Mayfield

Dear all

Just a reminder that the MTU Cork campus DARE (Disability Access Route to Education) and DSS supports information talks are taking place later this month.

Fifth year and Leaving Certificate students, parent/guardians/supports and teachers are welcome to book a place.

• Tuesday 22^nd November – online, 6.00-7.30pm.Book your place here: https://MTUCork_DARE_online_Nov22.eventbrite.ie

• Wednesday 30^th November – MTU Bishopstown campus, 6.30-8.00pm. Book your place here:  https://MTUCork_DARE_oncampus_Nov22.eventbrite.ie

Booking is essential and will close 24-48 hours before the event date. Please feel free to circulate this email and poster to anyone who may interested.

• Information on how DARE offers are made and places available on each MTU course are at www.cit.ie/dare

• Any DARE queries can be sent to dareCork@mtu.ie and will be treated confidentially.  Please note as the Disability Support Service is extremely busy meeting MTU students, we are not able to return calls at the moment.

We had an amazing turnout for our Open Night on Tuesday 13th September.
Huge credit goes to our current and past pupils who came along to help out and demonstrate our facilities and the pathways to higher education from Mayfield Community School.

We are currently rolling out VSware access for parents/guardians of first year students.
VSware can be accessed using a laptop or a phone.
To use VSware on a laptop, go to mayfieldcs.vsware.ie and use the access details that have been sent to you by text message.

To use VSware on your phone, please go to your app store and look for the VSware app.

VSware have published a series of guides for parents – CLICK HERE to view them.

• Open VSware
• Click on the ‘reset password’ link
• Type in your username
• Type in the last 4 digits of your phone number
• You should get a verification link
• Use this link to set a new password
• Your new password should be 8 characters long
  • At least one capital letter
  • At least one small letter
  • At least one number
  • At least one special symbol !*

We are delighted to be able to provide the details for our school tour this year. The tour is open to Transition year and fifth year students.

We will depart from Dublin at 6:15 AM on Saturday 29th April
Return to Dublin at 23:55 on Tuesday 2nd May

Itinerary

• Bus from Mayfield to Dublin Airport
• Fly to Milan
• 3 nights Bed & Breakfast accommodation in Lake Garda
• 3 evening meals at the airport
• Use of our own coach for the tour
• Guided tour of Venice
• Water taxi in Venice
• Visit to Juliet’s House
• A bowling trip
• Entrance to the Roman arena in Verona
• A sightseeing trip on Lake Garda
• Entrance to Gardaland (subject to opening dates)
  

The price for the tour will be €600 plus whatever spending money your son/daughter wishes to bring.

A deposit of €200 will be required by the end of September, with a further payment of €100 due in October

What Next?

If you wish to reserve a place on this tour, please fill in this form.

Please note that this is a school tour, and that students will be expected to comply with our school code of behaviour. Students who fail to comply with our code will not be accepted on the tour. There are 25 places available.

Once we have our list of students, the tour company will set up an online payment system. As a school we will not be taking the payments for the trip.

Make sure that your son/daughter has an up-to-date passport

Ensure that they have a European Health Insurance Card (Click here for more information)

This year Mayfield Community School, along with five other secondary schools from Cork city, was chosen to participate in Cork City Library’s Poetry Project. Under the turorage of Paul Casey from the well known Cork poetry platform Ó Bhéal ,TY students worked throughout the year to compose and compile poems which would be included in “The Unfinished Book of Poetry.”The book was launched in Cork City Library on 4th May by Councillor Derry Canty representing the Lord Mayor of Cork. The City Librarian, Community Arts Officer as well as students and teachers from all six participating schools were also in attendance, as the young poets read a selection of their inspirational words. Lily Stevens of Mayfield C.S. was among six students chosen to have her work featured in Cork City Libraries’ Poetry in the Parks project which will be launched on June 11th in Tramore Valley Park. Her acrostic poems UKRAINE and MOTHER will be published on a large poster installation to be displayed in  the three main city parks as well as on the Ó Bhéal website.

Thank you for joining Avril Ronan last Monday night for her webinar on Gaming and Social networks, keeping it safe and fun for young people.

Below is the recording, Watch it back or please pass it on to friends, family and local school/communities.

• Webinar recording https://www.trendmicro.com/internet-safety/eventsie

Don’t forget, everything you need to enable your family to be online in safe, secure and responsible ways are available at your fingertips.  (All of our internet safety work community is FREE)

• Cyber Academy  7-10 year olds https://www.trendmicro.com/internet-safety/for-kids/cyber-academy
• Each episode is 10-15 minutes long with short animated video, conversation guide (great opportunity to have the chat with your kids), a fun Kahoot! quiz and an activity sheet you can download.

• Other webinars you might be interested in (hosted by my boss Lynette Owens)

• Raising Gamers, a gamers story https://www.trendmicro.com/internet-safety/for-parents-and-teachers/webinars/raising-gamers-teaching-kids-to-play-it-safe
• Gaming discussion with Xbox safety team https://www.trendmicro.com/internet-safety/for-parents-and-teachers/webinars/online-gaming-safety-microsoft-xbox
• Let’s talk Tik Tok https://www.trendmicro.com/internet-safety/for-parents-and-teachers/webinars/lets-talk-tiktok
• Selfie Safety https://www.trendmicro.com/internet-safety/for-parents-and-teachers/webinars/selfie-safety-helping-kids-prevent-risks-with-cameras

• Remember I talked about Privacy? This is a good one to watch with teens! Everything from Tik Tok to Pinterest.
  • Advertising, Personal Information, and the Free Apps We Love https://www.trendmicro.com/internet-safety/for-parents-and-teachers/webinars/advertising-personal-information-free-apps

• Internet Safety Top Tip Sheets in 10 different languages
• https://www.trendmicro.com/internet-safety/for-parents-and-teachers/resources

• Next webinar: Monday 7.30pm April 11^th Dealing with Screen Time Challenges
  • email reminder with ZOOM details will be send to you the week before

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I hope you and our students had a good midterm break.

As you know, in the last few days, the Government issued new public health advice coming into effect from Monday 28 th February. The Government has accepted the recommendations of NPHET to remove remaining restrictions relating to mask-wearing and physical distancing in schools. As the general requirement for physical distancing in society no longer applies, schools are no longer required to maintain class pods and bubbles. This will allow a number of our students to have their hot meals in our school cafeteria with other class groups.

Some students and staff may wish to continue to wear a mask and some students and staff may decide not to wear a mask. This is their personal choice. In our school, we will respect each person’s choice.

At the same time, we are very aware that COVID-19 is still very much with us and so certain control measures will continue to be in place:

Sanitising – We will ask all students to sanitise at the main entrances and before going into their classrooms

Ventilation – Our classroom doors will remain open and classroom windows will remain partially open

Students lunch breaks – Students will continue to get hot meals during the big break under the supervision of their teachers

The requirement to stay at home if a student has symptoms or if a student test positive remains.

We will not use our changing rooms in our Sports Complex for PE yet. Students will be allowed to wear their PE clothes on the day they are timetabled for PE. This will be reviewed over the coming weeks. Please ensure that your child is in full uniform on non-PE days.

On behalf of all staff, I want to sincerely thank you for the measures you have taken over the past two years to keep all of us in our school community safe. We continue to rely on your support of and compliance with the measures in place to reduce the introduction of COVID into the school and to reduce the risk of COVID spreading within the school.

The removal of restrictions is a welcome message of hope and confidence.

Your continued cooperation is, as always, very much acknowledged and appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Kieran Golden Kathleen Daly

FREE WEBINAR ON SUBJECT CHOICE FOR TY AND CAREER DECISIONS

Upcoming Webinar: Careers in Subject Choice for TY and Career Decisions
Date: Monday February 28th @12.30pm

Register on: https://www.synergycareers.ie/webinars-workshops/
For: Parents, students and Guidance Counsellors
Content: The 24th Webinar in our series this year, 8th in our General Careers Topics for 2021/22

The aim of this webinar is to highlight to Parents and Students, 3rd & TY, key tools and resources that will help them make informed decisions when selecting the best subjects to suit their aptitude, interests and career aspirations.We also aim to provide a suggested plan for Careers exploration going through senior cycle. We will look at extracurricular activities, experiences, voluntary/paid work, summer/TY camps available to help you get prepared to make the best decision for you.

You will get insight from a careers guidance perspective along with colleges advice on subject options based on requirements for their courses. We will be joined by college reps + student/graduates on a Q&A panel sharing their decision making process around subject choice and choosing careers.

***Guest speakers : TBC ***
Viewing Options: Each webinar is hosted on zoom, links are provided once you register. If the webinar reaches full capacity make sure to go to our facebook page where it will be broadcast live https://www.facebook.com/synergycareers?ref=hl

Alternatively, if you cannot make 12.30pm Monday, ALL webinars are recorded so you won’t miss out. Go to www.synergycareers.ie to register and view this week’s webinar – free to view for a limited time.

Next Week is College Awareness Week. Here’s a quick list of things that are great about going to college:

Click here to view the pdf.

Helping your child to become college ready

• People who go to college will earn more over their lifetime – about 40% more than people without a college degree.
• People with college degrees increase their chances of taking up a highly skilled job and decrease their chances of being unemployed. Most 21st century jobs require a college degree.
• People with college degrees are happier and healthier. More likely to be involved in your community and suffer from less physical and mental health problems.
• Reference: OECD Report: Education at a Glance 2013 and The Spirit Level, Wilson and Pickett

The Immediate Benefits of Going to College for students

• Learn a new subject or gain more in-depth knowledge
• Acquire a qualification for the workplace
• Be stimulated by world-class lecturers
• Have access to amazing facilities – libraries, computer rooms, labs, sports centres
• Meet new people from around Ireland and the world
• Join a student club or society
• Play sports
• Socialise
• Travel the world through internships, study abroad programmes
• Increase your confidence and sense of achievement and direction

The Long-term Benefits of College Graduates for Irish Society

• Meet employers require a college education to meet the demand for knowledge-based 21st century skills. (60% of jobs in US)
• Less reliance on social welfare
• Increased likelihood of long-term employment
• More involvement with voluntary and community based activities
• Better physical and mental health of society
• Cost: benefit analysis. Cost of educating people at third level is returned multi-fold through increased earnings and taxes
• Improved social –cohesion. Increase in personal satisfaction and happiness. Lower rates of anti-social behaviour and incarceration
• Reference: OECD Report: Education at a Glance 2013 and The Spirit Level, Wilson and Pickett

The Benefits of College-readiness for schools

• Helps your community of students to realise their full potential
• Increase the sense of direction and achievement felt by your students and your teachers
• Recognition that a college degree is the common currency of the 21st century
• On average 65% of 18-25 year olds are enrolled in college. Will 65% of your 6th years go to college this year?
• Important element of school self-evaluation reports within the Inspectorate of the DES
• High expectations + supportive environment = college going culture

As a part of our TEEN TALK events this year, we have created “Gen Z”, a free virtual event for PARENTS of your students. This also may be of interest to teachers.

Gen Z is an event for Parents & Teachers to educate on the issues and realities that arise in the world of teenager.

Various speakers shall address subject matter that can be challenging for Parents and Teenagers to discuss.

The event will be held on

·      Tuesday 23^rd November from 7pm.

Speakers include:

• . Anna Geary (MC)
• . Maureen Gaffney – Psychologist
• . Kirsty Donoghue – Mother of a Transgender Child
• . Ray Goggins – Ex Special Forces Officer
• . Alicia O’Sullivan – UCC Law Student & Youth Activist

Topics which will be addressed are:

• . Teenage Psychology
• . LGBTQI+
• . Mental Health

The event has been designed to raise awareness of issues affecting teenagers and empowering parents to support their teenagers during this time of great change in their lives.

ADMISSION IS FREE.

FOLLOWING REGISTRATION, A LINK WILL BE SENT TO ACCESS THE WEBINAR CLOSER TO THE DATE OF THE EVENT.

This is a one off Streamed event for which a recording will not be available.

Register Now:

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR EVENT

If you have any queries please email TeenTalks@corkcoco.ie