Going Forward in the New Normal.

Friday 27th March

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I have been reading many articles during this week searching for answers as to how to navigate on this journey.
The following is the best advice I feel I can offer at this time ;

This is a really strange time but the following tips and ideas might make the next few weeks at home a little bit more manageable. Maybe some of them will be useful for you, maybe some will not, so pick and choose to best suit your children.

While I think it is fantastic that so many companies, teachers and other educators sharing ideas and activities to do at home, I do also think it can be utterly overwhelming and can make us as parents wonder if we are doing enough and we can be tempted to compare ourselves to other parents. I cannot stress this enough :
You know your children best, you know what they need and what works best for them so do it your own way. Be confident in your ability to do this! Do not be under pressure to complete every single fantastic activity.  Keep it real. Pick and choose what you feel will work best for your family.

I think you will all agree that this is a scary time for everyone. It is both strange and difficult to be working from home especially since we do not know when this will be over.  Our 'normal' daily routines have completely changed. The same goes for the children.  This is a tricky time for them ; the initial excitement of having two weeks free of school has worn off as they are not able to carry on as normal, meeting and playing with friends, going to GAA, rugby or gymnastics.  We need to let them have time to be children as they try to make sense of what is happening and come to terms with all the changes to their lives.

Activities and School Work: 
Your child's teacher will post to their classroom blog each week, with work for your child to complete.   You will need to check the Blogspot for each teacher - you can access this from the main Blog/website page if you scroll down, each teacher has her own page on the right hand side.

We will communicate via the Blog/website on any new information or updates in relation to Distance learning.

Padlets:  Each teacher has made a Padlet for her class. The Padlet is filled with resources and links to relevant websites.  These will be updated with new activities regularly.

Please use this time to REVISE  what your child already knows and perhaps give them some challenges based on what they have learned.

Teach your child real 'life skills' - baking and cooking, sewing on a button, putting on a wash, folding their clothes, ironing, budgeting, money, telling the time and playing cards!

Above all else I hope we as a community are all doing okay.

On behalf of the staff of Scoil Bhride I wish each and every family a safe journey at this time.

Take Care of yourselves and each other.

God Bless,

Everyone at Scoil Bhride.

An article for parents from today's Irish Independent: