Dear parents,
First of all may I welcome each of you back to school as we embark on the remainder of the Easter term- we look forward to a busy but enjoyable 6 weeks of the season of Lent when, through our Trócaire programme, we will take stock spiritually and focus on children in other countries who are living in poverty and seek to make a contribution to improving their lives.
As you know, our new Board of Management took office on 1 December. The Board has set itself an ambitious programme involving school self-evaluation, investment in resources to get the best from our new building, and a focus on literacy and numeracy. A rolling prioritised review of the School’s policies will comprise a major element of this Board’s work. Policies are the framework within which everything in our School happens, so regular review is important.
Last year, the previous Board reviewed key policies such as enrolment, child protection and health and safety. The first task the new Board addressed, on foot of a direction issued to all schools by the Department of Education, was to implement a literacy and numeracy policy in conjunction with teachers. The Board wishes to review the School’s Code of Behaviour. Thankfully, St. John the Baptist Junior Boys’ National School is characterised by very strong relationships between all the stakeholders- the Patron, the parents, the teachers and the wider community served by the School. These strong relationships need to be anchored in shared and unambiguous understandings as to how the promotion of good behaviour in the School is achieved and enhanced. A review is both timely and necessary in order to achieve this.
The Board has consulted relevant Department and other materials on how to approach this task. The Parents Association is a useful forum for discussion and consultation, but the advice is to reach out generally to all parents. The Board has decided to form a consultative committee to assist. The committee will comprise eight members, half of whom will be parents. There will be two members each from the Board and the teaching staff of the School as well as one parent member from each of the year groups currently within the School. This committee will be chaired by the Principal.
I invite each parent to make himself/herself available for the committee (we should need to meet on no more than 5 or 6 occasions). Lots will be drawn to select the nominee of each year group as there will –hopefully- be more volunteers than places. This important work deserves careful consideration and I hope that the revised Code will be finalised shortly after Easter.
Le gach dea-ghuí,
JOS
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I wish to volunteer to work on the committee to assist in the review the Code of Behaviour for St. John the Baptist Junior Boys’ National School.
Name__________________________ Child’s name & year________________________