Christmas 2020 in Mary Mother of Hope Senior School

Christmas 2020 in Mary Mother of Hope Senior School

Dear parents,

We are busy preparing to celebrate Christmas in school, and while this year, things may be different, there’s lots of excitement in the air!

Owing to Covid-19 restrictions, we will be changing how we celebrate Christmas. We will not be able to hold our traditional Christmas Carol Service or bring parents in for our outdoor Carol Singing, but we are working hard to ensure that our pupils have plenty of activities in store in the weeks ahead nevertheless.

Panto Day:

We are in for a very special treat across the Junior and Senior schools on Friday the 18th December, when we will be streaming the Helix Panto into every classroom. If we cannot go to the Panto, the Panto will come to us!! We are really looking forward to this special day- and best of all, there is no charge to the pupils, the school will pay for the performances in recognition of all the work the children have done in keeping our schools safe since re-opening.

Christmas Jumpers for Crumlin

On Friday the 18th December, to coincide with the Panto, we are asking pupils and staff alike to come to school wearing their Christmas Jumpers, to support Crumlin Children’s hospital. Parents are asked to make a donation to Crumlin hospital online, using the school’s Aladdin payments system.

Outdoor Carrolling

We are not able to have our indoor Carol Service, but we are planning to hold outdoor Carolling for each class level on the 16th and 17th December. Again, due to Covid, we are not in a position to bring parents for the experience. The children will be organised socially distant, and will remain within their Bubbles for the Carolling on the 3rd class yard. We hope that they enjoy the experience.

Santa Hats: The children are asked to have a plain red Santa hat with a white bobble for the Outdoor Carolling. Please make sure that you put your child’s name on the hat. We will remind you of this nearer the time!

Christmas Dance: We are delighted to have our dance teacher, Yas, back in school working with us again. She has been in with us all week, and is taking classes outdoors, and teaching us a new dance for Christmas- watch this space!!

Reindeer Food

In order to encourage children to think of others during the Christmas season, we are again organising our simple fundraiser in aid of the local St. Vincent de Paul. Fifth class children will prepare some “Magic Reindeer Food” for you and your child to sprinkle on the lawn on Christmas Eve. This comes attached to a lovely Christmas card.

In the interest of wildlife protection, all ingredients are completely natural to keep all wildlife safe!

Each bag costs €1 and can be purchased online, using the school’s Aladdin Payments System. Purchases can be made from the 7th December and we will be sending the Reindeer Food home on the week of the 14th December. Please feel free to buy for friends and family as the entire proceeds will go to St. Vincent de Paul.

Homework Passes

The Minister for Education, Norma Foley, has asked schools to give pupils a day off homework, to mark their hard work and commitment to learning throughout the Covid period. In our school, we will be giving pupils a day off homework on Tuesday the 1st December.

The Parents Association will also be organizing the sale of virtual Homework Passes as a Christmas fund-raiser. These will go on sale from tomorrow, and cost €2 each. Pupils can purchase a maximum of 3 homework passes, for use from the 2nd to the 17th December.

This is a very important fund-raiser for the school and we appreciate your support! Homework Passes can be purchased on the school’s Aladdin Payments page.

Christmas Annuals

This is the 50th year that Folens Christmas Annuals have been on sale, and to mark the special occasion, the Christnmas Annuals will go on sale at the special reduced price of €2. These can be purchased online on the Aladdin Payments system.

St Vincent de Paul Giving Tree

In recent years, we have asked families to donate to the St. Vincent DePaul Giving Tree. This year, due to COvid-19, we cannot accept gifts into the school. However, we are encouraging families to donate to the online appeal, by following the link: https://www.svp.ie/virtualgifts

Class Christmas Parties

School will close for a half-day on Tuesday the 22nd December. Each class will have a special celebration with their teacher in their classroom, where they can bring treats and celebrate the end of this very different first term of the 2020/21 school-year!

I will be collecting the Christmas trees for the Junior and Senior schools extra early this year- and hope to have them in school by Friday of this week! We hope that you can see that this year, we are making a very special effort to ensure that our children get to enjoy and celebrate the run-up to Christmas in a way that acknowledges the constraints placed by Covid-19, but that does not dampen the spirit of Christmas.

We wish them, their teachers and SNAs, and you our parents, the very best in the days ahead.

Best wishes, and continue to stay safe,

Enda McGorman

25th November, 2020