January 6th should have marked our first day of school in 2021 but instead it was the day we began on-line teaching and learning. It may have put us further apart physically but thanks to technology our classes have continued on-line. This has brought our teachers and students together virtually and shows just how much can be achieved when our whole school community works together.
A month has past by and we would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the work that has gone on behind the scenes. Thank you to all our teachers who have worked extremely hard to provide live classes from home and our management who have been working to help and support students, parents and teachers. Most importantly, well done to all our students. Your work ethic has been fantastic - logging on and participating in live classes and remaining motivated throughout. Students have been submitting work of extremely high standards and their enthusiasm has been inspirational.
Lets take a look at some of the activities from the past month!!
In History students are studying the Black Death, a pandemic that occurred during Medieval Times. Students created a poster to compare the Black Death with Covid-19:
Our Transition Year students have studied the topic of perspective in Art. They set out to take photographs to demonstrate this. Other years have been hard at work on their sketching and drawing.
Working from home can be challenging in any subject but it is particularly difficult in practical subjects. This has not stopped our Woodwork students who have continued to build from home.
Our science students have continued to do some experiments from home. First years have been studying solubility and second years have ventured out into their gardens to study the plants and animals they found. Senior students have worked hard on new topics and have improved their skills of communication. On-line learning has meant their IT skills have improved when sharing their work with their teachers.
Our religion teachers marked Catholic Schools Week recently. Students could attend a live on-line mass and worked on posters during class. We also had a theme each day to reflect on. These can be seen in full on our Facebook page.
Keeping active when at home is always important. We always encourage students to get out and walk or play a sport from home. We have had a walking challenge ERSS Walks Around Europe! For this, students send us their kilometers walked each day and some photographs from their time outdoors. The total distances walked by all are then translated into where we have walked if in Europe. You can follow these updates on our Facebook page.
PE students have taken part in a Gymnastic Challenge. Thank you to those students who have shared their routines and photographs of their training.
Transition Year Enterprise students have continued to work on their business plans from home. Included below are some images from this as well as of work from Junior Certificate Business and Leaving Certificate Economics.
Our junior classes have done some classes on online safety and the internet. Part of this was to write a poem:
Well done to all students. Working from home can be daunting but our students have stepped up to the challenge! We hope to see you back in the classroom soon but until then keep up the good work!!