Dear Parents/Guardians,
I extend a very warm welcome back to school to your daughter as she begins the next stage of her secondary school life. This is an exciting time for her and it is our hope that she will experience personal success and fulfilment in the year ahead. We look forward to continuing to work well with you, as parents/guardians, so that your daughter(s) will be happy during her time in Loreto Secondary School.
We are making every effort at the moment to ensure that our school will be well prepared for our students and staff as they begin to return at the end of this week.
First Year students and Prefects will arrive on Monday 29th August, 9am-4pm
Sixth Year students will return on Tuesday 30th August, 9am – 4pm
Third Year students will return on Wednesday 31st August, 9am – 4pm
Fifth Year students will return on Thursday 1st September, 9am – 4pm
Second Year students will return on Monday 5th September, 9am – 4pm
Transition Yeas students will return on Tuesday 6th September, 9am – 4pm
Support for Students
- The wellbeing and care of our students is a priority for us. Our Student Support team includes a Class Tutor for each class, a Year Head for each year group, two Guidance Counsellors, and a Special Educational Needs Coordinator as well as the Deputy Principals and the Principal. If you have any concerns about your daughter at any time, please feel free to contact us.
School Calendar 2022/2023
Lunch
- Students are encouraged to bring a healthy packed lunch to school each day.
- Lunch may also be purchased in the School Canteen.
- Students do not go down town at lunchtime – apart from 5th and 6th years.
Contact Details
- If you change address or mobile phone number, please remember to contact the school office immediately. This will ensure that you receive all correspondence in good time. Text messages are used daily to inform parents if a student is recorded as absent, or indeed is ill and needs to go home. Texts are also used for some notices to parents throughout the year. It is therefore important that we are able to contact you by phone.
Contact with school
- When you need to contact the school regarding your daughter(s), please make sure to use the ladder of referral as follows: Always ask for the relevant Year Head before looking for your daughter’s Deputy Principal. This order is much more effective and efficient for us in running the school.
If your daughter is registered in this school for September 2022, but for some reason is not going to attend, it is important to notify the school office immediately.
I want to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you and your children a healthy and good school year ahead. I look forward to working in partnership with you to ensure that your daughter has a content and successful year.
Yours sincerely,
Gerardine Mullen
Principal
Below is a summary of some key points from the Student Journal for Parents.
The Code of Behaviour
- A full copy of the school’s Code of Behaviour is available in the Student Journal. The Student Journal is a good source of information for parents, in particular the sections of the Code of Behaviour dealing with attendance, punctuality, uniform, mobile phones etc.
Student Journal
- Your daughter must have a Student Journal. It will be available on the first day.
- The Student Journal is an important form of communication between home and school.
- Parents / guardians are requested to inspect and sign the Student Journal weekly. This will help you to monitor your daughter’s homework, attendance, punctuality.
- Please note it must not be signed in advance.
Appointments
- As far as possible, we ask you to avoid taking your daughter out of school for an appointment – especially on Friday mornings, if an alternative date/time is available. If your daughter has an appointment for the doctor / dentist etc. during the school day, please complete a ‘Permission to Leave School’ note (green colour) in the Student Journal.
- The Deputy Principals will sign the note
- For Health and Safety reasons your daughter must be collected from the Main Office at the front of the school.
- It is the responsibility of your daughter to come to the Main Office at the appointed time. The intercom is not used for individual requests, as it interferes with teaching and learning.
Mobile Phones
- Please remind your daughter that mobile phones must be switched off and should not be used on the school premises upon arrival in the morning. This includes break time and lunchtime. If a student is found using her phone, the phone is confiscated and must be collected by a parent
- The school office only should be used for communication between parents/guardians and students during the school day. We ask parents not to phone or text students during school hours!
Uniform
- The school uniform reflects on the school and the student, so we ask your daughter to wear her full uniform at all times.
- Students wear the official school uniform without ornamentation. Only school badges, one ear stud in each ear and one ring on each hand are acceptable. Light facial make-up only is acceptable.
- Facial and Tongue piercings of any type are not allowed from the point of view of health and safety. Students will be asked to remove them.
- Flamboyant hairstyle / colour e.g. blue, green, yellow, pink, red etc. are not permitted.
Having read the school’s Code of Behaviour, parents/guardians and students are asked to sign page 23 of the student journal.
‘My Information’ page (at the beginning of the student journal) must also be completed and signed