Dear Parents / Guardians,
Today members of the Board of Management and myself met with the Department of Education, Engineers and Construction professionals to observe the remedial work undertaken in TETNS over the summer.
I am delighted to confirm that all structural remediation has been completed and all scaffolding, haress fencing and temporary bracing has been removed from the inside and outside of the school including the playgrounds.
At the moment, the building is undergoing some final touches such as painting and other aesthetic work, as well as a ‘deep clean’ to ensure the school is ready for the children’s return. This not only includes the internal of the building but also the surrounding grounds in terms of cleaning and resurfacing grass areas in the back and side of the school.
This painting, cleaning, moving furniture, landscaping etc. will continue to be undertaken by the builders until this weekend and as a result the staff are not permitted access until the Department have concluded all of their work.
As a result and as I highlighted in previous correspondence, this will mean there is a small change to our return date and we will reopen the school to children on Tuesday 3rd September 2019, a day later than anticipated. We cannot reopen to the children on Monday as the staff will need the day to sort out all of the classrooms, set up the furniture, sort out books and copies etc, return all of the equipment we moved to storage to the classrooms as well as have our annual review of policies and procedures for the forthcoming year (every school comes back a day early to do this before the children return) and we will have no opportunity to do this beforehand.
I am fully aware that this has an impact on parents and I appreciate everyone’s patience and support but unfortunately, the delay is completely out of our control, similar to St. Luke’s next door to us who also return on Tuesday. That being said, it is fantastic to know that the works have been completed, the classrooms and yard have been returned to normal and that the disruptions of last year are finally behind us and the children can fully enjoy their school experience this year.
Kind regards
Tim Stapleton
Principal