Dear parents/guardians,

Gaelic Football training will be happening this Friday 18th November for both girls and boys. The training starts at 1pm in Dolphin's Park (Templeogue/Synge Street GAA club) and finishes at 2pm. Please bring football boots & a gum shield if you have them. 

Many thanks, Deirdre 

Dear Parents/Guardians,

HCETSS is committed to developing and promoting the literacy skills of our students. As part of this work, over the coming weeks, we intend to screen all First Years’ literacy skills by looking at their reading, spelling and writing. We are doing this to help us identify students’ strengths and needs in order to plan our literacy supports.

The screening test we are using is called the Post Primary Assessment & Diagnosis-English (or PPAD-E for short). The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), working with the Educational Research Centre (ERC), recently designed this test specifically for students in Irish post primary schools.

The PPAD-E has five parts: reading and understanding passages, spelling, written work, reading speed, and word reading. Four of the five parts of the PPAD-E are completed in class groups. This takes approximately one hour to complete. The final part, a short word reading task, is done individually, with a teacher in the school. The test is suited to all ability levels, including students who struggle with reading.

There is no need for your child to prepare in advance. The purpose of the test is to help us know when someone may need extra help with learning, and what kind of help might be best. As we identify those students who require extra help, we will be able to tailor classroom instruction to meet those needs and give targeted interventions to those who need it.

Following the assessment, the ERC receives an anonymised dataset from the school that contains only school ID and test scores. The ERC uses this information to know how many tests are being taken, to manage printing and supplies, and also to use as a basis for future development of the PPAD-E test. Your child’s information will not be identifiable because the student names, IDs or any other identifying information, will not be shared by the school with the ERC.

Thank you for your continued support.

Kind regards, 

Padraig

Dear parents/guardians,

There will be no after school GAA training today, Friday 25/11.

Kind regards, School Office

Dear Parents/Guardians, 

Please see attached updated calendar for the remainder of this academic year.

Kind regards, School Office

Dear parents/ guardians,

The football club is cancelled today, 22/11.

Drama, Cooking and Baking club are cancelled for today as Holly, Amy and Lorraine have a meeting after school.

Apologies for any inconvenience. It will resume next week. 

Re: Cooking and Baking Club - Due to the reduced numbers attending we are putting together the year groups so it is now open to everyone who has signed up every week and not just every second week. Recipe will be on the window of Room 5 so that students can check what ingredients are required.

Thank you,

Holly, Lorraine and Amy

Dear parents/guardians,

Following the recent commencement of the Education (Provision in respect of Children with Special Educational Needs) Act 2022, all schools are required to amend their Admission Policy. In accordance with Section 62 of the Education Act 1998, where a board of management proposes to amend its Admission Policy, it must go through a consultation process with staff, parents of students and students.  

The only amendment to the current policy is the insertion of the following two statements:  

Harold’s Cross ETSS will cooperate with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) in the performance by the Council of its functions under the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 in relation to the provision of education to children with additional (“special”) educational needs, including in particular by the provision and operation of a specialised class or classes when requested to do so by the Council.  

Harold’s Cross ETSS will comply with any direction served on the board or the patron under section 37A and 67(4)(b). 

This amendment is required by legislation and if you have any feedback on the proposed amendment, please send it in by 30 November 2022.  

Yours sincerely,  

Pádraig Conaty

Principal

Dear parents/guardians,

Reminder - school will be closed on Wednesday 30th of November to cater for staff's JCT training day.

Kind regards, School Office