GENERAL INFORMATION

School Day

Main School

Monday to Thursday

8.55 a.m. - 2.00 p.m.        P1 - P2

8.55 a.m. - 3.00 p.m.        P3 - P7

Friday

8.55 a.m. - 2.00 p.m.        P1 - P7

Children must be in school in time for morning prayers at 8.55 am.

Health & Safety

The staff members of St. Joseph’s are committed to ensuring the health and safety of your children while they are at school.To assist us in the above we would ask for your co-operation in the following:

Collecting P1 and P2 Pupils

In the interests of pupils’ safety and Child Protection, the parents of P1 and P2 children are asked to come right in to the school doors and collect their children. P1 children are collected from the door near the principal’s office, while P2 children are collected from the main door, near the secretary’s office. Please inform the school /class teacher if someone different should be collecting the child on any particular occasion.

Collecting P3 - P7 Pupils

Parents who are bringing their children home from school by car are asked to collect them at the school gate. Due to the dangers of the large volume of traffic at the football pitch, children are not permitted to walk from the school gate to the pitch until the traffic is well cleared. Parents who park at the shop are asked to come across to the school gate to collect children. This is necessary because of the large volume of traffic on the far side of the road from the school. For safety reasons, children wishing to go to the shop immediately after school must be accompanied by an adult.

Safety At The School Gate

Parents are asked not to park in front of the school gate. When cars are parked there, the buses cannot pull in to get the children off and on the buses safely. Parents and anyone else collecting children from school or leaving them back to school at other times, are asked not to park in front of the school gate, as this prevents delivery lorries and vans from getting into the school grounds

Taking children to and from Nursery:

All nursery children must be brought to the Nursery using the entrance of Cuchullain’s G.A.C. No nursery children can go there, via our main building or playground. However, older children who have a younger brother or sister at the nursery can come to the main school, through the nursery gate.

Please note that a one-way system around Cuchullain’s pitch operates at all times for everyone going to and from nursery.

Safety At The Nursery Gate

We strongly discourage any children leaving our premises by the nursery gate, as this is not an official exit point from the main school. If any parent is meeting their child at the nursery, they need to sign a special letter to request permission for this. Children from the main school should wait for parents in the covered area beside the nursery door. They cannot go into the nursery building as the foyer is very congested at this time. P3 - P7 children are not allowed to collect their younger brothers or sisters from the nursery.

 Thank you for your co-operation in helping to keep your children safe.

Encouraging Healthy Lifestyles

This is a health promoting school. To meet our statutory requirement to encourage healthy lifestyles for our pupils, in St. Joseph’s we have the following arrangements in place:

1)     Healthy Breaks:

Fruit or milk only snacks for morning break. It is important that the children have either milk or a small piece of fruit at break time. It is important that the children have something to eat or drink between breakfast and dinner.

2)     Healthy School Meals menus:

Our new school menus are now available. These meet the Department of Education’s Nutritional Standards for School Meals. The standards give very clear guidance on what nutrients and vitamins must be made available in the food choices for the children. Our delicious school meals are becoming increasingly popular with the children. They are tasty, nutritious and provide excellent value for money, with the Friday “roastie” dinner attracting huge numbers every week.

3)     Water on Desks:

Educational research shows that children’s brains are kept alert by having sips of water at regular intervals during the school day. To benefit from this very simple, but effective way of improving your child/children’s learning, we ask that you send a bottle of water to school, with your child every day. Bottles should be the sports type pop corks rather than screw tops, as they tend to leak very easily. Children’s names should be on the bottles.

4)     Encouraging children to have healthy lunches:

We encourage our pupils to bring healthy lunches to school, with bread, fruit, vegetables and water being much healthier options than crisps, bars or fruit juices. We ask you to support us in this aspect of our health promotion.

5)     School Milk:

We love to see the children having school milk, but would encourage you to discuss this with your child, before ordering. Some children are not willing to drink their milk, even though it has been paid for.

School Meals Menus

School meals are available in our canteen. The menus operate on a four-week cycle. At the beginning of the school year a colour coded menu for each week is sent home, enabling you to choose what your child can purchase for his/her mid-day meal.  As the school canteen operates like a shop, all children must bring their dinner money to school every day. All our school meals meet the Department of Education’s Nutritional Standards for School Meals. These standards give very clear guidance on what nutrients and vitamins must be made available in the food choices for the children. Our delicious school meals are becoming increasingly popular with the children. They are tasty, nutritious and provide excellent value for money. The cost of a school meal is £2.60.

Clothing

As part of our promotion of a healthy lifestyle it is our policy that children go outside to play every morning and lunchtime unless the weather is very wet. Children should bring a coat and a cap, or a hooded coat to school every day, even if the weather is fine in the morning. Caps are much better because hoods blow down when the children are running.Children who are not properly dressed for poor weather cannot go outside on such days.

Trainers are the most suitable and safest footwear for school. They are needed, not only on the days the children have PE, but every day, as the children have morning and lunchtime play outside. For safety reasons, children will not be able to go on the jungle gym, or the obstacle course, unless they are wearing trainers.

Personal Details

It is important that the school is informed immediately of:

  • Change of address
  • Change of contact persons and contact telephone numbers
  • Any medical condition that the school is not aware of
  • Any other circumstances that might affect your child’s happiness, wellbeing or learning

GENERAL INFORMATION

School Day

Main School

Monday to Thursday

8.55 a.m. - 2.00 p.m.        P1 - P2

8.55 a.m. - 3.00 p.m.        P3 - P7

Friday

8.55 a.m. - 2.00 p.m.        P1 - P7

Children must be in school in time for morning prayers at 8.55 am.

Health & Safety

The staff members of St. Joseph’s are committed to ensuring the health and safety of your children while they are at school.To assist us in the above we would ask for your co-operation in the following:

Collecting P1 and P2 Pupils

In the interests of pupils’ safety and Child Protection, the parents of P1 and P2 children are asked to come right in to the school doors and collect their children. P1 children are collected from the door near the principal’s office, while P2 children are collected from the main door, near the secretary’s office. Please inform the school /class teacher if someone different should be collecting the child on any particular occasion.

Collecting P3 - P7 Pupils

Parents who are bringing their children home from school by car are asked to collect them at the school gate. Due to the dangers of the large volume of traffic at the football pitch, children are not permitted to walk from the school gate to the pitch until the traffic is well cleared. Parents who park at the shop are asked to come across to the school gate to collect children. This is necessary because of the large volume of traffic on the far side of the road from the school. For safety reasons, children wishing to go to the shop immediately after school must be accompanied by an adult.

Safety At The School Gate

Parents are asked not to park in front of the school gate. When cars are parked there, the buses cannot pull in to get the children off and on the buses safely. Parents and anyone else collecting children from school or leaving them back to school at other times, are asked not to park in front of the school gate, as this prevents delivery lorries and vans from getting into the school grounds

Taking children to and from Nursery:

All nursery children must be brought to the Nursery using the entrance of Cuchullain’s G.A.C. No nursery children can go there, via our main building or playground. However, older children who have a younger brother or sister at the nursery can come to the main school, through the nursery gate.

Please note that a one-way system around Cuchullain’s pitch operates at all times for everyone going to and from nursery.

Safety At The Nursery Gate

We strongly discourage any children leaving our premises by the nursery gate, as this is not an official exit point from the main school. If any parent is meeting their child at the nursery, they need to sign a special letter to request permission for this. Children from the main school should wait for parents in the covered area beside the nursery door. They cannot go into the nursery building as the foyer is very congested at this time. P3 - P7 children are not allowed to collect their younger brothers or sisters from the nursery.

 Thank you for your co-operation in helping to keep your children safe.

Encouraging Healthy Lifestyles

This is a health promoting school. To meet our statutory requirement to encourage healthy lifestyles for our pupils, in St. Joseph’s we have the following arrangements in place:

1)     Healthy Breaks:

Fruit or milk only snacks for morning break. It is important that the children have either milk or a small piece of fruit at break time. It is important that the children have something to eat or drink between breakfast and dinner.

2)     Healthy School Meals menus:

Our new school menus are now available. These meet the Department of Education’s Nutritional Standards for School Meals. The standards give very clear guidance on what nutrients and vitamins must be made available in the food choices for the children. Our delicious school meals are becoming increasingly popular with the children. They are tasty, nutritious and provide excellent value for money, with the Friday “roastie” dinner attracting huge numbers every week.

3)     Water on Desks:

Educational research shows that children’s brains are kept alert by having sips of water at regular intervals during the school day. To benefit from this very simple, but effective way of improving your child/children’s learning, we ask that you send a bottle of water to school, with your child every day. Bottles should be the sports type pop corks rather than screw tops, as they tend to leak very easily. Children’s names should be on the bottles.

4)     Encouraging children to have healthy lunches:

We encourage our pupils to bring healthy lunches to school, with bread, fruit, vegetables and water being much healthier options than crisps, bars or fruit juices. We ask you to support us in this aspect of our health promotion.

5)     School Milk:

We love to see the children having school milk, but would encourage you to discuss this with your child, before ordering. Some children are not willing to drink their milk, even though it has been paid for.

School Meals Menus

School meals are available in our canteen. The menus operate on a four-week cycle. At the beginning of the school year a colour coded menu for each week is sent home, enabling you to choose what your child can purchase for his/her mid-day meal.  As the school canteen operates like a shop, all children must bring their dinner money to school every day. All our school meals meet the Department of Education’s Nutritional Standards for School Meals. These standards give very clear guidance on what nutrients and vitamins must be made available in the food choices for the children. Our delicious school meals are becoming increasingly popular with the children. They are tasty, nutritious and provide excellent value for money. The cost of a school meal is £2.60.

Clothing

As part of our promotion of a healthy lifestyle it is our policy that children go outside to play every morning and lunchtime unless the weather is very wet. Children should bring a coat and a cap, or a hooded coat to school every day, even if the weather is fine in the morning. Caps are much better because hoods blow down when the children are running.Children who are not properly dressed for poor weather cannot go outside on such days.

Trainers are the most suitable and safest footwear for school. They are needed, not only on the days the children have PE, but every day, as the children have morning and lunchtime play outside. For safety reasons, children will not be able to go on the jungle gym, or the obstacle course, unless they are wearing trainers.

Personal Details

It is important that the school is informed immediately of:

  • Change of address
  • Change of contact persons and contact telephone numbers
  • Any medical condition that the school is not aware of
  • Any other circumstances that might affect your child’s happiness, wellbeing or learning