Dear Parents/Guardians I hope you are all keeping well. As we approach the end of the school year we are delighted how well the children have done to date. Below is a list of recent & upcoming events. School Car Park: The next stage of the car-park development, footpaths & preparing for tarring will be commencing at the end of June. We are hoping then that the tarmac & lining will be done towards the end of July. With everything being planned as it is the Car Park is on schedule to be ready for September 2023. We are preparing another application for the next round of Clár Funding. We would like to get the rest of the site cleared & to continue our walkway around the perimeter of the site. This application is due the beginning of June. We are currently meeting with our Local representatives to get their support. Massive thanks to our very hard working Committee for the hours of time they are putting into this. I would especially like to mention Shane Nash, Aidan Clarke, Mike Mahony, Michael Fahy & Mairead Daly for their efforts. Due to other commitments Mairead has had to take a step back from Kilchreest Community Recreation Group. We are indebted to her for the time she has put in to bringing the project to where it is. Fundraising: Thanks to all those who attended the fundraising meeting recently. It was a very positive meeting with some great ideas discussed. We are having another meeting this Wednesday 24th of May at 8:30pm in the school hall. All are welcome to attend. There has been a good response to the parent’s contributions. €3670 has been collected to date which is over half what we were hoping to raise. We would be very grateful if the remaining contributions were sent in before the end of the school year. For EFT purposes the bank account details are as follows: IE04AIBK93742811830012 Donation Medtronic Tablets & Laptop: We received a very kind donation of 4 Samsung Tablets & a Dell Laptop from Galway Medical Devices company Medtronic last week. The donation which is to help with the implementation of STEM practices in Primary schools was organised...
Read More27th March 2023 Dear Parents & Guardians, I hope this finds you all well. We are coming to the end of our 2nd term of the school year. It has been a very busy term with some great memories to look back on. Grandparents day, Engineers Week and Seachtain na Gaeilge to name but a few. I’m sure you and the children are looking forward to the Easter break and I hope you all enjoy some relaxing time together. Below is a list of some recent activities and some upcoming events. Child Protection/Homework Survey: A huge thank you to all who filled out the questionnaire on Homework and Child Protection Guidelines. The results of both surveys were very informative and positive. I will issue the full results of the surveys after Easter and the plans for future communication and policy development. The R.S.E. programme is one of the areas that parents were unsure about and appear to need further clarification on. R.S.E. stands for Relationships Sexuality Education and it is taught as part of the SPHE curriculum. It is one of the compulsory programmes that schools have to teach. In order to give parents a clearer view of what is taught in the programme, I will attach the content overview for each class and the vocabulary taught. If you ae uncomfortable with your child learning this programme in school, then you do have the right to withdraw your child from the class when it is being taught. Arrangements can be made for the child to go to another classroom. School Car Park Development: As you know we received funds of €50,000 through Clár earlier in the year to redevelop the school car park. The tender process for the works is almost complete and we will have the contractors ready to start hopefully over the Easter holidays. One of the conditions of the draw down of the money was that we had to raise €11,000 ourselves. Up to now we haven’t been in a position to fundraise but now that the works are starting we need to get the ball rolling. It was decided at the recent Board of Management meeting to ask each family in the school for €100...
Read MoreDear Parents & Guardians, We would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. Please find below a list of recent & upcoming events/dates. Reading World Cup: Our annual Reading World Cup is ongoing at the moment for children from 1st-6th class. This is one of our initiatives to promote reading in the school. As we are doing narrative language throughout the school at the moment it might be a nice idea to get your child to retell the story of the book they are reading in sequence. Catholic Schools Week: We celebrate Catholic Schools next week. Starting Monday 23rd of January. The theme is Walking Together in Faith & Love. Once again the importance of the role that grandparents play in the lives of children is emphasised. We are going to celebrate Grandparents Day on Friday 27th of January. We would like to invite the children’s grandparents to visit the children in their classrooms. We would appreciate if you could let us know through your children’s diaries or Seesaw if grandparents are attending. The children will share some of the work they are doing in school with their grandparents. The schedule for the visits are: Infants 1pm-1:15pm 1st & 2nd 1:20pm-1:40pm 3rd & 4th 2:00pm-2:20pm 5th & 6th 2:30pm-2:50pm Christmas Concerts: I would like to congratulate & commend the children for their performances at this year’s Christmas Concerts. In addition to thanking the teachers for preparing the children so well I would also like to thank Tin whistle teacher Yvonne & Laura from Dance It Out Ireland for their help on the day. Swimming Lessons: Children from 3rd to 6th will commence Swimming lessons on Wednesday 15th of February for 7 weeks up to the Easter holidays. The letter with further details will go out this week & needs to be returned by Wednesday 25th January. To comply with our school policy & child protection guidelines, we require a male & female parent to be present to assist with supervision in the dressing rooms. Further details about this will issue in the letter. Enrolment for September 2023: The school is now taking enrolments for September 2023. If you know anyone that might be interested in enrolling...
Read MoreDear Parents & Guardians, I hope you are all keeping well and that you and the children are looking forward to Christmas. Below are a few items for your attention. Parent Teacher Meetings: It was great to have face to face meetings again. We would like to thank all the parents who attended the meetings & for all the positive feedback that you gave to the teachers. It’s really constructive when the children can see that parents & teachers are working together for their benefit. School Book Fair: Our annual School Book Fair took place recently. We would like to thank you all for your support. Over a thousand euro was spent on books & thanks to you we were able to retain €294 of this to put towards our Literacy Interventions. Thanks to Ms Keely for organising. Thanks also to Joby & Assumpta for helping to run the Book Fair all week, particularly the two evenings of the Parent-Teacher meetings. Christmas Concerts: We are delighted to say that we will be having Christmas Concerts this year. The date is Monday 19th of December & we would like to invite you into the school to watch the performances. The Junior/ Senior Infants & First & Second class are doing Nativity plays. The children from 3rd-6th will be performing Dance routines they have been learning with the Dance company Dance It Out. They will also be playing some tunes on the tin whistle accompanied by their Music teacher Yvonne Barrett & singing some Christmas Carols. The following are the times: Infants 11-11:30am 1st & 2nd 11:45-12:20pm 3rd & 4th 12:30- 1:pm 5th & 6th 1:15-1:45pm Shoeboxes: Thank you again for supporting our shoe box appeal. There was a fantastic response again for this very worthy cause. There were over 100 shoeboxes donated. Thanks to Ms Hayes for co-ordinating & getting our photo in the paper. Thanks also to Ms Kelly for getting the shoeboxes collected. Clothes Collection: Thanks to you all for donating to the recent clothes collection. Once again there was a great response. €135 was raised as a result of the collection. County Final Success: Congratulations to the St Thomas’ team & management on their recent County final...
Read MoreDear Parents & Guardians, We have all just completed our first month back at school. The children have really settled back into the routine of school life & the teachers are really happy with the progress the students have made so far. I would like to bring to your attention some recent & upcoming events in the school. Staff: A warm welcome to all our staff who have returned to school this month. We are delighted to have Ms Olivia Flynn (who is teaching support LSRT a post shared with Ardrahan National School) & Ms Sarah Leneghan, (who will be covering Principal Release Days & LSRT) back teaching with us again this year. First year Froebel student, Chantelle Prendergast, will be assisting in the Infant room on Mondays for 6 weeks starting next Monday. Chantelle will then be doing a 3 week teaching practice placement in January. Communication: As per last year our monthly newsletters will be emailed to you & they will also be available to access on the Schools website. Text-a-parent will still be used for more urgent messages. It is important that we have all the correct contact details. If your contact details have changed, please send a note to the class teacher in your child’s homework diary with the updated contact details. School Photos: County Photos were in the school on Friday 23rd September 2021. The proofs of the photos & the order forms will be delivered to the school shortly. We will send out the proofs with your child & if you are interested in getting the photos you can go online or return the order form to the school on the date provided on the proofs. Healthy Eating: At this time every year we take the opportunity to remind parents of our School’s Healthy Eating Policy. Children are asked to bring healthy lunches each day. A small treat is permitted on Fridays. Seesaw: We will continue to use Seesaw as a remote learning platform this year. If you would like further information on Seesaw please go to www.seesaw.com. Thanks to Ms Cusack for all the work she has done to have this up & running for us again this year. Wellness Wednesday: As...
Read MoreDear Parents & Guardians, I hope this finds you all safe and well. The end of the second term is upon us & it’s good to see normality returning to school life. Please see below a list of recent and upcoming events. Lifting Covid-Restrictions: Schools have been given the go-ahead to remove Covid-19 restrictions. After the Easter break there will be no staggered breaks for children. Children from all classes will be on the yard at break times. The school closing time will be 3pm for children from 1st -6th. There is no longer a requirement for children to bring their own face cloth to dry their hands after washing. As pods are no longer a requirement there will be more flexibility around changing seats for group work in classes. Children can enter the school grounds from 9am but will continue to be dropped at the school gate by parents or guardians. We would also ask parents to use the front door of the school & press the intercom if you need to pick up your child or drop off something for them. We thank for your assistance on this matter. Development of the school Grounds: There was a great turn out to the meeting held on Thursday 3rd March in the school hall. Everyone in attendance were happy with the plans & very supportive of the development. A new committee of the Kilchreest Community Recreation Group was formed & the following are the officers of the Committee. Chairman: Mike Mahony, Vice Chairman: Shane Nash, Secretary: Francis O’Connor, Assistant Secretary Mairead Glynn, Treasurer: Fiona Clarke, Assistant Treasurer: Lisa Mahon, PRO: Michael Fahy. We thank all those who have volunteered. Work has started with grant applications & we are very grateful to Mairead, Shane & Aidan Clarke for all the time & effort they are putting into this. It is very much appreciated. We will be keeping you all updated as & when there are any updates. Standardised Tests in English, Maths and Gaeilge will take place in the coming weeks. Drumcondra English – Thursday 26th May Drumcondra Maths – Tuesday 31st May Drumcondra Gaeilge – Thursday 2nd June Please make every effort to ensure your child is present on...
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