February 2018
Newletter – February 2018
Duty of Care / Behaviour in Yard Prior to 8.50 a.m.
This is a reminder with regard to the commencement of the School’s Duty of Care. It is important to bear in mind that parents/ guardians are responsible for their children prior to 8.50 a.m. The boys should arrive in the school grounds between 8.40 a.m. and 8.50 a.m. They should walk directly to their lines and wait until they are collected by their teachers when school begins. Parents or an assigned guardian must remain in the Junior Yard with the younger pupils until they are collected from their lines. We ask the co-operation of parents/ guardians to ensure the safety of our pupils.
School closing at 12.00 p.m. on 21st February & 8th March.
Please note that our school will close at 12.00 p.m. on Wednesday 21st February and Thursday, 8th March. This is to facilitate staff training in new Child Protection legislation. The Department of Education and Skills has instructed schools in this regard.
Traffic in School Grounds
There is no permission for parents / guardians to drive cars into the school grounds. Our insurers have asked that attention be drawn to the importance of preventing unauthorised access to the school grounds by people driving children to school.
Please Note: There will be no lollipop lady on Seatown Road on Friday, 9th February.
Credit Unions’ Quiz
Congratulations to the boys on our two quiz teams who participated in the recent Credit Unions’ Quiz. One of the teams finished first and progresses to the next round. We wish them the very best of luck in the next round on Saturday, 10 February.
Enrolment of Junior Infants for School Year 2018/2019
Places will be offered in the coming weeks. As the demand for places has been greater than the number of places available, there will be a waiting list.
First Penance
Congratulations to the boys in Ms Murtagh’s and Ms Doherty’s classes who received the Sacrament of First Penance on Tuesday, 6 February 2018.
Administration of Medicines
Parents and Guardians are reminded that children are not permitted to bring medicines to school without the prior written agreement of the Board of Management. If a pupil needs to take any prescription medicine (including inhalers, epipens etc.) during school hours, you should ask for a permission form. Non-prescription medicines cannot be taken at school.
Welcome
To Ms Laura Gavin and Ms Myra Noonan who joined our staff in January.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Ms Eimear Conroy and her husband on the birth of their daughter and to Ms Elaine Clarke and her husband on the birth of their son.
Book Fair
Our Book Fair will run from Monday 26 February – Thursday 1 March in the school hall. The boys will be taken to the hall to look at the selection of books and are welcome to purchase books.
Parents’ Association
Sincere thanks to the members of the Parents’ Association who organised the hugely successful Christmas raffle and Christmas cards initiative before Christmas.
No-Uniform Day
The non-uniform day in December raised €437. This was donated to the local St Vincent DePaul. We thank all families who supported this appeal.
Thank You
- to the parents who have donated uniforms, books and stationery
- to those who donated toys for the Aistear programme in Infant Classes
LEGO / K’nex / other construction toys
If you have any such toys at home that are no longer being used, we would be delighted to have them for our boys to use at breaktimes.
Post Primary Transfer
Parents and Guardians are advised that they should contact their Post Primary school of choice at the earliest opportunity. Some schools in the town operate a waiting list system, and therefore take names of boys as early as Junior Infants, while others do not take names until the boys are much older.
Parents’ email addresses
We would like to thank everyone who has supplied an email address to be used for school / Parents’ Association notifications. We hope that you will find this more convenient than the traditional notes home in the boys’ school bags. We do not yet have all forms returned, but hope to be in a position to use email for a significant proportion of our communications in the near future.
Shortage of Substitute Teachers
The media reports regularly on the current shortage of substitute teachers, which has now reached crisis point. This situation is impacting our school. In January, there were 8 days for which there was no substitute teacher available.
Mid Term Break:
School closes for the mid-term break on Friday, 9 February 2018 at the regular time (1.30p.m. for Infants & 2.30 p.m. for 1st—6th Classes)
School re-opens at 8.50 a.m. on Monday, 19 February 2018.
Dates for your Diary
Wednesday 21 February & Thursday 8 March – School Closes 12p.m. (Child Protection training for staff)
Monday 26 March—Friday 6 April Easter Closure
Tuesday 10 April 2018 Ceremony of Light
Wednesday 18 April 2018 School Closed (Language Curriculum in service training for teachers)
Thursday 19 April 2018 Confirmation
Saturday 12 May 2018 First Holy Communion
Focal Scoir
We thank all members of the school community for their support and co-operation and wish them well as we endeavour to do our very best for the pupils entrusted to our care.
Ní neart go cur le chéile
