Message from the staff of St. Raphael’s.
Dear Pupils, Parents and Guardians,
We hope that you have had a good Easter break and that you have enjoyed the good weather. We have never before had a situation to deal with, like the current crisis. As you all know, the Government has extended the current “lockdown” arrangements until May 5th and it seems likely that schools will remain closed beyond that date. As the final 6 week term of the school year begins, we would like to assure you that we will be working hard to ensure that all of our pupils are supported in every way that we can as we continue with our distance learning programme.
We would ask all pupils and parents to continue to engage in a positive way with all of our teachers to ensure that high quality teaching and learning can continue for the next 6 weeks. We have identified that we may have overloaded pupils with work in the first days of this new arrangement. Over the next 6 weeks, we will be more conscious of the extra pressure that pupils are under and we will allow some extra time for pupils to get their work done and return work to teachers. If pupils have particular difficulties, please let teachers know and if parents have any concerns, please contact Mr. Cafferky or Mr. Hardiman at the email addresses below.
A good routine will be very important over the next 6 weeks. We strongly encourage all pupils to follow your normal school timetable as much as possible and try to get through your work in an organised way.
As you know, the Junior Cert exams have been cancelled and will be replaced by school based exams in September. The Leaving Cert exams have been scheduled to take place in late July/August. We have written to all Leaving Certs and Junior Certs with particular advice.
For 1st year, 2nd year and Senior 1 pupils, we will have Summer tests in most subjects (details on practical subjects to follow) and teachers will provide details of those exams over the next few weeks. We hope and expect that all students will continue to work diligently in preparation for those exams.
T.Y. pupils will also have assessments coming up before the end of the school year. These assessments will have a very significant bearing on your T.Y. results and awards. Please continue with the work you were given prior to the Easter holidays and you will be contacted over the next week with further information.
We would like to thank all pupils and parents for the extraordinarily positive way in which you have engaged with us so far. We look forward to continuing with this work with you over the next 6 weeks. You can be 100% certain of our full support for you in every way that we can
Best wishes.