School Texting Communication System
Dear Parents,
Our Annual Garden Open Day will be held on Friday, 4th June at 10.30a.m. We invite you to visit the garden and see the results of the hard work done by St. Brigid’s Girls.
Our garden is self-funded and depends on the funds raised on 4111 June for its continued development.
Along with tours of the garden there will be
· Greeting cards featuring our garden
· A Plant Stall
· Bring and Buy Cake Stall
· Children’s Craft Stalls
· Raffle
· Strawberries and Cream
· Teas and Coffees
Garden Open Day is a crucial event for ensuring the continuation of this valued school asset. If you can spare some time to help or perhaps please complete the form below and return to the school office. We look forward to seeing you on Friday 4th June any time between 1030a.m. — 2.00pm. The day begins at 10:30 a.m. with a music recital.
Important Notice – Swine Flu.
Dear Parents,
According to state authorities, Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 (swine flu) is now quite widespread in the community, and children, especially young children under 5 years, are susceptible to this virus.
We would hope to prevent the introduction of this flu to the school or at least to minimise the impact on the school community.
Children should be taught to cover the mouth and nose with a paper tissue when coughing or sneezing. They should use a tissue only once and should dispose of it quickly and carefully in a bin. Children should bring their own tissues to school, although there will also be tissues provided in the classroom. Children should wash hands regularly and paper towels are provided in the school. Parents are asked to teach these rules of respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette, and teachers in St. Brigid’s will also emphasise these rules. Parents of children with particular susceptibilities such as Cystic Fibrosis, severe asthma or similar, should seek advice on appropriate procedures from the child’s medical practitioner.
Parents are requested to keep children at home if they are unwell, particularly with respiratory infections, in order to prevent the spread of infection. Symptoms of H1N1, swine flu virus include:
Sudden onset of symptoms
High fever- temperature over 30oC / 100.4F
Severe weakness and fatigue
Dry cough
Aching muscles and joints
Sore throat
Headache
Runny nose
Vomiting / diarrhoea
We ask parents to err on the side of caution and keep children at home if in any doubt.
If a pupil becomes unwell in school, with flu like symptoms, we will contact parents immediately and ask them to take the child home. Hand sanitizers will be made available inside the main doors for all visitors to the school.
We would advise parents to join our Tacu Text System, if they haven’t already done so, as we will use this texting system to notify the school community of any widespread infection or unscheduled school closures. However, we hope to keep any impact on the school to a minimum with these hygiene measures and cooperation from all.
With thanks,
Yours sincerely,
Aideen Sweeney
Principal
Other useful information is available on HSE 24 hour automated phone line 1800 94 11 00 and dedicated influenza pages at www.hse.ie and www.swineflu.ie. The Department of Health and Children provides regular advice and information at www.doc.ie also.
School Texting Communication System
Dear Parents,
The school introduced a class texting service, to assist distribution of information to parents last year. This enables us to send texts to your mobile phone with useful reminders of early school closures, staff meetings, Parent / Teacher meetings and other upcoming events at the school.
We have found the service to be very useful, but it does require you to join the class group(s) in order to be included in these text communications. When we send a message you will pay 20 cents to receive it.
All you have to do to activate the service is simply text the following four worded text message to our special short phone number, 53215, from your mobile. There is no need to include your own mobile number since it is included automatically with the text.
The code for each class is listed below:
| Teacher | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Ms. Kilmartin | text | join | SBGjunsA | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Walsh | text | join | SBGjunsB | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Clinch | text | join | SBGsensA | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Gorman | text | join | SBGsensB | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Burke | text | join | SBGsensC | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Kilty | text | join | SBGfirstA | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Ni Chuireann | text | join | SBGfirstB | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Keane | text | join | SBGsecondA | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Kennedy | text | join | SBGsecondB | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Mrs. Monnelly | text | join | SBGsecondC | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Darcy | text | join | SBGthirdA | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Cullinane | text | join | SBGthirdB | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Sheehan | text | join | SBGfourthA | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. O'Connell | text | join | SBGfourthB | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. O'Farrell | text | join | SBGfifthA | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Frawley | text | join | SBGfifthB | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Coleman | text | join | SBGsixthA | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Ms. Gillan | text | join | SBGsixthB | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
| Mr. O'Malley | text | join | SBGsixthC | 0874163931 | Insert your child's name here |
If you joined the system last year, you do not need to do so again. We would recommend that for children who go to after school care, the carer / crèche also join up to the system. If you are having difficulty in joining the system, please contact the school secretary.
We do not expect to need to send more than an average of one message per week during the school year, but the system proves especially useful in notifying parents of last minute closure due to inclement weather or outbreak of serious illness etc. You can opt out of receiving messages at any time by sending the following text to 53215: STOP SBGfirstA 0874163931. NOTE: Replace SBGfirstA with your daughters class name.
Yours sincerely,
Aideen Sweeney
Principal