Dear Parents & Guardians,
We have just completed our first month back at school. The children have really settled back into the routine of school life.
I would like to bring to your attention some recent & upcoming events in the school.
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.
Teacher communication: All classroom teachers have separate email addresses for communication purposes. Please see the list of addresses below:
Infants: misskellykilchreest@gmail.com
1st: msgcunnkns@gmail.com
2nd: mrsniamhcusack@gmail.com
3rd & 4th: hflanagankilchreestns@gmail.com
5th & 6th: foconnorkilchreestns@gmail.com
SET: setkilchreestns@gmail.com
Emails will be responded to by teachers as soon as possible & primarily during school hours.
School Photos: County Photos were in the school recently. The proofs of the photos & the order forms were sent out with your child. If any parent is looking to order via their online portal shop.countyphotos.ie please be informed that you must place your order BEFORE Wednesday 30th September if you wish to avail of free delivery to the school. If you place an order after the deadline date, you will incur a delivery charge.
Wellness Wednesday: As part of our whole school policy on Wellness we will be continuing with Wellness Wednesday on the last Wednesday of every month. Throughout the day the children will participate in mindfulness activities organised by the class teacher. There will be no homework for the children to do that evening. Our first Wellness Wednesday is Wednesday 30th of September.
Buddy Bench: On our school playground there is one of our picnic benches painted in multi-colours. This bench is for children to sit on if they are looking for someone to play with at break-time. We would ask you to remind your children to look for someone who might be sitting there & to tell your children to sit there if they would like someone to play with.
School Costs: Over the last number of years we have noticed the rising costs associated with running the school. Particularly things like Oil, Art materials, Photocopying & Buses to name but a few. It was decided at the recent Board of Management meeting to ask Parents for an annual contribution of €40 per child €80 for 2 children up to a max of €100 if you have more than 2 children in the school. I hope you understand the reason behind this & thank you for your support on the matter. You can send the money in with your child or do a bank transfer to the Main School Account IBAN IE04 AIBK 9374 2811 8300 12
School Website: The school’s website was updated during the summer. Thanks to Ms Cusack & her husband Terry for doing an excellent job on it. I would encourage you to access the new website. The address is www.kilchreestns.com.
School Survey: Following on from the School Survey carried out by the Department of Education last year. The results of the three questions posed were
Co-ed/Single Sex school preference: 100% of those surveyed wanted to remain as a Co-ed school
Patronage/Ethos Preference: Multi-Denominational (Non-religious) patron 33%
Denominational (religious) patron 67%
Language Preference: Education through Irish 12%
Education through English 88%
The staff discussed the results at the recent staff meeting & have indicated their preference for the school to remain configured as it currently is. It was the same at the Board meeting in June. I will be speaking to the Parents Council at their next meeting to get some feedback on the matter.
Friendship week: The 6th class children will be organising activities to celebrate Friendship week from Monday 5th-16th of October. They are busy at the moment putting the plans in place so that everyone has an enjoyable week.
Maths Week: Maths Week will run from Monday 12th October to Friday 16th October. This is always an enjoyable week for the children. As children will not be getting Maths homework that week we would ask that you give them the opportunity to use Maths in the Environment for e.g. estimating shopping bills, using measures when cooking, cost of petrol/diesel per litre, identifying shapes & looking at numbers on road signs or in the home.
Mini-7s Hurling/Camogie/Gaelic football: It’s a busy month on the sports fields for our camogie, hurling & football teams. The boys football team played their blitz today Friday 25th of September. They were narrowly beaten by Loughrea Boys school in the final. The camogie mini 7s blitz is on Friday 2nd of October in St. Thomas’ GAA grounds. Thanks to Ms Hayes for preparing the team. The boys Mini-7s hurling is on Wednesday 30th of September.
Cross Country Running: Children from 3rd-6th participated in the Galway Athletics Cross country competition on Tuesday 22nd of September.
Secondary School Blitzes: St Brigid’s College organised a very successful 7-a-side hurling & camogie blitzes for 6th class boys & girls on Friday 11th & Tuesday 15th of September. Both teams played brilliantly on both days. Thanks to the staff of St Brigid’s College for organising the blitzes.
Bun & Biscuit Day: Children from 3rd & 4th are having a Bun & Biscuit Day on Friday 16th of October. Parents from the children in these classes are welcome to come in & sample some of the treats. We will have teas & coffees served. Children from other classes will be able to purchase some of the treats for €2. The proceeds will go towards buying something for the children in 3rd & 4th class.
Music Classes: Drumming lessons with Eimhin from Drumadore will commence for all classes after the Mid-term break. We will be in contact closer to time with more details.
Staffing: We welcome Mr Eoin Daveron & Mr Sean Kilduff to the school staff. Mr Daveron will be covering Principal Release Days & EAL for the year ahead. Mr Kilduff is covering LS/RT hours & is shared with Merlin Woods National School.
Trail to Portumna: Children from 3rd to 6th are going on a History Trail to Portumna Castle on Monday 5th of October. A separate letter will be sent to the parents of these classes shortly. Thanks to Ms Flanagan for organising this.
School Closure dates:
Monday 19th October School will be closed due to Teacher In-service on our assigned Curricular area of STEM.
Friday 23rd of April 2027 School will be closed due to Teacher In-service on our assigned Curricular area of STEM.
Tuesday 25th of May 2027 School will be closed due to Teacher In-service on Language Awareness.
Reminder Dates
Mid-Term Break: Monday 27th Oct – Friday 31st October
Parent teacher Meetings- Tuesday 18th Wednesday 19th November
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