Dear parents/guardians,

Summer Assessments report for your child is now available on VSware.

Kind regards, School Office

Dear Parent, Guardian,

We hope that this letter finds you all well. We are writing to update you on our permanent accommodation.

As you will be aware, the Letters of Intent (LOI) issued on 17th April 2024 to the preferred tenderers for projects in Lot 6 of the Department’s Design & Build Programme, including the project for our school. This allowed the appropriate due diligence including post-tender clarifications to be done.  

We have just been informed by the Department of Education that a Letter of Acceptance (LOA) in respect of the project has issued. The contractor appointed is Rhatigan ABM Limited.

This is another huge milestone for our school and we are very appreciative of the immense support, advocacy and many representations made by you, our parents and guardians, to help get this project to this point. This is true parent voice in action.

The contractor has immediately mobilised on site and demolition of the stadium grandstand has commenced. We will update you further in September.

Thank you again for your continued support.

Kind regards,

Padraig Conaty

Principal/Secretary to Board of Management

Dear parents/guardians,

please see attached information on Post-Primary School Scheme.

It is meant for pupils enrolled in special classes, as well as pupils in mainstream classes who have complex special educational needs and those who are at risk of educational disadvantage

Special class pupils will be supported with the same staffing resource allocation which existed during the normal current school year.

Scheme should run for 2 weeks

Mainstream groups of up to 12 pupils supported by 1 teacher

Please complete application and return to nicolamccann@hcetss.ie if you are interested in the scheme.

 Transport

School transport services may be available to pupils/students who are already availing of services under the SEN Transport Scheme.

Home-Based Summer Programme for Children with Complex Special Educational Needs

Information about the Home-Based Summer Programme will be available on gov.ie/summerprogramme as soon as the details of the 2024 scheme are published.

Kind regards, 

School Office

Dear Parent, Guardian,

We hope that this letter finds you all well. We are writing to you to update on various elements of school life.

Accommodation Update & Parking

As you know, five weeks ago, a Letter of Intent (LOI) has issued by the Department to the preferred contractor for our permanent building. Our understanding is that things are moving along with the Letter of Acceptance (LOA) which will allow the contractor to mobilise on site, expected mid-summer and construction to commence shortly thereafter. Once construction commences we will lose access at the start of 2024-2025 academic year to a large number of the parking spots currently available for staff.

Much of the success to date of our school has been down to our ability to recruit talented teachers committed to our school vision and motivated to ensure that your children receive the best educational experience possible. Our classroom learning environment and extra and co-curricular programme is testament to this.

We are reaching out to seek your help with this matter. We urgently need parking spaces within walking distance from school for staff to whom public transport is not a viable option. If any of you have or know of someone who may have a parking spot available during school hours which could be made available to a teacher/SNA, we would be hugely grateful. For our staff who travel long distances daily to get to HCETSS, this could be the difference between staying in our school or accepting another position closer to home. Please contact the school office in confidence if you think you can help.

 Attendance & Punctuality

We would like to say another huge thank you for your support with our attendance and punctuality drive for Term 3. We saw a continued decrease in the number of students arriving to school between one to ten minutes late. Your support has meant that our students are getting the most from their time in school and are setting a good pattern for school and life going forward.

 Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme

Over the past five weeks, we have engaged with numerous school book companies and stationery providers. Following this extensive tendering process, we are delighted to inform you that the Junior Cycle School Books Scheme will cover all of your child’s textbook costs as well as all of their stationery costs. Orders have been placed and we expect delivery mid-summer. All of these books and stationery packs will then be sorted into student bundles and given to your child at the start of 2024-2025 academic year. In June, our Board of Management will ratify our Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Policy which will then be shared with you all in August. Please note that all of these books, school journal and materials belong to the school and that any textbooks which are damaged will need to be replaced, with the cost borne by the parent. It is expected that at least one if not two subsequent students will be using the same set of textbooks for their Junior Cycle education once your child completes their Junior Cycle.

2024-2025 Administration Charge

Our Board of Management have decided to increase our school administration charge to €175. This is the first increase in four years and reflects the substantial increase in costs of running our school during this time.

 The 2024-2025 charge covers essential items for your child such as their:

• 24 hour student insurance
• Locker & dial lock
• Office 365 licence
• VS ware subscription
• Schoolwise subscription
• Language Perfect subscription
• School App subscription
• Careers Portal licence

 Your child’s insurance covers them for all on-site and off-site school organised activities. It also covers them in the event of an accident at home during the week, weekends and during school holidays.

You can pay this charge via our school app and if you wish to pay this charge in instalments, please contact Alex in confidence in the school office. We would greatly appreciate if you could process this payment by Monday 17th June.

 Dress Code Expectations

Please note that for our whole school trip on Wednesday, all school policies including our Dress Code applies. We have clarified our expectations to all students. Any students on Wednesday who are not meeting expectations regarding dress code will not be permitted to travel on this trip and will instead be provided with school work to complete in school under the direction of the Deputy Principal. Please note no refund will be provided in this case. We attach a copy of the Dress Code to ensure that we are all on the same page. Thank you for your support with this matter.

 Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for all that you do to help our school community thrive and flourish.

 Kind regards,

Pádraig Conaty, Principal                                                                                                                         

Mick Heffernan, Deputy Principal

Dear parents/guardians, 

We are in process of reviewing Food Village menu and set-up. Please see below link to a parent survey:

forms.office.com/e/B07DvPnuu2

We would greatly appreciate if you could complete this by Friday 7th June. Your feedback will be essential to enable us to improve and build upon this year’s success.

Thank you and kind regards, 

Food Village

Dear Parent, Guardian, Carer,

We hope that this letter finds you all well. We are writing to update you on our permanent accommodation.

We have been informed by the Department of Education that the assessment of tenders has now concluded and a Letter of Intent (LOI) has issued by the Department to the preferred tenderer.

Lot 6 which included 10 school building projects has been divided into two separate lots. Our school is in Lot 6B with Harold’s Cross Educate Together National School, Malahide Portmarnock ETSS Phase II, Enfield Community College and Griffeen Community College. All five schools will be built by the same contractor.

The LOI allows the preferred tenderer to put in place the Bond, Insurances, and confirmations of all legal arrangements required under the Contract. The next step will be the issue of the Letters of Acceptance to the successful contractor.

This will be done following further engagement by the Department with the successful contractor in relation to their tender for the design and construction of the new schools. This engagement will also provide clarity on the contractor’s programme of works for the delivery of the projects and timelines.

 Following receipt of all the necessary documentation and clarifications, the Department will then be in a position to issue the Letter of Acceptance (LOA) which will allow the contractor to mobilise on site.

 This is a significant milestone for our school and we are very appreciative of the immense support and representations made by you, our parents and guardians, to help get this project to this point.

We will update you all further as the project progresses and when the Letter of Acceptance (LOA) issues.

 Thank you again for your continued support.

Kind regards,

Padraig Conaty, Principal/Secretary to Board of Management

Dear parents/guardians,

As a Smart Moves school, we are delighted to share with you information regarding our upcoming FREE online webinar What is Coco’s Law - A webinar for parents/ carers & practitioners.

 Under the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act, Coco' s Law created new offences which criminalise the non-consensual distribution of intimate images prohibiting the sharing of intimate images without the original poster's consent.

 This important webinar will focus on awareness and understanding of Coco’s Law, recognition of the issues that it covers & guidance on how to avail of its provisions (reporting). Keynote speaker on the night is Fiona Jennings, Head of Policy & Public Affairs with the ISPCC.

 It takes place on Tuesday April 30th at 7pm. Registration is now open, and we would appreciate if you could share the above information and the attached leaflets promoting the webinar to your school community. 

 By clicking on the ‘register here’ link on the leaflet you will be able to register for this webinar.

 Thank you for your support in spreading the word about this event.

Kind regards, 

Dear Parents/Guardians,

 We hope that this letter finds you all well and that you and your families had a restful Easter break. We are writing to you to update on various elements of school life.

 Attendance & Punctuality

We would like to say a huge thank you for your support with our attendance and punctuality drive for Term 2. We saw a large decrease in the number of students arriving to between 1 – 10 minutes late. We ask for your continued support for Term 3. Students who arrive late to school are missing out on the important social aspect of connecting with their and this also causes disruption to class time which begins at 8:20am. There may of course be times when due to unforeseen circumstances that a student may be late, but this should be the exception rather than the norm. Good attendance is vital (with the exception of illnesses of course) and ensures that our students are getting the most from their time in school and sets a good pattern for school and life going forward.

 Effort & Kindness

In Term 2, our second focus was on our pillar values, effort. Padraig presented to each year group on the importance of effort in their lives, what effort looks like and how effort can help to build resilience. There were also presentations to the students who had received the most Vs Ware effort points in each year group in Term 2. From mid-March onwards, we turned our focus to Kindness which saw a 53% increase in kindness points compared to the previous month. In two weeks’ time, Mick will present to all students in our weekly assemblies around the importance of kindness and how we can show kindness to ourselves and each other. Later this term, we will present awards to students in each year group who have received the most Vs Ware points for showing kindness towards other members of our school community.

 Student Council & Toilets

Our student council are focusing this term on helping to improve the aesthetic and student experience of our student toilets. We have unfortunately had a small number of vandalism issues in our student toilets during Term 2. Over the course of the next two weeks, Student Council Reps along with Year Coordinators will present to all students in our weekly assemblies around the positive changes made and also ask of students that toilets are respected for all students. Vandalism of any school property is a very serious offence in our school as it negatively impacts on the student experience in our school. We ask that you speak to your child about this natter to ensure that our parents/guardians are re-enforcing the message which our student council and Year Coordinators will deliver this week and next.

 Free Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme

As you may be aware, the Department of Education recently announced a Free Book Scheme for all Junior Cycle students (Years 1-3) for 2024-2025. The rate per capita funding to be provided is €309 per student. This equates to €927 across the 3 years of Junior Cycle and takes into consideration that, in general, the cost of schoolbooks and core classroom resources is much higher in First Year than Second or Third Year. Please note that this rate is currently applicable to the 2024/25 school year only. The Free Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme should dramatically reduce the cost of schoolbooks and core classroom resources for our Junior Cycle students. Schools will purchase and own the schoolbooks, which will be provided on loan to students for the school year. For the 2024/25 school year, after all textbooks have been purchased, the scheme will also cover the cost of core classroom resources with any monies left. Such materials may include copybooks, hardback notebooks, school journals and calculators required for all subjects as well as subject-specific resource items such as lab copybooks for science subjects or dictionaries for language subjects.

Our management body, the JMB is actively working with the Department of Education to refine existing procurement processes and we have been advised to not purchase any textbooks until the Department provide clarity around procurement parameters and requirements for this specific scheme.

We have commenced work on the planning required for the implementation of the Scheme and are compiling booklists. We will update you further in May once the procurement process is finalised.

Recruitment

We have commenced recruitment for 2024-2025. At the moment, we are looking for teachers with one or more of the following subjects:

• Technology
• Graphics
• Economics
• Irish
• Spanish
• Science
• P.E
• History
• Geography

Much of the success to date of our school has been down to our ability to recruit and retain talented teachers committed to our school vision and motivated to ensure that your children receive the best educational experience possible. Our classroom learning environment and extra and co-curricular programme is testament to this. However, as I am sure many of you already know, there is currently a recruitment crisis within the teaching profession with the matter being most acutely felt in Dublin. If you know of any teachers qualified in any of the above subjects who would like to teach in an equality-based, inclusive school, please direct them towards educationposts.ie. Similarly if you or anyone you know might have a room to rent from September onwards to a prospective teacher, please contact Alex in the school office in confidence (office@hcetss.ie)

 Dress Code Expectations

As the weather hopefully improves, we would like to remind you all of our student expectations with regard to student dress.

• Our expectations are that clothing will be clean and comfortable and allow freedom of movement for active learning.
• Please ensure that your child avoids the display of inappropriate slogans, graphics or offensive language on clothing and/or accessories.
• Hats, caps, hoods, other headgear (except for religious head coverings) and sunglasses must not be worn indoors.
• It is expected that all students will be identifiable and that any make-up or coverings such as hats, caps, hoods and sunglasses will not interfere with communication during teaching and learning activities.
• Jewellery should be appropriate to daily school life. Jewellery that is very long, loose or large is a health and safety issue in practical classes and on crowded corridors and should not be worn.
• Torn/ripped jeans may only be worn if the rips/tears are at the knee or below and do not pose a health and safety risk in the school environment.
• Flip flops are not permitted.
• Vest tops/sleeveless tops must not be worn.
• Tops that expose the midriff must not be worn.
• Clothing should cover underwear and should not be see-through.
• Shorts, skirts and dresses should be mid-thigh length
• Outdoor coats cannot be worn in class.

Hair Styles

• Hair should always be clean
• A student’s eyes should not be covered by a hairstyle.

Make-Up

• Make-up is allowed in school it should be applied in moderation.
• False/acrylic nails that impede writing, typing or practical work must not be worn to school.

During PE and other sporting activities:

• Please ensure that sportswear and trainers/runners are worn
• No jewellery other than a sports watch to be worn.
• Football shorts or similar shorts are permitted for sporting activities only.

HCETSS understands that some students may need exemptions for sensory reasons. Permission for such exemptions should be sought by contacting school office - office@hcetss.ie.

 HX Park & Surrounds

As the summer term commences, we ask that all students are mindful of our local neighbours, particularly at the end of the school day as almost 300 students depart our campus. Our local park is beautifully maintained by Dublin City Council and is a fantastic asset to our local community. We ask that any students this term who wish to use the park after school do so in small groups and are respectful of other park users. Any students who wish to play football/hurling etc. after school must use an alternative park as ball sports are strictly prohibited in Harold’s Cross Park.

Similarly, we ask that any students who wish to use the Centra on Harold’s Cross Road do so in a respectful way and do not congregate in the shop, causing inconvenience to fellow shoppers. Students must pay in full for any food items they wish to purchase.

In addition, we ask that if your child needs to access Leinster Place (directly behind Centra on Harold’s Cross Road) in order to get into or get home from school, they need to move through the area and must not congregate. Similarly, if your child does not need to access this area on their way to or from school, please ask them to simply avoid the area altogether.

 As a school of and for our local community, we wish to enhance our local area and to never impact negatively on our neighbours right to safety and enjoyment of their environs. We thank you for your support with this important matter.

 School Zone Installation

We are delighted to inform you that installation of our School Zone will commence today. A huge thanks to all our parents who engaged with the consultation process and supported our application. We commenced this process in January 2021 and it has only been with your support that we have managed to get to the installation phase. Parent power in practice! The Dublin City Council consultation hub has been updated with a synopsis of feedback received and the Council’s responses to same. The design has remained the same and both drawings are still available on the consultation hub, which can be accessed here. Installation should greatly enhance visibility of our school and by extension student safety around our school entrance.

 Webwise Webinar & Parent Resources

Webwise are currently hosting a series of webinars led by Dr Colman Noctor – Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytical Psychotherapist. These webinars will provide excellent practical advice and strategies for supporting your child in the digital world. Webwise will also outline a suite of advice and resources for parents/families/guardians. 

Please register via below link: www.webwise.ie/trending/safe-and-empowered-supporting-children-online-with-colman-noctor/

 Calendar 2024-2025

We are in the process of finalising our school calendar for 2024-2025. Please note that school will re-open for First Years only on Friday 23rd August with all other year groups returning week commencing Monday 26th August. As per previous years, we will have a phased return.

 In terms of school holidays, please see below:

• October Midterm: We will close on Friday 25th October and re-open on Monday 4th November.
• Christmas Holidays: We will close on Friday 20th December and re-open on Monday 6th January 2025.
• February Midterm: We will close on Friday 14th February and re-open on Monday 24th February.
• Easter Holidays: We will close on Friday 11th April and re-open on Monday 28th April.
• The academic year will end on Friday 30th May.

More detailed calendar to follow over the coming weeks.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for all that you do to help our school community thrive and flourish.

Kind regards,

Pádraig Conaty, Principal                                                                                                                         

Mick Heffernan, Deputy Principal

• HCETSS sports day will take place on Monday 27th at HCYFC. Eircode: D6W VY70
• Students are split into teams & have been assigned a colour which they should wear on the day. 
• School starts at the normal time of 8:20 and students will have first 2 classes as normal. They will need materials for these.
• Tutors will walk with their class to the pitch. 
• Sports day will end at 15:00 at HCYFC - students can be collected outside but no cars should enter. 
• Students will need: A rain jacket, lunch, sun cream, prescribed medication (eg an inhaler) and plenty of water. 
• N/B: Due to building works at HCYFC there will be only 2 portaloos available for use. Students can expect to have to queue for the toilet and should make sure to go before leaving school. 

Dear Parents/Guardians, 

If your child/children is/are leaving the school and will not be returning after the summer holidays, if you have not already done so, please contact Alex in the office to let her know as soon as is possible (office@hcetss.ie).

We are working through a substantial waitlist currently for all year groups.

Many thanks for your co-operation.

Kind regards, 

Padraig Conaty, Principal