard Rí CNS- Home-Based Learning 2020 Edition 3 I hope everyone is keeping safe and well. In a time when families are under pressure from many directions I hope your child’s school work is not adding to that pressure. Let me explain…the school curriculum works in two year blocks. The focus of the final school term is never academic. It is when we have our school tours, fun days, Active Weeks etc. Most of the academic learning objectives have either been covered in the previous year and a half or will be covered when we return to school. You are not expected to be a teacher.  These Home Based Learning Guidelines are ideas of activities you can do...