A Chara,
Beidh cruinniú ar líne againn le tuistí Bliain 1 ar an Déardaoin Meán Fómhair an 5ú ach idir seo agus sin léigh an t-eolas tábhachtach seo le do thoil.
We will be holding an online meeting on September the 5th @19.00 to go through all sorts of different things but in the meantime please read through the following information which is important for the first week.
Leabhair / Books
As you know the Department of Education are now funding the purchase of textbooks, copies and other stationary for the duration of your son and daughters Bliain 1,2 &3 in secondary school. We will be providing students with these items in the first week of school. We will be helping the students to download the ebook onto their iPads so when this process is complete we advise that students keep the physical textbook at home if they want. All students will be provided with lockers so students can store the textbooks in the locker and bring things home gradually instead of bringing everything at once. Please note that we do not provide students with a lock for the locker so students have the option of leaving the locker closed without a lock or bringing in their own lock.
Éide Scoile – Uniform
From the start of this school year students will wear their full and proper school uniform on days when they don’t have PE or a sports game or activity. If students arrive into school with a tracksuit on when they don’t have PE or a sports activity they will be asked to contact home to get their proper uniform delivered or they will have to wear a uniform we provide from our stock in school. Before the start of the Summer I explained that a new GCM gilet is now available from local shops for anyone who wants an extra layer for the winter months. We wont be allowing students to wear their own coats in the classrooms from now on, they can wear them moving from class to class and at break times etc but not in the classroom itself. Your support of our uniform policy is much appreciated.
Vsware - Tinreamh / Attendance
In GCM we use the Vsware system to monitor everything from attendance to academic performance. We will be providing parents with log in details for parental access in the coming days. For now one of the most important aspects of vsware we want you to be aware of is the attendance function. We process all reasons for partial or full day absences through the vsware app. This means that parents record all reasons for absences in this way so no need for notes or emails.
If this is your first child in GCM please see below an explainer on how to use this function.
When you receive the log in details later this week-
Firstly download the vsware app-
Submitting absences / Informing the school when your child is absent-
Future absence
- To inform the school that your child will be absent for any reason, medical appointment etc., go to the main Attendance screen for your child, scroll down to Absence Requests and click Submit Absence-
- Then select either Single Day or Multi Date and hit Next
- Select the date, the type of absence (holiday, illness etc), and provide a reason for the absence
- Hit Submit. Your absence request will be sent to the school for approval
Note: if you select Single Day you will be given the option to select a Full Day or Partial Day absence
Past, unexplained absence
If your child has been absent in the past without an explanation being given to the school, you can record the reason in one of two ways
- Go to the main Attendance screen for your child, scroll down to Absence Requests and click Submit Absence
- Select Past Absence and hit Next
- Then select the date in question, enter the type and reason for the absence and hit Submit. The information will then be sent to the school
- Alternatively, there will be a notification on in red at the top of the Attendance screen. Click into this to record the reason for the absence
If further help is needed with this function please follow this link to view a one minute video of how to submit an absence request from the parent app-
https://support.vsware.ie/en/a-parent-sending-an-absence-request
Vsmail-
Beyond this function there is also a very useful way for the school to send messages out via the app -Vsmail. This will significantly reduce the cost of sending out texts as we do at the moment. Texts will still be sent for very important information but general information will be shared through the Vsmail.
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As stated above we will cover anything else relevant at our online meeting on September 5th.
We look forward to seeing Bliain 1 for their induction next Monday the 26th from 9:30 to 13:30.
Le gach deá-ghuí,
Tony Ó Murchú
Príomhoide