January School Newsletter
16th January 2024
Dear Parents & Guardians,
We would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. Please find below a list of recent & upcoming events/dates.
St. Thomas All-Ireland Club final:
Best wishes to Manager Kenneth Burke & all the St. Thomas’ players in their upcoming match vs O’Loughlin Gaels in the All-Ireland Club final on Sunday. We hope they can bring back the Tommy Moore Cup for a second time. Thanks to the club who very kindly gave a St Thomas’ flag to every pupil in the school. The children can wear their St. Thomas’ colours on Friday if they have them.
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. 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 22nd of January. The theme is Communities of Service. 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 26th 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 email 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 11:30am-11:45pm
- 1st & 2nd 11:50am-12:10pm
- 3rd & 4th 12:00pm-12:40pm
- 5th & 6th 12:50pm-1:10pm
Christmas Concerts:
I would like to congratulate & commend the children for their performances at this year’s Christmas Concerts. In addition, I would like to thank the teachers for preparing the children so well.
Swimming Lessons:
Children from 3rd to 6th will commence Swimming lessons on Wednesday 31st of January for 6 weeks up to the Easter holidays. The letter with further details will go out this week. 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 2024:
The school is now taking enrolments for September 2024. If you know anyone that might be interested in enrolling their child for September, please ask them to make contact with the school office by phone or email. The admissions notice has also been posted on the school’s website
Progressive 25 Fundraising Card Game:
Our sincere gratitude to all who worked so hard over the last few months to make the Fundraising Card Game on Sunday January 7th such a success. In excess of €13,000 was raised between ticket sales & the raffle. A huge effort went in to raise this money & massive credit goes to the members of the Fundraising Committee Jamie, Laura, Veronica, Brian, Maria, Jillian, Regina, Karen & especially John. Your efforts are very much appreciated. A special word of thanks also to Hubert Geoghegan for all his help.
Table Quiz:
Due to the cold weather promised this week it has been decided not to go ahead with our Inter-schools fundraising table quiz this year. We will be entering teams in the Credit Union table quiz coming up soon.
St Brigid’s College Musical:
The children from 5th & 6th class have been invited to see the musical Shrek presented by the students of St Brigid’s College, this Wednesday 17th of January at 10am
Tin whistle Lessons:
Tin whistle lessons re-commenced for children from 1st-6th classes on Tuesday 15th January with Yvonne Barrett. Yvonne will communicate with you directly re payment.
Dates for your attention: School Closures
- Staff Meeting Wednesday 17th January children go home at 1:45pm buses will run as normal
- Bank Holiday Monday 5th of February.
- Mid-Term Break Thursday 15th & Friday 16th Feb.
- St Patrick’s Day Bank Holiday Monday 18th March
If you have any further queries in relation to any of the above, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Francis O’Connor
Principal.