Principal's Summer Newsletter

Welcome to our Summer Principal’s Newsletter which has become the normal means of
communication since the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic. The purpose of these newsletters is to keep
you as parents informed on what is happening in St. Farnan’s Post Primary School. Little did any of us
imagine that we would still be involved in restrictions during a second school year.
During this time, we have embraced a number of new challenges, of which I am proud to state that St.
Farnan’s students and staff have adapted to very well. These challenges include,
1. On line Teaching and Learning.
2. Google classroom.
3. Assessments on line for 1st 2nd, TY, and 5th years.
4. School Based Assessment for Junior Cycle students.
5. Accredited Grades for Leaving Cert students.

I am mindful that as I write this today that our Leaving Cert. students are about to finish their written
exams and have done so with a determination and a maturity that we are all proud of. The vast
majority of our students are doing the written exam in some or most of their subjects while all Leaving
Certificate students have been assigned Accredited Grades. These accredited grades will be
standardized with all other Leaving Cert students throughout the country. Each student will get the
better of these two results. As Principal of St. Farnan’s Post Primary School, I am confident in the
process. I have confidence in our teaching staff, in my oversight role and in the Department in their
role in applying national standardisation to all school’s data to determine the grade awarded to a
student. We wish everyone involved well in their various roles. Leaving Certificate results will be
published in early September.

Junior Cert. results are already available through the school’s VS Ware system as well as a hard copy
having been posted during the second week of June. Our Fifth year and TY students also received the
Department of Education Junior Cycle Certificate of Completion from last year’s Junior Cycle.
For all non-certificate exam years, school reports are now available on our School VS Ware system

Graduation Ceremonies:
On Thursday, 20th May we had our school’s Virtual Graduation Ceremony which was very well attended
by students, parents and teachers. It also included special messages from President Higgins as well
as An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin. If you go to our school website www.stfarnans.ie you will be able to see
various clips from our ceremony.
The following week, we had our Transition Year Graduation ceremony. A huge congratulation to
everyone involved in both ceremonies. While they are not the same as our face to face graduation
ceremonies, they are very memorable non the less.

We wish our sixth year students the very best in their future endeavors and ask you to please stay in touch.

School Uniform:
In previous years we would have had a Uniform Day and Book Rental day in the middle of August. I have
been in discussion with our normal uniform supplier to arrange a different system again this year. If
you visit www.schoolwear.ie you can place your orders and pay on line. This year, schoolwear.ie are
making available a maroon fleece for Junior students as well as our normal black fleece for senior
students. I would suggest that this might be a prudent purchase considering the recommendation that
people are advised to be outside when possible. Vincent from Schoolwear.ie has also informed me
that he has a flash sale on our normal school jacket which can be got with or without a crest. He is
selling these jackets for €20 which is great value for money.
Prices for our school uniform are as follows:
Jumper - Junior students, Maroon €35
Jumper - Senior students, Black €35
Fleece - Junior Maroon €25
Fleece - Senior Black €25
Skirt - Junior/senior €49
www.schoolwear.ie also supply school trousers and shirts/blouse if required.

PE Uniform:
Please see www.schoolwear.ie for details of our PE uniform which is compulsory for 1st, 5th and TY students
and optional for all other year groups. Students that have the full correct PE Uniform will be allowed
to wear it in on the day they have PE. This will alleviate the need to change for PE on these days, thus
reducing the numbers in our changing rooms. A big thank you to our very active PE Department and
Parents Council in their research and implementation of our PE Uniform policy.

Book Rental and Admin. payment:
Last year was our first time using Way2Pay to collect book rental and admin. monies online. It was a
great success. We will be using the same system again this year and into the future. For those that do
not have a smartphone, we can arrange a manual payment system.
Book Rental & Administration Payments:
1st Year: €140 (€120 with medical card) & €50 admin. payment
2nd Year: €120 (€100 with medical card) & €50 admin. payment
3rd Year: €120 Mock Fee & €50 admin. payment
TY: €400, including admin. payment
5th Year: €150 (€130 with medical card) & €60 admin. payment
LCA: €100 including admin. payment
6th Year: €120 mock fee & €60 admin. payment

To avail of the medical card discount, please email a photograph of the medical card to
skennedy@stfarnans.ie so the discount can be applied. The photo and email will be deleted
immediately afterwards.

Any third year pupil for whom mock fee was paid last year has received a €60 discount from either TY
or 5th Year Book Rental. Mock papers were purchased last year and were used as part of the summer
assessment process.
Similarly, any sixth year pupil for whom mock fees were paid last year have received a €60 refund to
the card which was used for payment.

Incoming First Year Students:
This year we had our first Virtual First Year Information Night. This was very well attended and the full
engagement of parents and incoming first year students was very impressive. It might be the way of
the future. Prior to this meeting all our incoming first year students received their Welcome Packs.
This pack contains a lot of useful information which will help you in the transition from Primary to
Secondary school. I am delighted to see that we will have over 100 first year students starting with us
in late August / early September.

Finally, as a school community we have adapted very well to the changes that have been brought about by
Covid 19. As our country opens up to a new normal, we have to prepare to embrace even more
changes to what we took for granted pre Covid 19.
As I have detailed in previous newsletters, if you need to contact the school, please email principal@stfarnans.ie

Wishing you all a lovely summer break and stay well!

Eddie Collins, Principal.