Dear Parents,
I hope you are all having a pleasant weekend and have an opportunity to enjoy the good weather. I have a few items to bring to your attention.
Student Attendance
Please do your utmost to support your son/daughter in aiming for excellent school attendance this year. Now that the majority of the Leaving Cert subjects have an Additional Assessment Component worth 40%, good attendance is essential in order for your child to reach their academic potential. Good secondary school attendance patterns begin in 1st year, and there is a strong correlation between good attendance rates and good academic outcomes. The opportunity to mix socially with their peers and become involved in school activities both play an important role in a student's personal development.
Studyclix
All GCS students, Staff and Parents have access to the Studyclix Premium Plan,which has an array of tools and resources which can assist in achieving excellent results and reaching full potential.
Our online records show that usage is high among 3rd, 5th and 6th year students and I strongly encourage all students and parents to avail of this excellent facility which is provided by the school. All parents can access Studyclix and use the Parent Centre Hub.
Homework Club
Reminder
The Homework Club is open to all 1st and 2nd year students and takes place every day after school for one hour. The students receive a snack at the start of the session and school staff are available to assist with homework if required. For many students this is a space in which to have homework completed before they go home..
Lockers
Please ask your son/daughter to ensure that their locker is locked at all times. Each locker is supplied with a padlock for this purpose. We have had a situation recently where two students removed open padlocks from lockers, swapping them and locking many students out of their lockers. While this may appear to be a harmless prank, it caused a loss of class time and inconvenience to the affected students. Naturally the two students have been sanctioned and in order to prevent this from reoccurring, all students are expected to keep their lockers locked at all times or they run the risk of losing access to a locker.
Open Evening
The event last Wednesday was a huge success with large numbers in attendance. Please remember that the processing of application forms for 1st year 2027 begins on October 1st and the closing date is Thursday October 22nd at 3pm. If you have a child in 6th class please remember to get the application submitted on time.
I want to thank the GCS students who assisted at the Open Evening. They were an amazing asset and many parents commented positively on their manner and assistance.
Parents' Association AGM
This event will take place in the school at 7pm on Wednesday October 7th. I will have more details in due course on our Guest Speaker for the evening.
Nasal Flu Vaccine
The flu vaccine will be available to students, with parental permission only, on Monday September 28th. Permission forms will be available from Reception tomorrow. If you would like your child to avail of the vaccine please ask your son/daughter to take a form and they are asked to bring the completed forms with them for the vaccine on the day.
School Musical
Our school musical, The Addams Family, will take place in Gorey Little Theatre from Oct 13th to Oct 17th and tickets are available via the following link. https://www.gr8events.ie/
1st/5th year subject change requests
I have been facilitating changes of choice subjects for 1st and 5th year students over the past three weeks and the cut off date for any such changes to be considered is September 30th. At that stage the volume of material missed would make changing subjects difficult for the students.
Teacher change requests
Over the past 17 years I have received occasional requests from parents and students to change teachers.These requests have always been refused, accompanied by an offer to address a particular concern if relevant. While the number of such requests has been growing in recent years, this year it has reached epidemic proportions with almost daily requests in the past three weeks to change a student's teacher. None of these requests can be facilitated as if I make one change, then I am obligated to facilitate all requests and it would make running a timetable and a school impossible. I remain always available to listen to parents and students and make changes in subjects and subject levels where possible, but a change of teachers cannot be made. I appreciate your understanding.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Regards,
Michael.