Welcome to Carrick-on-Shannon Community School

Welcome to the Carrick-on-Shannon Community School website. We invite you to browse the various pages to discover about the various programmes and events in our school.

Student Awards - 

Please imagine a drum roll!

Congratulations to all those who have received the following awards:

6th Year - Farrell McElgunn (Irish) Award                     Roisín Reynolds

6th Year - Music Award                                                   Roisín Noone

1st Year - Student of the Year                                        Daire Shannon

2nd Year - Student of the Year                                       Niamh O'Connor

End of School Year

Carrick-on-Shannon Community School has begun the process of calculating grades for the Leaving Certificate Class of 2020. As a result, school will finish for all other classes as follows:

• 1st, 2nd and 5th Years - Last exam, Wednesday, 27th May 2020. 
• 3rd Years - Last exam, Friday, 22nd May 2020
• Transition Year & Leaving Certificate Applied - Friday, 22nd May 2020

We will publish details of our 2020/ 2021 calendar over the coming weeks.

We wish all our students a lovely and safe summer. We look forward to seeing them all (in person hopefully) at the end of August 2020.

We will notify students of the correct date to return schoolbooks belonging to the Book Rental Scheme in due course. please do not come to the school to return books at this time.

Important Update for CAO Applicants

CAO sent an email last Friday, 15th May 2020 to everybody who applied to CAO this year before 1st February 2020.

This email replaces the 'Statement of Application' letter that normally comes in the post every May. It was not possible to send this letter by post this year due to the CAO office being closed and CAO staff working from home. This email will now be referred to as the Statement of Application Record EMAIL.

It is extremely important that all CAO applicants read this email carefully and that you follow the instructions as indicated in the email.

If you did not receive the email, check your JUNK or SPAM folder. If there is no email there, you need to contact CAO next week and quote your application number. There is a contact link on the CAO website.

For more information see http://www.cao.ie/index.php?page=aboutStmt#b0 

End of School Year - 6th Years

The Department of Education and Skills has informed schools that the last day for instruction for the Leaving Certificate class of 2020 was on the 11th May 2020. Due to the calculated grading process which will shortly begin, teachers will no longer set assignments or accept work for correction.

The management and staff are sorry that our 6th Years have finished school with us in this way. We were looking forward to celebrating their graduation later this year but the COVID-19 emergency has meant that we will have to say goodbye to our students from afar. Whatever happens into the future, we are very proud of our Class of 2020 and look forward to meeting them in person when the time is safe to do so. 

Leaving Certificate Update

The Minister for Education and Skills, Mr. Joe McHugh T.D., has announced revised arrangements for the Leaving Certificate Examination 2020. As part of his announcement the Minister confirmed that the Leaving Certificate Examination, which was due to begin on the 29th July 2020, has now been postponed.

During his announcement, the Minister stated that current 6th Year students will be offered the opportunity of accepting calculated grades instead of sitting the Leaving Certificate. Students who wish to do so can sit the Leaving Certificate at a later date which has yet to be decided. The Minister suggested that these exams will take place in the autumn at the earliest or when public health advice allows.

Students and/or parents/guardians must not contact teachers in relation to calculated grades as this will be considered as canvassing.

Students will no longer be awarded full marks for their Irish Oral examination or their Home Economics / Music practical examination as this previous announcement was predicated on the written examinations taking place.

The Guide to Calculated Grades is available here.

We will post further details on the new Leaving Certificate process as we receive them.

School Tours 2020

UPDATE - 28th May 2020

  Transition Year Tour

NST have informed the school that they wish to refund the cost of the tour as following:

• 40% cash refund within the coming weeks.
• 60% in the form of a state-guaranteed Refund Credit note which can be used against a future booking or exchanged for cash on it's redeemable date.

NST have requested that Carrick-on-Shannon Community School receive the total refund and return the monies to each student as they fall due. 

Carrick-on-Shannon Community School cannot accept this proposal on behalf of those travelling as the contract is between the student and the tour operator. We have informed NST of this. NST wish to issue a sinlge Credit Note to the school but as we do not have a contract with NST, we believe that we are unable to comply with this request. In any event, there would be issues with regards to redeeming the credit note when it falls due.

Please do not contact NST at this time as we are continuing our discussions with them.

We understand that this is a very frustrating time but please be assured that although the school is closed to students, we will continue to work on this until we reach a satisfactory solution for all involved.

   2nd Year Tour

Saffron Travel will be in contact with all those who were participating on the school tour today, 28th May 2020.

Please read their email carefully. It is up to each individual to decide whether or not to accept the terms on offer from the company. 

Student Wellbeing

This is an unusual time for all students and teachers as we work together to continue to access the school curriculum and to stay safe and well.

Our Guidance Counsellors, with suport from the Student Support Team, have prepared a very uselful  document to provide some helpful tips and advice on what to do if students feel that they would like some extra support while the school is closed.

All Schools will remain closed until September 2020.

Carrick-on-Shannon Communitiy School is now closed as directed by the Department of Health. Please encourage your children to follow the advice of the HSE in relation to social distancing and regular hand-washing. 

Distance Learning

Our teachers are busy providing the curriculum to our students while the school building is closed. To access the curriculum, students should log onto their Office 365 account to access Teams or OneNote. The parents/ guardians of students who do not access their account over the coming weeks will be notified of this by text message.

To find out about the arrangements that we have made to ensure that your child can continue to access the curriculum during the period of closure, please click here.

Carrick-on-Shannon Community School is due reopen on Monday, 20th April 2020.

COVID-19: How to prevent spread (HSE Advice)

The Department of Health has asked schools to publish a letter for parents/ guardians. The letter references the closing of a school in Dublin and offers advice to parents/ guardians around the Coroavirus. TO access this letter, please click here.

The Department of Health has also asked all schools to inform parents/ guardians and students about the simple steps that can be taken to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The HSE has a website for the general public to access information on COVID-19. You can access this website here.

The risk of contracting coronavirus is quite low. The HSE requests that we all do the following:

• Wash your hands properly and regularly.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you sneeze. (Use your sleeve if you do not have a tissue.)
• Place used tissues in a bin and wash your hands properly.
• CLean and disinfect frequenly touched objects and surfaces.
• Follow the travel advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

We are asked not to touch our eyes, nose or mouth if our hands are not clean.

A decision relating to our School Tours and other events will be taken closer to the date of the event in consultation with relevent agnecies (travel agents, sports organisations etc.) bearing in mind advice given to the school from the various government departments.

WHAT'S HAPPENING

Happy Birthday To Us!!

On the, 7th January 1995, the students and staff of Carrick-on-Shannon Community School began teaching and learning in our new school building.

Over the past twenty-five years, Carrick-on-Shannon Community School has become an integral part of the community and has gone from strength to strength.

While celebrating our birthday, we remember those who have shared parts of this journey with us but are no longer here to share this day with us.

Thank you for all your support over our first 25 years.

'Use Your Brain Not Your Fists' Film Launch

We were privileged to attend the launch of the Use Your Brain Not Your Fists film in The Bush Hotel on the 27th April 2018.

The short film, by Leitrim Comhairle na nÓg, highlights the devastating consequences that can occur when a person uses their fists instead of their brains in a conflict situation. The film is dedicated to Shane Grogan and to the memory of Andrew Dolan. Both Andrew and Shane were victims of seperate unprovoked assaults while enjoying time out with their friends. Andrew died as a result of the assault while Shane was left with brain injuries. Both Shane's and Andrew's parents attended the launch and shared their personal stories with us.

Please click on the link to watch the video and remind everyone to Use Your Brain Not Your Fists.

Carrick-on-Shannon C.S. - Learning at the heart of our community.