Dear Student & Parent/Guardian,
Happy New Year.
I hope all is good with you as we prepare for another period of online classes with some access to physical classes in the college for 6th years only on 3 days per week. This arrangement is scheduled to be in place for 3 weeks beginning on Monday January 11th. Please read all the information below.
There will be no online classes from 1:20pm on Monday 11th to accommodate a full staff meeting. Classes will resume at 9:00am on Tuesday 12th.
6th Years
Having examined timetables for 6th years the following rotation of days will be used over the next 3 weeks.
In addition to this Mr PJ Walsh will look at the timetable to accommodate our 6th years in the largest rooms available to maximise potential social distancing on the days you/they will attend physically for classes.
At present there is no support to remotely attend classes that are being taught physically in the college should you chose not to attend on the days the college is open to 6th years. If this situation changes, I will update you.
ASD Hub – Ostia.
A programme for the support of ASD students will be developed in the coming days and parents/guardians contacted directly.
Online Classes
Online teaching and learning can never replace the face-to-face interactions of the classroom, but we must do our best to facilitate learning and teaching. Please note some of the key points from ‘Teaching & Learning in Lockdown’ to get us started.
- Your 9am to 4pm school timetable will be followed by teachers in all year groups with built in breaks of 10 or 20 minutes. ie 30-minute singles or 60-minute doubles.
- All online communication must be respectful and through Teams/Office 365 platform as per our Internet Acceptable Use Policy found at https://goodcounselcollege.ie/about/school-policies/
- Our preferred method of delivery of lessons is online classes which can be supplemented with emails etc.
- A roll call will be taken on VSware.
- Please follow the guidance in relation to the submission of homework and assignments.
The full ‘Teaching & Learning in Lockdown’ document which we developed based on student, teacher and parent experiences from March to June 2020 can be found at the following link and was shared with parents/guardians and students on our website in late October. https://goodcounselcollege.ie/c-plan/
Avoid speculation – particularly the negative spirals that can be found on Twitter, Facebook and other social media, and continue to engage in your programme of leaning. I along with Mr Aidan O’Brien, Mr PJ Walsh, your teachers and Year Heads will keep you up to date as we get further information from the DES and SEC and make decisions regarding Mock Examinations, Work Experience, CBAs, Subject Choice, CAO etc. You can find our teachers email addresses at the following link https://goodcounselcollege.ie/about/staff/.
If you have any questions or have reason to struggle with online classes, please do not hesitate to contact me. Stay safe and please follow the public health advice in order that we can return to the college as soon as possible.
Until then the post below, sent out in March of 2020 to help you manage your day is again relevant. https://goodcounselcollege.ie/school-closure-time-management/
Enjoy your evening.
Kind regards,
