Click on a box for more information on a particular topic
School Uniform
Here in Harold’s Cross National School, we expect all children to wear their school uniform with pride. Children must wear the uniform daily.
Junior and Senior Infants:
Junior and Senior Infants wear the school tracksuit daily. The tracksuit jumper can be bought from O’Neill’s Factory Outlet Shop on the Long Mile Road (01- 429 3558 or 01- 429 3500). Navy bottoms and a light blue polo shirt can be bought from O’Neills, or from Dunnes or Marks and Spencer’s.
First to Sixth Class:
First to Sixth class will wear the school tracksuit only on PE days. For the remaining three school days, they will wear a grey pinafore/trousers, a light blue shirt, a navy tie and a navy school jumper. The navy school jumper can be bought from CLS Embroidery (sales@clsembroidery.ie) Alternatively, a navy v-neck jumper can be purchased and a school crest can be purchased from the school office for €5.
The correct school uniform must be worn at all times. If children are participating in Afterschool Clubs, they must change accordingly for the club.
Please ensure that your child’s name is clearly marked on each part of their school uniform. We have a lost-and-found area, however this is cleared out regularly.
Before your child begins in September:
- Label everything in a way that your child will recognise (jumpers, coats, lunch boxes, pencil etc.)
- Coats (please show your child how to put on his/her coat, also how to correct a sleeve if it is inside out and how to hang up his/her coat)
- Schoolbags (your child needs to be able to open and close his/her own bag and lunch box)
- Encourage independence by means of tidying up, dressing, messages etc.
- All long hair needs to be tied up.
- No jewellery is allowed as these can cause injury during PE and or playtime. (Only simple stud earrings are permitted)
Parental involvement: We have a small number of parents who help out or volunteer for various activities. Some engage in fund raising, some help out with our Reading Support Programme while others share their expertise during Science Week.
Parents and their children: The staff here in Harold’s Cross N.S. is always willing to meet with parents either before or after school. Feedback is regularly provided to parents. For example meetings are held before the implementation of Literacy and Numeracy Power Hour and parents are invited in to receive feedback on their child’s progress on completion. Parents can also phone in to request scores. The Reading and Maths Recovery teachers regularly meet with the parents of the pupils with whom they are working to update them and to provide advice on how best to help their child. Parents are also welcome to ask for a face to face meeting following receipt of end of year reports. All of these meetings take place in the teachers’ own time.
New parents who intend to enrol their child in the school are met with on an individual basis by the principal. An Information Evening takes place in early June to apprise them of what to expect for their child. They receive a comprehensive booklet containing valuable data/insights on the school and a Welcome Pack for their child.
In September of each year parents are invited to a talk given by the principal on “Finding the Right Secondary School”. This is always very well attended.
Measures in place to support a positive school culture – We constantly aim to provide an enriching, supportive learning environment for our pupils. We have a highly committed staff, which works together and share their expertise with each other. Our work is constantly reviewed and adapted to meet the needs of the children. We have lovely enthusiastic pupils and parents who feel they are very much a part of the school community.
The single most important factor in ensuring that a positive culture exists is to ensure that all members of the school community are respected. I believe that most of those connected to our school whether they are parents, pupils or staff feel that their input is valued and that they will always be listened to.
Internet Safety is a huge issue for parents today.
Here are some resources and websites that will help you keep your children safe online.
ZEEKO Internet Safety Information
Smartphones for Kids (click on the link to read the article)
Zeeko-Internet-Safety-Guide (click on the link to download the pdf)
Webwise.ie
This is the Irish Internet Safety free online resource for parents and teachers. They have a huge range of resources available including explanations of current trending apps (what they can do, how to ensure your child is using them safely, potential for cyber-bullying etc.), ‘how to…’ step by step instructions (eg. blocking, setting parental controls) and advice pages on how to talk about different internet issues with your child etc. There are also videos explaining different internet issues.
Click on the link below to go directly to the webwise.ie parents homepage:
The Webwise parent handbook is available here:
The Office for Internet Safety
The Department for Justice and Equality website to tackle internet safety issues is full of advice and resources for parents. They have produced 4 booklets in the ‘Get With It’ series to assist parents in keeping children safe online (available below)
http://www.internetsafety.ie/en/is/pages/tipsforparents
Get With It Booklets:
Safer Internet Day
The Safer Internet Day parents page provides links to useful articles, resources and games for parents
http://www.saferinternetday.ie/parents/
click on the images below for more parents tips:
Gooseberry Planet
This is an app where children play games to learn about internet safety. There is an accompanying parent app where you can monitor their progress and see the choices they are making. The company also provide fortnightly alerts covering a range of topical internet safety issues.
Acknowledge participation in the NextGenerationEU funded project
“This school received a grant in 2021 to implement initiatives aimed at addressing the digital divide and support our learners at risk of educational disadvantage as a consequence, as part of the Irish National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) a project under the Recovery and Resilience Facility funded by the European Union through NextGenerationEU.
This funding was used to:-
- To purchase Computing devices.
- Local software’s and Apps
- Online resources to support learning.
Primary School Survey
To Parents/Guardians
Subject: The Primary School Survey – our school’s results and next steps
Dear Parent/Guardian/ Local Community
Thank you to everyone who took part in the recent Primary School Survey.
The Department of Education and Youth carried out this survey to find out about the type of schools that parents/guardians prefer.
We are now sharing our school’s survey results with you.
The attached survey results show:
- The preferences of parents/guardians of children currently enrolled in our school; and
- The preferences of parents/guardians of children not yet enrolled who indicated an intention to enrol in our school.
The results outline the preferences of parents/guardians for:
- Co-educational or single-sex provision
- Patronage/ethos
- Language of instruction (English or Irish)
How to understand the survey results
We have attached guidance to help you understand the survey results. In simple terms:
The percentages in green and gold show what the parents/guardians who took part in the survey prefer.
The red line shows the margin of error. This gives a range around the survey result, showing how much the result might be higher or lower if all parents/guardians of children in our school had responded.
For example:
- if the whole red line is above 50%, this means it is likely that more than half of all parents/guardians prefer that option, even allowing for the margin of error.
What happens next
The Board of Management will review the survey results and think about what they mean for our school.
As part of this, we want to make sure that parents/guardians, staff, students, and the wider school community can share their views with us. Once we have gathered all feedback, we will consider it carefully and then let you know about any decisions we make and next steps.
For example, if there is a clear preference for a change, the school may submit an ‘expression of interest form’ for change to the department. If this happens, the department will provide us with a dedicated contact person and other supports, to help our school in this process.
Next steps
Please read the attached survey results for our school and guidance document.
You can send any comments or feedback to us at office@haroldscrossns.ie with the heading in the subject line of ‘The Primary School Survey’ before 30th September 2026. Please note that it will not be possible to reply to emails received. The comments/feedback will be shared and discussed by the Board of Management at a special meeting of the Board, which will be held in October.
The Parents’ Association will separately be discussing the results of the Survey in September, and will compile feedback for the Board to discuss at the above meeting.
We have also included some additional information at the end of this email that you may find useful.
Thank you for your support with this survey and we look forward to receiving your feedback.
Yours sincerely,
Ms. Janice Smith – Chairperson of the Board of Management
Mr. Mark Glynn – School Principal
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Further information on the Primary School Survey
The Department of Education and Youth carried out the Primary School Survey to find out what type of school parents and guardians prefer. These include:
- Co-educational or single-sex provision
- School ethos/patronage
- Language of instruction (English or Irish)
Over 200,000 parents/guardians took part. Each school has received results based on the views of parents with children in the school, or those who plan to enrol a child.
What happens if there is demand for change
If a school ‘expresses an interest’ in change the department will assign a dedicated point of contact to support the school throughout the process of considering and implementing a change in configuration. A range of additional supports will also be made available.
Co-educational schools
- About 90% of primary schools are co-educational. This means boys and girls are taught together in all classes.
- About 10% of schools are single-sex, meaning they teach only boys or only girls, in some or all classes.
- If a school wants to become co-educational, the Department of Education and Youth will consider this request through its Planning and Building Unit.
- When looking at these requests, the department will check things like whether there are enough school places for boys and girls in the area, and the timing of any changes would reflect this.
Multi-denominational schools
- About 95% of schools have a religious (denominational) ethos.
- About 5% of schools are multi-denominational. In a multi-denominational school, children learn about different religions and beliefs. These schools do not provide religious instruction during the school day.
- If a school wants to become multi-denominational the department will support the school to becoming a multi-denominational school.
- When a school changes to multi-denominational, most things in the school stay the same, for example the school remains open and operating from the same school building, and the department provides the same support, like grants, inspections, regulations, curriculum, and staff.
- A change of ethos to multi-denominational can take place all at once, or gradually, starting with younger classes over time.
Schools that teach through Irish (Gaelscoileanna)
- About 92% of schools teach through English
- About 8% of schools teach through Irish
- Children in schools that provide education through Irish follow the same curriculum as those in other schools but are taught all subjects (except English and other languages) through Irish.
- If a school wants to change and teach through Irish (gaelscoil), the department will support the school to transition to a school that teaches through Irish.
Read additional information at: www.gov.ie/primaryschoolsurvey
Please see the results 19924I_NPS_en (2) (2)