First Confession Well done to Tristan Cleere and Ella Tobin who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Monday 21st March. It was a lovely ceremony and they did really well.
First Holy Communion First Holy Communion will take place on Sunday 8th May. There will be no choir this year as we felt is safest not to mix the schools at the moment.
Inspector visit Our School inspector Edel Meaney visited on Tuesday 8th March. She was quite happy with the progress she saw in both literacy and numeracy. We need to continue to place emphasis on Oral English and descriptive language. She was more than happy with the pupils' behavior and attention.
Pancake Tuesday The children enjoyed lovely pancakes on Pancake Tuesday. The Nutella topping went down a treat.
Swimming The children are delighted taking part in their swimming lessons again. Thanks to all those who have already paid. For those who have not please do so as soon as possible and remember it can be paid in installments so there is no need for anyone to feel under pressure.
Scooter Workshop The children will take part in a scooter workshop on Wednesday 5th April. Miss Scott sent home a letter with all the details.
Easter Raffle The parent’s association are holding a raffle on Friday 8th April. We will send home tickets for this raffle – like we did at Christmas. If anyone has prizes, they would like to donate they would be greatly appreciated.
Easter School Closure School will close for the Easter Holidays on Friday 8th April at 12pm and will reopen again on Monday 25th April for our final term this year.
Seachtain na Gaeilge The Children took part in many lovely activities to mark Seachtain na Gaeilge.
Carambola Lunches We are asking all parents to log in to their child’s carambola lunch menu and pick with your child their preferred hot lunch. If they are picking one or two, they will eat it means they are not going to be discarding food. All the meals provided must meet government standards in terms of nutrition and quality. We will keep an eye on this over the coming week. Please let us know if you cannot login.
Cumann na mBunscoil We will have our boys U13 Cumann na mBunscoil Blitz the week we return to school after the Easter Holidays. I will give full details of venue and date when I know more as these are to be confirmed. Some of the girls will play in this blitz too and we also hope to organize some challenge matches towards the end of the year for both the boys and girls.
School Garden Preparations are underway for planting and sowing in our school garden. The children will all really enjoy this. We have many birds in our garden. Thanks to the girls from the senior room who make sure they are fed every morning.
Green Schools Well done to all the children who worked so hard to help us achieve our flag for travel. A special thanks to our Green School Committee and to Miss Scott for all their hard work. We will know in the coming weeks if we have been awarded the flag as we had our evaluation visit on March 1st.
Healthy Eating/ Cookery We always encourage healthy eating here in school as it is so important in terms of concentration, growth and development for children. It is also one of the best ways of preventing illness. As part of encouraging healthy eating will demonstrate some healthy recipes for the children over the coming weeks. (Usually on a Friday) I will give the children the recipe and if they wish to try to cook it at home with parents they can. If you do cook, please take photos and we can put them up on our website or on the seesaw app. We will be emphasizing fun and nutrition. Often if children have helped cook the food they are also more likely to try it.
Covid Unfortunately, it seems that covid is still around for another while. I would encourage all parents to do antigen tests regularly on your child. These can be ordered free from the HSE quoting school roll number 11470B. If your child does not like these antigen tests there are tests the can be administered by holding the swab between the back molar teeth which some children may find easier. These are not free but are available in the pharmacy in Callan. Obviously if a child is displaying symptoms they must remain at home.
FEBRUARY & MARCH NEWSLETTER 2022
SWIMMING Swimming classes will commence on 2nd March. There are 5 sessions in total – please see previous newsletter (available on website also) for details. Children need to bring their own lunch on swimming days for small & big break and 2 bottles of water.
PRIMARY LANGUAGE CURRICULUM To facilitate teacher learning on the new Primary Language Curriculum, the school will close at 12noon on Wednesday 16th March.
LÁ GLAS Pupils can wear Green items of clothing on Wednesday 16th March.
ST PATRICK’S DAY We will be closed Thursday 17th and Friday 18th March.
TEST 2R We are currently administering Test 2R for Senior Infant pupils and will arrange follow up meetings with parents if necessary in the coming weeks.
PANCAKE TUESDAY – 1ST MARCH We will provide pancakes for the children this day.
MATHLETICS We are introducing a new online individualised maths programme called Mathletics. All pupils have been given sign-in codes for this.
HURLING / CAMOGIE We are finally able to get back playing hurling and football with Cumann na mBunscol. We have entered 1 x U.13 hurling team and 1 x U.13 Camogie team.
SEACHTAIN NA GAEILGE Seachtain na Gaeilge will take place from 1st March to 17th March. We will organise quizzes, games, yoga and storytelling and a number of other activities as Gaeilge during this time.
ATTENDANCE We remind parents that all absences must be explained by a note to the class teacher.
SPEED Our travel officer Chiara surveyed speed of cars near our school recently. It was found that approx. 60-70% of cars were travelling over the 50kph speed limit. We are asking the local community to be vigilant and slow down to keep our children safe.
WORLD BOOK DAY We will celebrate world book day on Thursday 3rd March, where children can dress up as a character from their favourite book. We really want children to use their imagination in terms of their costume and to try to put together a homemade costume. We also do not want parents to have the expense of buying costumes. Children will then tell us about their character and why the book they picked is their favourite or one of their favourites.
SWIMMING CLASSES Swimming will commence on Wednesday 2nd March and this year we will complete 5 sessions prior to the Easter Holidays. The dates are as follows: Wednesday 2nd March Wednesday 9th March Wednesday 23rd March Wednesday 30th March Wednesday 6th April
The cost for 5 swimming sessions: €40 per child. Payments can be made in instalments.
Aquatics is part of the school curriculum and all children are required to attend unless medically certified otherwise.
Mrs. Looby and Mrs. McCluskey will be in the family room with the Senior Infants and 1st Class. Ms. Fogarty and Ms. Scott will take the remaining girls and a staff member from the pool and will be with the boys.
Any parents from Senior Infants who wish to attend are welcome. It would be expected that even at this age the children in the Junior Room would be able to dress themselves with relative ease. Please have the children practice drying themselves over the coming weeks. Staff members are not permitted to dry any child. Children are to wear their school tracksuit and runners with velcro straps if unable to tie their laces.
On the swimming days, children will need to bring in a healthy lunch for small break & big break. Plus 2 bottles of water. The children will be thirsty after the pool and they will need the 2nd bottle for lunch time. Unfortunately, we will be unable to provide the Carambola lunch on these days.
Items to be in swimming gear bag: Swimsuit, swimming hat, goggles, towel, bottle of water, swimming socks (optional). Please note children are not allowed in the pool without a swimming hat. SCHOOL TOUR
The whole school will travel to Tayto Park for our school tour on Monday 20th June. The cost will be €35 per child (includes activities in the park and lunch). We will send you more details nearer to the date.
Swimming and School Tour can be paid for in instalments in whatever way you wish between now and June 3rd. This allows 4 months to have all activities paid for. It is important that everyone pays as we need to keep the costs down for all families.
JANUARY NEWSLETTER 2022
WELCOME MS BRIDGET FOGARTY We welcome Ms. Fogarty to the Senior Room. We know the children will continue to blossom under her care.
HOT LUNCHES Hot lunches will begin soon in our school. I will keep you all updated as soon as I know more. We are delighted to be part of this scheme. These lunches do not replace dinner at home as they will be lunch size portions.
GREEN SCHOOL On 1st March our Green School Travel Officer will visit our school to conduct a renewal visit and meet the children. This will be our 4th Green Flag if we are awarded it.
As part of our Green-Schools initiative, we will participate in the ‘Big Travel Challenge’ from 7th – 18th February and will compete in the “Park ‘n’ Stride” Category to promote sustainable travel. We ask those who drive to school to “Park ‘n’ Stride” across the fortnight if possible, and if safe to do so. We encourage all those who participate to do so safely by wearing hi-vis and walking on the footpaths. We hope to encourage as many people as possible to “Park ‘n’ Ride” to achieve a measurable increase in this sustainable made of transport as we work towards achieving our 4th Green-Schools flag – Travel.
SCHOOL CALENDAR We were scheduled to take a holiday on March 18th when we done up our school calendar for this school year initially, but as the Government has announced 18th March as a Bank Holiday now, we will now take Friday 3rd June as our extra day. Attached new calendar with this change.
SENSORY ROOM We are still working on quotes, layout etc., for our Sensory Room. We have raised €765 through the Go Fund Me page and donations directly to the school. We are very grateful for all the donations.
ACTIVE SCHOOL The children are completing Active homework for 10 weeks as part of our Active School initiative.
SCHOOL TOUR Our school tour will travel to Tayto Park on Monday 20th June. The cost is €35.00 per child and will include lunch. You can pay in full or by instalments. Full payment due by 10th June.
SWIMMING We expect to receive correspondence from Clonmel Pool to confirm if they will or won’t be re-commencing swimming classes for schools this year. We will update you on this once we hear from them.
CHRISTMAS RAFFLE Many thanks to all who donated to the Christmas Raffle, We raised €500 for our school.
ST. VINCENT De PAUL Many thanks for your donations for our St. Vincent De Paul collection. The local branch are very thankful.
DECEMBER NEWSLETTER 2022
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS School will close on Wednesday 22nd December at 12noon and re-open on 6th January at 8.50am. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the children, staff and their families a very happy and peaceful Christmas.
HOMEWORK Homework will finish in both rooms on Friday 10th December. Your child has been given a Christmas Annual and can enjoy some of the fun activities in this if they wish.
COVID We have updated our Covid Response Plan and this is on our website. This includes updates in relation to the wearing of facemasks in the Senior Room. As said in a previous note we will take a very balanced approach to this situation and will also ensure the children get regular breaks outside while facemasks need to the worn.
DANCING The children have really enjoyed their dancing with Michael Cooney. The cost per child is €20 – we would appreciate full payment for the dancing as soon as possible if you have not done so already.
MR. BRENNAN We wish Mr. Brennan all the best as he moves to Ballyhale NS as Deputy Principal. He will be greatly missed by all the children and staff. I’m sure he will come back and visit us. Note from Mr. Brennan “To all the children, staff and parents, thank you for making my time in The Commons so enjoyable. I have had some great moments here and I wish you all the very best in the future.” Donnacha Brennan.
SANTA DASH We will do our Santa Dash Friday 17th December. Children can wear anything Christmassy if they wish. Christmas jumpers, santa hats, etc.,
UNIFORM Children can wear their own clothes on the last week of school i.e. 20th – 22nd December, so as the uniform & tracksuit can be washed and put away until we re-open on 6th January.
HEALTHY EATING Any child bringing in their own lunch must bring healthy food – no chocolate / crisps etc., Our drinks for school are milk and water only – if a little sugar free diluted juice is needed in the water this is ok.
CHRISTMAS RAFFLE The Christmas Raffle will take place on Friday 17th December. Please return tickets and money before this date. Many thanks to the Parents Association for helping to organise this.
GO FUND ME Our Go Fund Me for our Sensory Room no stands at €575. Many thanks to all who donated. This fundraiser is still open for donations and we would really appreciate if you could be shared on social media. Link address as follows: https://gofund.me/44457e5b
ONLINE SAFETY As children will be home more during the Christmas holidays and possibly using more devices. We would ask you all to be extra vigilant in relation to online safety.
CHILDRENS TRACTOR RUN Ballingarry GAA are running a free Children’s Tractor Run on Sunday 12th December at 4pm at the GAA Pitch. Children can bring tractors, bikes scooters etc., and they will use the walk way around the pitch. They can decorate these as they wish. There will be prizes and refreshments provided. Your child does not need to be a member of the GAA to join in the fun.
ST. VINCENT De PAUL Many thanks for all your donations to St. Vincent De Paul. We dropped up boxes and shopping bags of goodies to Annie Heaphy, which will be distributed over the coming weeks to families in need in the local area. Annie was blown away again this year with the generosity of the school to the collection and hopes she will be able to visit to the school next year to thank the children in person.
SHOEBOX APPEAL We collected 24 shoeboxes this year, thank you all so much. This is a wonderful number of boxes from our school.
CARAMBOLA LUNCHES We will not get Carambola lunches delivered to the school on the last day Wednesday 22nd December, so we ask all children to bring in a drink with them. We do not know as of yet when the Hot Lunches will begin.
GREEN-SCHOOLS SLOGAN COMPETITION Well done to all of the children who entered our Green-School Travel Slogan Competition. Our Green-Schools committee have selected: ‘Better Environment, Better You; Walk, Cycle or Scoot to School’ as our new Green-Code for Travel. Well done to Megan Kennedy who created this new code!
ACTIVE SCHOL SLOGAN AND POSTER COMPETITON We had lots of wonderful entries to our Active School Slogan Competition. Our Active School committee have chosen ‘Don’t be lazy. Be activity crazy!’ Well done to Erin Tobin who designed our new slogan.
CHRISTMAS SHOW We will post videos of both room on Seesaw with Christmas carols, poems etc.,
NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER 2021
MR. BRENNAN Mr. Brennan has informed us of his decision to resign his position as Deputy Principal here in our school. He has been appointed Deputy Principal of Ballyhale NS and we wish him every success in his new school. The children really enjoyed Mr. Brennan during his time here with us and he will be greatly missed by both staff and pupils.
Bridget Fogarty will replace Mr. Brennan as Deputy Principal and will teach the Senior Room beginning on January 6th, after the Christmas holidays.
COATS Please ensure your child has a coat every day coming to school. The weather is much too unpredictable to be without one.
TEETH It has been a long time since the children have gotten the Fluoride Mouthwash. It has not been possible due to Covid restrictions. This means it is all the more important that the children are brushing their teeth in the morning and at night. We want to keep those smiles sparkly and bright!
I was speaking with the Dental Nurse and there is a backlog of children in school system to be seen. Some children who should have been seen in 6th class are now in 2nd year.
RAZ READING We are delighted to have introduced the Raz Reading programme. The children seem to love it and the choice and variety of books on so many topics is wonderful. The fact that the children are reading and engaging in material at their own personal level makes it very achievable for them.
SCOOTING / CYCLING WORKSHOP Unfortunately we had to postpone the workshop due the bad weather this morning. The workshop will now take place next Wednesday 17th November weather permitting. A text will be sent out early next week regarding same.
STAY SAFE / RSE Starting from next week up until the Christmas holidays we will be covering the Stay Safe / RSE strands of the SPHE Curriculum. These may bring up topics your child will take to you about at home. Should you have any concerns or questions, please contact us.
WORLD DIABETES DAY World Diabetes Day is on Sunday 14th November. We are asking all the students to dress in blue on Friday 12th November to celebrate and learn about Diabetes. We do this also to show our support to Louise who has Type 1.
PARENT / TEACHER MEETINGS Please find attached your note about parent / teacher meetings (by phone) next week.
IRISH DANCING The children are really enjoying their Irish Dancing lessons with Michael Cooney every Wednesday.
OCTOBER NEWSLETTER 2021
HALLOWEEN BREAK We will take our Halloween break on Friday 22nd November at 2.30pm and will return on Monday 1st November at 8.50am. We hope everyone has a lovely break.
PRIMARY LANGUAGE CURRICULUM Students will finish at 12noon on Friday 15th October to facilitate teacher engagement with the New primary Language Curriculum.
DRESSING UP We will dress up on Thursday 21st October for Halloween as this is easiest for students with hurling training on the Friday. We will do a Witches Walk in our costumes as our launch day for Sustainable Travel to school. Ciara, our travel officer will be at the school that morning with prizes and stickers. We will walk / cycle to school this day if possible. We are hoping that this will be the start of children walking / cycling to school. We ask all children to bring in €2 this day which we will donate to Temple Street Children’s Hospital.
SCOOTER / CYCLE WORKSHOP There will be a scooter / cycling workshop on 11th November (Thursday). Junior Room are asked to bring in a scooter & helmet if you have one at home. If any child does not have a scooter, we will organize to have one here for them – please let the school know in advance.
Senior Room: Pupils have the option of doing either the scooter or cycle workshop. Bring in a scooter or bicycle and a helmet. Again, if your do not have access to a scooter or bicycle we will organize to have the items here, please let the school know in advance.
A letter with more detail about this workshop will be sent out nearer the time.
IRISH DANCING Michael Cooney will take the students for Irish Dancing from Thursday 3rd November for 7 weeks. The cost will be €20 per child for the 7 weeks.
KATY GOODHUE We will take part in 4 Christmas sessions with Katy Goodhue. I will advise you of the cost in the next few weeks.
COATS Please ensure that your child has a coat each day as we enter the colder season.
SHOE BOX APPEAL We are taking part again this year in the shoebox appeal. In so far as possible we ask people to use what they may have at home to complete the boxes. This a wonderful opportunity for children to lean compassion and understanding about those less fortunate than us. Boxes to be returned on Monday 1st November.
HEAD LICE Please keep checking your child’s hair for headlice and treat if necessary.
SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER 2021
WELCOME BACK Slieveardagh N.S. wishes a warm welcome to all our staff & students. Mrs. Looby will be on leave until October. Ms Fogarty will be teaching the Junior Room, Mr Brennan will be teaching the Senior Room and Miss Scott who will be our Special Education Teacher. Mr Brennan will be acting Principal during this time. Our SNA, Mrs. Mary McCluskey will be working in the Junior Room. In addition to this we will have Ms Jackie Moriarty teaching the Senior room one day per week while Mr Brennan attends to office work. This was granted by the Department of Education to every teaching principal and Ms Moriarty is shared with four other schools.
ENROLMENT 2022 While it is a long way of yet, we are currently taking expressions of interest for new Junior Infants for next September 2022. Parents of potential new pupils should contact the school to register their interest in a place. E-mail [email protected]
TRACKSUIT Tracksuit day will be Wednesday and Friday. Only red school t-shirt and navy tracksuit bottoms to be worn for P.E. Plain navy shorts can be worn for PE on warm days. I will update as to GAA training in the coming weeks. Runners to be worn on tracksuit days only. Sport Shorts Paul Meehan has the plain navy shorts in stock.
SCHOOL CALENDAR School Calendar for this school year is attached. We ask you to work around these dates as much as possible.
ALADDIN SCHOOL APP AND SEESAW APP Parents need to have the ALADDIN SCHOOL APP on your phones – it can be found in the App Store on your phone. We will be using this programme to send texts to you from the school. The “text a parent” number which you have already provided us with will be still the number that will receive the texts on. Similarly, parents should all have the Seesaw app on a device at home. Teachers will send notes and display pupils work on Seesaw.
KIDS A-Z APP Like so much else, we have started to use a new online reading app for homework this year. This reading programme has excellent features and is set at your child’s level. Parents should download this app and engage with their child as they record their reading each evening at home.
COVID-19 While all children will be welcome back to school, we would remind parents that, where children are displaying colds, coughs or flu like symptoms, they should not be sent to school. Children who display such symptoms in school will be isolated and parents asked to collect them from the school. Teachers will revise proper hygiene procedures regarding hand washing and etiquette related to sneezing, coughing or spitting with the children. In school they will be washing or sanitizing their hands when they enter and exit their classroom, and before and after every meal. We would be grateful if you could make this part of your routine at home in preparation for returning to school. Here are some videos that you can show your children: Video for parents of children in Junior Infants - https://youtu.be/UomH_vakjDI Video for parents of children Senior Infants – RII - https://youtu.be/4smnni5jpGI Video for parents of children RIII – RVI - https://youtu.be/97nErW1-0YU
MEETING TEACHERS - APPOINTMENTS Should you wish to discuss any issue with your child’s teacher, we would ask you to make an appointment in advance. This is to everybody’s advantage, especially the children. Please send in a note with your child or contact the school by telephone/email if you wish to make an appointment.
ATTENDANCE For the academic year 2021/2022 we are suspending the awarding of attendance certificates and the attendance award for achieving 95% attendance monthly. While we still place importance on good attendance, we wish to ensure there is no undue pressure on children or families to attend when feeling unwell given current circumstances.
GREEN-SCHOOLS We will hold a “No Energy Day” in our school on Friday 24th September to promote the conservation of energy and the importance of environmental awareness and care. We continue to work on conserving energy, Travel, water and recycling as part of our green school’s programme. Light bulbs, batteries and small electrical appliances can be dropped in for Ms. Scott to take to the recycling centre. Keep up the good work.
ACTIVE SCHOOL AND HEALTHY LUNCHES We continue our activities to promote enjoyment of being active. While some families have opted out of the Carambola Lunch scheme, we would remind everyone that we do have a healthy food policy in our school. Pupils should only bring healthy foods to school and water/milk to drink. No juices or sugary foods/drinks please. Healthy body = healthy mind!
SCHOOL GARDEN Our school garden has developed greatly during the summer. We have a great variety of fruit and vegetables that we will harvest in the coming weeks. The garden is a fantastic addition to learning in the school.
SCHOOL MAINTENANCE We are delighted with how well the school is looking. Thanks to John O’Meara for all his work over the summer
HEAD LICE Please inform us if your child has head lice so as we can limit its spread. No family wants to have this problem in their house, so we asking you to check your child’s hair each week and contact us in confidence if there is headlice.
SCHOOL WEBSITE The school website: www.slieveardaghns.com Our monthly newsletters will be online. We will also have a page on Green Schools, Active Schools, photos etc.
SCHOOL TWITTER ACCOUNT School news and pictures of pupil’s work are regularly tweeted on our school twitter account. We would ask all families to follow our school account @slieveardaghns in order to develop our online presence.
FIRST HOLY COMMUNION AND CONFIRMATION We are still awaiting a date for these Sacraments to take place. As soon as we have the information we will let parents and pupils know.
ADULT EDUCATION - ONE STEP UP INFORMATION SERVICE Returning to education as an adult can significantly improve your self-confidence, health, employability and much more. There are many kinds of educational opportunities available, often free of charge. AONTAS, the national adult learning organisation, provides the free One Step information service that signposts thousands of people in Ireland every year to accessing their education and training options by freely providing information about where to look for: Courses Financial supports Contact details for various services And much more to support you to find your learning pathway If you think education would help you with getting a qualification, work or making new friends then visit www.OneStepUp.ie or call Freephone 1800 30 36 69
MÍLE BUÍOCHAS I would like to thank all of the school staff – Mrs Looby, Miss Scott, Mrs Mc Cluskey, Ms Moriarty, Margaret Mullally, Margaret Butler, John O Meara- for their help and support over the past few months since school closed and for all their help in ensuring that school could safely re-open for the children. I would like to thank you the parents for working so well with us to help in these uncertain times. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the Board of Management. Our aim is of course to remain open and by working together this will happen. It has been so lovely over the past few days to see the smiling faces mixing with their friends again and hopefully we are seeing the end of what has been a long road during the Covid pandemic.
JUNE NEWSLETTER 2021
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone, the pupils, staff, parents and Board of Management for all their help and support this year.
Obviously, this year came with its challenges, but the hard work and co-operation of al has meant that the year didn’t have as negative impact on the children as it could have had.
We wish Dylan Breen, Sean Barrett, Sonny Cleere, Thomas Grant, Brogan O’Shea and Jonathan Lowe all the very best wishes as they continue their education journey in Presentation Secondary School, Ballingarry.
Attached to this newsletter you will find a school calendar for next years school year. School will re-open on Thursday 26th August at 8.50am We ask that you look carefully at the calendar and plan around it in so far as possible.
SCHOOL REPORTS You will also find, your child’s school report. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that this year we completed the New Drumcondra Maths test which is a more difficult test with higher norms than the Sigma-T standardised test done previously. Some students may have gone down a little in their maths results. This to be expected to a certain degree due to the new test and lockdown etc.
STANDARDISED TESTING Overall, as a school our standardised tests have either improved slightly or stayed the same as they were when last done two years ago.
Our Oral Language has improved by 5%
Our Spelling is still at 68%
Our Maths is roughly on a par with where it was. This was difficult to judge due to the new test being used.
English Reading is improved slightly by 3%
Irish Reading and Listening are roughly the same as where they were.
This not too bad considering almost seven months of home learning in the last two years combined since the tests were last completed.
Of course, we want to try and improve on this again next year. This is so we can have the students feeling confident academically going into secondary school
ATTENDANCE Although we could not place the emphasis on attendance this year, we will be placing huge emphasis on attendance in the coming academic year. This is so that from a young age, a child forms good habits of attendance and also to ensure better educational outcomes for all our students. We also want to ensure that each and every student reaches their best and develops fully as a person.
ACTIVITIES Over the last month we had our Sports Day, a cycling workshop, Art Classes with Katy Goodhue. The children really enjoyed each of the activities. During the last few days in school, we will have a drumming workshop and a visit from the Reptile Zoo to look forward to as the children could not go on a school tour.
PAYMENTS Payments for next years books €60 per child and activities €25 per child are now due.
ACTIVE FLAG We held our Sports Day on 8th June. The children enjoyed a range of activities. We are celebrating National Cumann na mBunscol week this week. The children participated in a cross-bar challenge and a GAA skills competition. We also held a county colours day and the senior room enjoyed a GAA quiz. We completed the virtual 5km on behalf of Ballingarry GAA and Camogie Club. We raised €152, many thanks for your donations.
GREEN FLAG The Junior Room have been busy building a Bug Hotel in our school garden. The senior Room planted cabbage, lettuce, onions, broccoli and carrots in the garden. Our Green School travel officer held a cycle workshop with all of the children. They all learned about safety and cycling skills. We had our Walk to School Week recently and everybody made a fantastic effort to walk / cycle to school.
SCHOOL UNIFORMS School uniforms an be purchased from Paul Meehans, Mullinahone.
DECEMBER 2020 NEWSLETTER
SCHOOL CLOSURE & OPENING School closes at 12noon on Tuesday 22nd December for Christmas Holidays and re-opens on Wednesday 6th January at 8.50am.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS We want to wish all our pupils, staff and their families a very Happy Christmas and every good wish for the New Year.
THANK YOU I wish to thank you all for your efforts in keeping our school COVID-19 free thus far your co-operation is really making all the difference and will continue to do so in the New Year.
ST. VINCENT de PAUL On behalf of Annie Heaphy and all the local St. Vincent de Paul Society, a sincere thank you to all who donated to the hampers this year. We donated a huge amount for a small school and wit will all be put to good use and much appreciated.
PARENTS INFORMATION SESSION: 16TH DECEMBER There will be an online information session about Internet Safety for Parents on Wednesday16th December at 7pm. The session lasts about 45 minutes and is interactive. I will be sending home a link for this nearer the date. This is really important as there is so much to know about online safety. It would be great if we had one person from each family online for this session. I really feel we cannot be too careful and we can never know enough about this topic. With new issues coming to the fore all the time.
The children will have their workshop the following day and the content of this workshop will be explained to the parents.
SENIOR ROOM – SPORTS On the days the senior room children are using the pitch for sports, they should bring in a spare pair of footwear to change into.
ACTIVE ADVENT Well done to our Active School Committee who have organized an active break for all the children daily during Advent.
CLEAN AIR WEEK The children completed many activities in class to learn about air pollution and the importance of clean air. Our committee also completed surveys and all the children helped design posters. Many thanks to all who signed up to our No Idling Pledge.
MONDAY 21ST & TUESDAY 22ND DECEMBER The children can wear their own clothes especially Christmas jumpers these days. This will give a chance to have uniforms washed and pup away for Christmas. We also will collect €2 per child, which will be donated to the Christmas Jumper for Crumlin Children Hospital Appeal.
SANTA DASH We ask on Friday 18th December children wear a Christmas head-piece / Santa hat as we will do our Santa Dash for our Active School Flag.
LUNCH – 22ND DECEMBER We ask that children bring a drink on Tuesday 22nd December as we will not have lunches delivered on this day.
HOMEWORK We will only be giving spelling and reading as homework next week, until the Christmas holidays.
WEBSITE We will put photos and videos of the children doing their Christmas activities on our school website. We will notify you when this is done.
NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER 2020
PARENT / TEACHER MEETINGS Thanks to all parents and staff involved in a different way of doing our Parent / Teacher meetings, and of course if you have any queries, please contact us.
SHOE BOXES Thanks to all who donated money toward the Shoe Box appeal this year. Amount collected €60.00. We will transfer this money to Team Hope. If you would like to donate directly, you can do so online www.teamhope.ie
TEMPLE STREET CHILDRENS HOSPITAL This year we collected €70.00 for our dress-up day at Halloween. We have transferred this money to them. Many thanks for your donation.
HALLOWEEN During the Halloween weekend, we had some minor damage done to our Sensory Garden. Ms. Scott and the children have worked so hard since September on this project. This is a beautiful resource for all our children to enjoy and we really want to look after it. We cannot afford to replace items in it each year. We also had household items dumped at the back of the school over that weekend. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all who donated materials for the garden and to John O’Meara, Ms. Scott and her father for all the help they gave in completing the project.
SCHOOL LUNCHES The situation with regards to the school lunches seems to have improved. We are continuing to review it and again ask people to only order what your child is going to eat. No full lunches should be going home uneaten.
GREEN SCHOOLS The children participated in a Zoom workshop for Green School. It was based on “Travel”. Our travel officer spoke to all the children about the activities they will be doing over the next 2 years to achieve to achieve our fourth Green School Flag – Travel. We were given good ideas and look forward to working on this project.
ACTIVE SCHOOLS We are currently participating in Active Break Everyday Challenge as part of our Active School Activities. Every class completes at least one movement break everyday throughout the month of November.
SCHOOL PHOTOS County Photos will contact us in the next few weeks to re-arrange a date to take the photos.
CHRISTMAS CAROLS / PLAY As we will not be able to perform our traditional Christmas Play this year. We will do additional Christmas art and we will perform Christmas poetry and songs in the classroom. These we will upload onto the See Saw app for you to view.
ST. VINCENT De PAUL We ask all families to donate to our St. Vincent De Paul collection. These will be collected by December 8th this year as the items have to be quarantined before distribution. Each family will be given an item to donate next week.
PLEASE CHECK OUR SCHOOL WEBSITE REGULARLY FOR UP-DATES AND PHOTOS WWW.SLIEVEARDAGHNS.COM
OCTOBER NEWSLETTER 2020
FIRST COMMUNION On 6th September our 4 pupils in third class pupils received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion. Congratulations to: Caitlin Cleere, Oisín Cleere, Conor Cuddy, Emma Fitzgerald.
OCTOBER MID-TERM BREAK 26th – 30thOctober
TRICK OR TREAT Children will be allowed to dress up on Friday Oct 23rd. We ask the children to bring €2 which will be donated to Temple Street.
PARENT / TEACHER MEETINGS Parent / Teacher meetings will take place on Tuesday 10th & Wednesday 11th November. We will send a note home with your appointment date and time soon. Nearer to the time we will confirm as to how the meetings will take place.
SCHOOL GARDEN We wish to thank Ms. Scott for completing our Agenda 21 application. We hope to create a sensory garden. The children painted pallets and tyres which will be used in the garden.
SEESAW We have set up a Seesaw account for each student. This is an app where teachers can assign and correct work online. Our reason for doing this is so that in the event of school closure we have a way of engaging with the students. We do understand that not everyone has good internet access. We can only do our best in this situation. We encourage you to try and become familiar with the app over the coming weeks. Notifications will come to your phone when work is assigned. Give them a go and we will correct and comment on them as they come in.
SPELLINGS FOR ME This year pupils from 2nd to 6th Class have begun to use Spellings for Me as their spelling programme. The children are getting used to using this on-line programme in school. We will be in touch when they need to start this programme at home.
NESSY All children from 1st to 6th class have started the on-line reading and spelling Nessy Programme in school.
ABSENT If your child is absent for any reason, please send in a note to the school when your child returns.
COVID-19 I would like to thank all of the staff here at the school for all their help and support during these difficult times. We are certainly doing our very best to keep our school open despite the rising numbers. This will however be guided at all times by government and HSE guidelines. The children have been so good and have done so well with the handwashing etc. We encourage them to keep up the good work. We all have our part to play in keeping the school open. Staff, parents and pupils must all limit our social contacts as much as possible. I would like to thank you all for your co-operation in this. It is not easy but parents have been very good about keeping children home if they are sick and this has been a huge help to us. If there is anything else you feel we could do to reduce the risk of Covid please do let us know. We are always assessing the situation and trying our best to reduce the risk for everyone.
INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARDS We have purchased and installed 2 new smart touch interactive whiteboards in the classrooms. These help us to make lessons far more engaging and enjoyable for the children.
SCHOOL MAINTENANCE Special thanks to both John O’Meara & Margaret Butler. The school exterior and interior is looking great and all thanks to John. Margaret Butler, our cleaner, is doing a great job each evening after school ensuring the school is cleaned & sanitised for the following school day.
GREEN SCHOOLS On 25th September, we held no energy day as part of our Green Schools Initiative. Everybody made effort to use no electricity throughout the day. On this day we also raised our 3rd Green Flag for Water. Congratulations to all the children who made a fantastic contribution to our award. Special thanks to the committee who co-ordinated all our activities. Committee: Lachlan Behan, Tristan Cleere, Bridie Fitzpatrick, Conor Cuddy, Michelle Maher, Aoibhe Tobin, Jonathan Lowe and Rachel Fitzgerald. Teacher: Ms. Scott
FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT SKILLS The whole school really enjoyed working out with the two Barrys from Active Sports Coaching. The 30 minute sessions really got the children working on their Fundamental movement skills.
READING We encourage every child to read every night for at least 10 minutes. This is important so we will see continued improvements in the standard of reading in our school. We are continuing our literacy lift-off in the junior room and Aistear too.
ORAL LANGUAGE Spoken English is so important in terms of every child’s social and emotional development. Take time to talk as a family each day. You will see the benefits as your child’s vocabulary and comprehension skills improve. This is something we all need to be conscious of in this age of new technology.
WELLBEING As we returned to school this year, we were very aware of the wellbeing of all the pupils. Wellbeing and mental health are topics very much under discussion here at school. We hope that children realise the connection between physical and mental health. The connection with eating healthily, sleeping well, exercise etc and good mental health. We hope that they understand that there is no problem or worry too big, no problem or worry that cannot be shared and that by sharing worries or problems we often find that they are not be as bad as they seem.
CHRISTMAS SHOEBOX APPEAL This year, unfortunately, Team Hope cannot facilitate the collection of shoeboxes around Ireland. However, they are accepting donations towards the purchase of items for shoeboxes. If you would like to donate €5 towards this, we will forward your donation on to Team Hope.
SCHOOL PHOTOS County Photos will visit the school on Monday 2nd November to take the pupils photos. Children to be in full uniform.
EXTRA WATER TANK We have installed an extra water tank to ensure increased capacity in the event of a water outage. This means we can remain open even if the water is gone in the village.
SCHOOL WEBSITE The school website: www.slieveardaghns.com Our website is updated nearly every week now. Recent photos of pupils at their activities, reports on our Green Schools page, Active Schools. Our monthly newsletters will be online. Please take a moment each week to look at our school website.
SCHOOL TWITTER ACCOUNT School news and pictures of pupils work are regularly tweeted on our school twitter account. We would ask all families to follow our school account @slieveardaghns in order to develop our online presence.
SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER 2020
Slieveardagh N.S. wishes a warm welcome to all our staff & students. Mrs Looby will be teaching the Junior Room, Mr Brennan will be teaching the Senior Room and Miss Scott will be our Special Education Teacher.
Our SNA, Mrs. Mary McCluskey, who will be working in the Junior Room.
In addition to this we will have Ms Jackie Moriarty teaching the Junior Room one day per week while Mrs Looby attends to office work. This was granted by the Department of Education to every teaching principal and Ms Moriarty is shared with four other schools.
We welcome especially our new Junior Infants: Ava Breen, Kelsey Phelan, Maddie Hayes, Kellie Hayes, Ted Cleere, Cillian Connolly and Josh Lawlor. We welcome Megan Kennedy who has joined 5th class. We wish them every happiness in our school.
TRACKSUIT Tracksuit days will be Tuesday and Thursday. Only red school t-shirt and navy tracksuit bottoms to be worn for P.E. Plain navy shorts can be worn for PE on warm days. I will update as to GAA training in the coming weeks. Runners to be worn on tracksuit days only
SPORTS SHORTS Paul Meehan has the plain navy shorts in stock.
SCHOOL CALENDAR School Calendar for this school year is attached. We ask you to work around these dates as much as possible.
ALADDIN SCHOOL APP Parents need to have the ALADDIN SCHOOL APP on your phones – it can be found in the App Store on your phone. We will be using this programme to send texts to you from the school. The “text a parent” number which you have already provided us with will be still the number that will receive the texts on.
MEETNG TEACHERS - APPOINTMENTS Should you wish to discuss any issue with your child’s teacher, we would ask you to make an appointment in advance. This is to everybody’s advantage, especially the children. Please send in a note with your child or contact the school by telephone if you wish to make an appointment.
ATTENDANCE For the academic year 2020/2021, we are suspending the awarding of attendance certificates and the attendance award for achieving 95% attendance monthly. While we still place importance on good attendance, we wish to ensure there is no undue pressure on children or families to attend when feeling unwell, given current circumstances.
GREEN-SCHOOLS We will hold a “No Energy Day” in our school on Friday 25th September to promote the conservation of energy and the importance of environmental awareness and care. We continue to work on conserving energy, water and recycling as part of our Green-Schools programme. Light bulbs, batteries and small electrical appliances can be dropped in for Ms. Scott to take to the recycling centre. We would welcome suggestions for our to be dropped into our “Suggestion Box”.
ACTIVE SCHOOLS We continue our activities to promote enjoyment of being active. We will have yard games and Go Noodle weekly.
SCHOOL GARDEN Our school garden has developed greatly during the summer. We have a great variety of fruit and vegetables that we will harvest in the coming weeks. The garden is a fantastic addition to learning in the school.
SCHOOL MAINTENANCE We are delighted with how well the school is looking. Thanks to John O’Meara for all his work over the summer.
GAEILGE We are going to make a really big effort to speak “As Gaeilge” on Tuesdays in school. This is to help the children with spoken Irish and to experience Irish as a living language.
HEAD LICE Please inform us if your child has head lice so as we can try and not have it become a big problem for other families also. No family wants to have this problem in their house, so we asking you to check your child’s hair each week, contact us in confidence if there is headlice, we can then advise parents of it in the school, so that the problem does not go out of control in school
SCHOOL WEBSITE The school website: www.slieveardaghns.com Our monthly newsletters will be online. We will also have a page on Green Schools, Active Schools, photos etc.,
SCHOOL TWITTER ACCOUNT School news and pictures of pupils work are regularly tweeted on our school twitter account. We would ask all families to follow our school account @slieveardaghns in order to develop our online presence.
FIRST HOLY COMMUNION Our First Holy Communion will take place on Sunday 6th September at 11.45 and we will be with Lisnamrock School. Conor Cuddy, Oisín Cleere, Caitlin Cleere and Emma Fitzgerald will receive their First Communion. We wish them and their families every blessing on this special day.
MÍLE BUÍOCHAS I would like to thank all of the school staff – Mr Brennan, Miss Scott, Mrs Mc Cluskey, Ms Moriarty, Margaret Mullally, Margaret Butler, John O Meara- for their help and support over the past few months since school closed and for all their help in ensuring that school could safely re-open for the children. I would like to thank you the parents for working so well with us to help in these uncertain times. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the Board of Management. Our aim is of course to remain open and, by working together, this will happen. It has been so lovely over the past few days to see the smiling faces mixing with their friends again. It really made the hard work over the past few weeks and months worthwhile.
Letter to Parents/ Staff (21/08/2020)
21st August, 2020.
Dear Parents / Guardians/ Staff members,
The focus of this letter is to inform you of the following:
Safe school attendance which will help to keep our school Covid free so that when we open, we can stay open.
How we will operate physical distancing.
The ongoing work we are engaged in to enable us to re-open our school safely for our students and staff.
I emphasise that our planning is informed by Department of Education guidelines.
SAFE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE It is of utmost importance that our full school community works closely together to ensure that we can fully re-open and, most importantly, stay open.
Therefore, we respectfully request your full cooperation with the following
While all children will be welcome back to school, parents are reminded that children who are displaying colds, coughs or flu like symptoms SHOULD NOT be sent to school. (This regulation also applies to all staff.)
Children who display such symptoms in the school will be isolated in our isolation area and parents will be contacted to collect your child immediately from school. (Our isolation area will be in the school hall.)
Pupils and staff who have travelled from other countries not on the green list MUST NOT attend school during the 14-day self-isolation period.
Further information on Covid-19 symptoms in children are available on the HSE website.
Our teachers will make our pupils aware of the proper hygiene procedures in hand washing and etiquette related to sneezing and coughing. We know that we can also depend on you to continue emphasising safe behaviour in this regard as part of the preparation for return to school.
PHYSICAL DISTANCING
We are fortunate to have spacious classrooms and numerous entry points and also, we have a spacious play area. We will apply physical distancing in practical and sensible ways, recognising that the learning environment cannot be dominated by a potentially counterproductive focus on this issue.
Physical distancing will be achieved in two ways:
Increasing separation: Classroom layouts are being configured to maximise physical distancing.
Each class will be referred to as a bubble.
We will aim to ensure that there will be as little contact as possible between bubbles.
Within both the Junior and Senior Rooms, the rooms will be separated into pods.
The desks in the Senior Room will have a Perspex screen between the pupils.
The two rooms will not mix in the yard, but will have break at the same scheduled times as we have the space to allow for this.
ON-GOING WORK The following is some of the work which has been done, or will be done, before the school opens.
A new water tank will be fitted in the boiler house to ensure that we have ample water supply, should the water be cut off for any reason.
Doors: The entrance to both the Senior and Junior Rooms will now be electronic to ensure that visitors cannot enter the school without permission.
All classrooms have been deep cleaned. Our school has been exceptionally well cleaned down through the years and this will continue.
Hand sanitising stations have been put up throughout the school. We will continue to use paper towels for drying hands, as is best practice.
We will have banners and signage displayed throughout the school, but just enough not to overpower the children.
New toys have been purchased for the Junior Room; any toys played with will be washed daily.
NEW PROCEDURES IN OUR SCHOOL
1. No sharing of personal items e.g. Pens, pencils, rubbers etc. Children must have all of these items themselves.
2. No child will be allowed past the doors that enter the main hall.
3. Children’s temperature will be checked at the school gates by 2 staff members and once they enter the school, the children must sanitise and wash their hands. If a child’s temperature is high, they can be re-tested after 15 minutes, If it is still high, we would ask that the child be brought home. Please ensure that your child has a coat with hood or cap on wet / cold mornings.
4. Our lunches are provided by Carambola and will be delivered by them as normal, commencing on Monday 31st August. So, for the first 3 days of school we ask that your child brings their lunch in a large zip lock bag, with their name on it and also have their name on their water bottle.
5. Children on the first day will bring all books, pencil case and stationery needed for school, in their school bag. These items will be kept in the school. Please have everything labelled as children cannot share. There will be no homework for the first 2 weeks of school. At the end of the 2-week period, we will inform parents of our homework procedures.
6. Uniform: At a recent Board of Management meeting it was decided to give parents the option of having fresh clothes on their child everyday if they wish.
The following are the uniform and tracksuit days. Monday: Uniform Tuesday: Tracksuit Wednesday: Uniform Thursday: Tracksuit Friday: Uniform
7. Should your child require medication (for example inhalers) with them in school, please bring to school each day and this will only be handled and administered by the child. A staff member can supervise this. If you wish to leave the inhaler in the school, we would ask that you leave their inhaler in a zip-lock bag with their name on it – this will be kept in school at all times.
8. All PPE is being provided to all school staff members.
9. If you wish your child to wear a face mask, please ensure that your child brings a mask to school each day and also have a spare mask in their school bag on the first day.
10. PE will go ahead as normal on at least one of our tracksuit days.
11. GAA Training: We will update you on this once the school re-opens.
12. There will be a record kept of all visitors to the school – this is for Contact Tracing purposes.
Our aim remains to open our school in an orderly, safe manner, while assuring our pupils and making them feel comfortable, safe and relaxed with their friends in their new school environment. We can achieve this by all of us working together and supporting one another for the benefit of all.
Kind regards,
Fiona Looby Principal
Letter to Parents (28/07/2020)
Dear Parents,
As we near a time when we will return to school, we would like to reassure you all that we will be taking all the steps necessary to that this happens safely, for all our school community.
At a recent Board of Management meeting our Covid response plan was approved and will be put up on website over the coming weeks and on return to school a copy will be given to each family.
In the meantime there are some key messages in that plan which I wanted to make you aware of.
If a child displays any symptoms of covid ie sore throat, temperature, cough, generally feeling unwell they must not attend school – your gp will then advise.
If a child or someone they are in close contact with tests positive for covid the school must be notified and we will follow HSE guidelines from there.
Please ensure that all contact details are up to date. This is especially important in case contact tracing is necessary.
If your child displays symptoms of covid while at school they will be isolated and you will be called to collect them immediately. Please ensure in so far as possible that you are contactable.
We ask that each child has a zip lock bag with their own tissues, face cloth (for drying hands) and hand sanitiser. We will have hand sanitiser at school but they may wish to have their own.
Hand washing will happen as soon as your child enters the building and before and after each break. More hand washing will be done if deemed necessary.
Breaks will be staggered with junior room and senior room taking breaks at different times. This helps us to make 2 bubbles and we will be trying not to mix these bubbles if possible.
We ask that you put your child’s name on everything especially their water bottle.
Please ensure that your child has all the things they need for school as we cannot allow children to share. Especially rubbers pencils etc.
We have to ask parents to drop children no further than the door.
If you wish to speak to your child’s teacher about a particular issue this can be done by appointment only.
We will be keeping a log of all and any visitors who enter the building for contact tracing purposes.
We ask that the children wear school uniform or tracksuit in so far as possible but we will be flexible on this as some families may wish to have fresh clothes on their child every day.
We are due to return to school on August 26th. Anyone planning to return to school that day must not be in a period where they would be required to quarantine by HSE guidelines. ie if you have been abroad or asked to self isolate by the HSE that period of quarantine/ self isolation must have started no later than August 11th. This will also apply during the school year.
Staff will have PPE but will not necessary use it while teaching but in situations where appropriate ie child falls, close contact etc
I would like to thank you all for your help and support over the past few months. We have all been in this together. There will be changes and new routines to learn but we will learn them together. We all have a role to play in keeping our school community safe.
Best wishes to you all.
Mrs Looby
JUNE NEWSLETTER 2020
As we come to the end of what has been a very different year for us all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff, Mr. Brennan, Ms. Scott, Margaret Mullally, Margaret Butler and John O’Meara who have worked so hard this year for the good of the school and all its pupils. It has not been an easy time for anyone, but I would like to say a special well done to the children. They have had their world changed so much and it has not been easy for them. I want to wish them all a very happy Summer holiday.
SUMMER READING I have only one thing I will ask the children to do, and that is to read aloud for 15/20 minutes every day. It does not matter what they read. The children can pick something they like – Harry Potter books, GAA book, Farmers Journal etc., it doesn’t matter so long as the children have fun and enjoy reading. If the children do this I really feel the impact of school closure on their academic performance will be lessened greatly.
WELL BEING As I mentioned before, the impact that school closures have had on children is probably greater than we imagine. Therefore, on our return to school on 26th August, for the first few weeks there will be a big emphasis on “Well Being” and mental health. Our policy is currently being reviewed and once this is completed, I will post it on the website. This is the area that is most important to us all and will at all times take precedence over academic performance.
CARAMBOLA There will be one final delivery of Carambola boxes, one per family, as this was all the money we had left in the budget allowed by the Department.
RETURN TO SCHOOL As of now, the provisional date for return to school is Wednesday, 26th August.
RACHEL FITZGERALD We would like to wish our only 6th class pupil Rachel Fitzgerald all our very best wishes as she heads to secondary school.
SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER: RESOURCES Please return any books or resources belonging to Miss Scott when you return to school in August.
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES 2019/2020 As we were unable to attend swimming this year, we will be in contact with any family due a refund for it on our return to school. Should there be monies outstanding for school activities 2019/2020, we will advise you on our return in August.
SCHOOL BOOKS FOR COMING SCHOOL YEAR 2020/2021 We will have all school books, copies etc., ready for each child on their return to school.
Cost: €60.00 per child. This will include: school books, copies, insurance, New spelling program - Nessy, arts & crafts, photocopying.
Please could each child have the following items with them on their return to school
JUNIOR ROOM (Junior Infants – 2nd Class)
a pencil case,
rubber, topper,
pencil
colours (not markers),
ruler from 1st and 2nd class.
SENIOR ROOM (3rd – 6th Class)
2 Folders
Irish Dictionary
English Dictionary
Tin Whistle
30cm ruler
Red Pen
Blue pen
Black pen
Pencil
Topper
Rubber
Compass
Protractor
5th and 6th Classes can use Tippex Pens.
MAY NEWSLETTER 2020
I hope this newsletter finds you all well and safe in these strange and unprecedented times. Gladly, our statistics seem to be improving and did not reach the heights expected. I want to take this opportunity, as principal, to say well done to all the children. What you have been asked to do over the past number of weeks goes against every natural instinct you have as children and human beings: Not to meet friends, not to hug or meet grandparents, not to play your team sports, and not to socialise. By doing all these things you have all played your part in saving lives in Tipperary and in Ireland and I am really proud of you all. Keep up the good work following the guidelines and you will all be able to get back to the things you love doing in time. I hope that, even though life is challenging at the moment, when lockdown is over you will be able to remember the good things that happened and the fun that you had with your family. Return to school As you will be aware, schools are not going to be opening until the new school year. As of yet we don’t know what form this will take in terms of social distancing etc. We will, at all times, be lead by the HSE and Dept. guidelines. We will keep you all up to date on this as the situation evolves.
Green-Schools Flag During school closure we were informed that we had been awarded our Green-Schools Flag for Water. I would like to congratulate Miss Scott and the Green-Schools committee for all their hard work. We will keep this work up and remember to conserve water whenever we can. The Green School Committee is Lachlan Behan, Tristan Cleere, Bridie Fitzpatrick, Conor Cuddy, Michelle Maher, Aoibhe Tobin, Jonathan Lowe, and Rachel Fitzgerald. Well done everyone on this great achievement.
Schoolwork online As you are all aware we have put the pupil’s assigned work on our website weekly. We ask each pupil to do their very best to complete the work. We would love to be able to keep in touch with what the pupils are doing and how they are getting on. We would love each student/ family to send us photos of their favourite pieces of work or activities. These are exceptional circumstances and I would like to reassure you all that if there are curriculum areas to be covered again or caught up, we will do that when school returns. All staff are contactable at [email protected] if you have any queries or concerns.
Lunch Boxes We hope you have all enjoyed the contents of the boxes delivered from Carambola, our lunch company. It has been wonderful for me as principal that they delivered direct to your door as it meant no worries in terms of collection, social distancing etc. so I would like to thank them for that. This service will however end when school would have finished on June 19th.
First Holy Communion This Sunday, 17th May, would have been our school and parish First Holy Communion Day and while it will obviously not happen, I would like to reassure Caitlin Cleere, Emma Fitzgerald, Oisín Cleere and Conor Cuddy that they will receive their First Holy Communion when it is safe to celebrate, and that they are in our prayers this Sunday.
A New Grandchild We would like to congratulate Margaret Butler, our school cleaner, on the birth of her first grandchild, a little girl named Caoimhe. It is wonderful to hear such happy news. We wish Margaret, and all her family, much laughter, love and fun with their precious little girl.
School Books Over the next few weeks we will be preparing book lists, reports, etc. for the next academic year. We ask pupils to mind the books from the book rental scheme, literacy lift off books library books, etc. as we will need all of these for next year. Most likely we will set a date at the end of June for these to be returned to the school.
Letter to Parents (25/04/2020)
Please see below Archbishop Kieran O' Reilly's letter regarding First Holy Communion and Confirmation.
To Priests, Teachers, Parents and Candidates for First Holy Communion and Confirmation in the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. April 24nd 2020
Dear Friends,
Easter greetings and good wishes to All.
Firstly, I would like to say to all our school pupils preparing for the sacraments this year: it is now nearly six weeks since your schools closed. Life has changed considerably for you, your family and for the entire country. You are now at home without contact with your friends from school and other activities. I am sure you miss them very much as you miss visiting other family members–especially your grandparents. This is a great challenge for everyone. I am sure you will show great courage in following all that is asked of you at this time to protect one another.
I have received a number of requests for information about the Sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation - as to whether they will be held as previously planned in the parishes of the Archdiocese. As we come to the end of the month of April and the Easter season progresses it is now certain that all the plans and preparations we have made for the reception of the Sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation will not be realised.
These ceremonies are big occasions and bring many people together to celebrate with those receiving the sacrament. However, following guidelines from the government, right now it is impossible to gather large numbers of people because of the risks involved for the spread of Covid-19. I am sure this will be a big disappointment for many people, including myself. I really appreciate and enjoy the confirmation ceremonies that I participate in.
To all of you preparing for these sacraments this year I would like to state that your First Holy Communion and Confirmation will happen when it is safe to do so. The planning of a new date will involve your local Priests, your Teachers, your Parents and, of course, the assurance from the government that it is safe to hold the ceremony.
I wish you every Blessing and Joy this Easter Season. I invite you to pray with me the words of Psalm 26, that all your families and friends may be safe at this time:
“The Lord is my light and my help, Hope in the Lord, hold firm and take heart”.
Yours in Christ,
+ Kieran O Reilly
Letter to Parents (19/04/2020)
Dear Parents,
I hope that you and your families have had a nice Easter break.
Are you are aware, schools will not be re-opening before Tuesday 5th May due to covid 19. We will keep you all up to date as soon as we receive further information from the HSE and Dept of Education.
In the mean time we have put some work up on our school website for the children to do at home. This work will be beneficial to the children and we ask that they do their best to complete it. However, this may not be possible everyday and circumstances may vary for different families and we, as a staff, completely understand this.
If you have work you wish to have corrected please take a photo and email it to the school email address [email protected] and we will endeavour to correct all work as quickly as possible.
We ask that all children mind any books that belong to the school as we will need these back when this is all over.
We also ask all parents to have a look if possible at our draft admissions policy on our school website, under the 'Policies' tab, and please email us any feedback you may have by Friday 24th April. A lot of what it contains pertains mainly to schools a lot larger than ours but we would appreciate any feedback nonetheless.
A member of staff will contact each family this week just to check how your child is getting on. If you have any queries or concerns please email us at [email protected] and we will help in any way we can.
In the meantime the most important thing is to stay safe and stay well.
Kindest Regards Mrs Looby
Letter to Parents (30/03/2020)
Dear Parents and Guardians, I hope you are all keeping well in these difficult times. Following changes in Government guidelines on restricted movements, there have been changes to how we have to administer the School Meals Scheme.
Carambola’s COVID Service is now DIRECT HOME DELIVERY of Emergency Provisions Packs
What’s in the Emergency Provisions Pack? Per Govt Guidelines: Food packages for delivery to pupils should be non-perishable goods, weighing no more than 30kg each and securely wrapped. Ideally non-perishable food could be used. Carambola’s Emergency Provisions Pack will contain twenty days’ worth of cupboard staples (i.e. no refrigeration required)*. You will get 1 pack per child, delivered to your home.
Breakfast:
Box cereal (Corn flakes/Rice Krispies/Weetabix)
Fruit Juice
Lunch:
Pasta 2 x 500g
Pasta sauces in pouch form
Tin baked beans
Tin spaghetti shapes
Flavoured noodles (add water)
Packet soup x 2
Pitta bread x 6
Fruit/Snacks:
2 x tin fruit pear/peach/other
1 x packet cream crackers
1 x packet digestives
mix of following Carambola favourites: Flahavan’s Oaty Bars, Corn snack, Breadsticks, Popcorn
*note: Actual product may vary based on supply chain challenges, but volumes and types will be maintained.
How long is the pack designed to last? Carambola’s Emergency Provisions Pack will be a 20-day (4 week) pack . The initial pack will contain twenty days’ worth of cupboard staples (no refrigeration required)
What happens then? Should we be back to school in the next four weeks we go back to normal, whatever the new normal will be, however if the situation is set to continue, Carambola will issue another Emergency Provisions Pack using their Direct Home Delivery Service
When will deliveries happen? Any orders the school receives by 12 pm Wed. 1st April will be forwarded to Carambola and will be prioritised for delivery week beginning Monday 6th April.
What information do we need to process your order? To process your order and arrange delivery we need to share the following information with Carambola who need to share it with DPD for delivery. 1. Child's/ children's name/s. 2. Address 3. Eircode 4. Parent's mobile (for delivery driver to contact you).
If you want to avail of this scheme please let me know by return email to [email protected](Wed. 1st at 12 noon the latest) and provide the information above.
By availing of this scheme you give permission to share your information with Carambola , and give Carambola permission to share your information with DPD for delivery of Emergency Provisions packs.
Finally, I wish to thank the staff of Slieveardagh NS and the Carambola Team for all their hard work in these ever changing times and to parents, thank you for engaging with us via email. Keep you and yours safe. Kind regards, Fiona Looby
Letter to Parents (27/03/2020)
Dear Parents, These are indeed difficult and unprecedented times in which we find ourselves. I would like to thank all the staff for their hard work and willingness to do all they can to help your children. Again, if you have any concerns or queries please contact us by email on [email protected]
Please be assured that, at all times, the health, safety and wellbeing of your children and their families is central to all decisions we make. We are all in unchartered waters and do our best at all times.
We feel as a staff that it is important that from next Thursday April 2nd until Monday April 20th that the children take their Easter break where their only work is to play and have fun.
We again stress that if we can help any family in any way we will do our best, please just ask.
As you may have heard in the media, the children who receive lunches in school will still be able to continue with this service while the school is closed. Instead of lunches, Carambola will deliver boxes to the school - one for each child weekly. These will contain items such as bread, cereal, fruit , tin of beans, and cheese.
They can be collected from the school at a delivery time to be known later.
All boxes have been prepared following HSE Guidelines.
Only an adult will be allowed to collect a box, as no children will be allowed on the school grounds. Only one person will be given their box at a time and gloves and hand sanitiser will also be used. All social distancing guidelines will be followed while the boxes are being distributed. It is essential that there is no congregating at the school while boxes are being collected.
If you wish to receive one of these boxes please email us at [email protected] as soon as possible, but no later than Monday 30th March at 9 am as I will have to place the order then. We do not want to have a lot of uncollected boxes left as we will have no way to distribute them and the food would only go to waste.
Again I would like to wish all of our families and school community well. Stay Safe. Stay Well.
Happy Easter to all.
Kindest Regards, Fiona Looby Principal
MARCH NEWSLETTER 2020
SCHOOL TOUR Our school tour will take place on Tuesday 16th June. This year we are going to the Titanic Experience and Fota Wildlife Park, Cobh. Cost will be €35.00 per child, which also includes lunches. This can be paid in installments.
SCHOOL EXPENSES Anyone with school expenses still outstanding, please pay these as soon as possible in the office. Again, it can be paid in installments if this is more suitable for you.
DENTAL NURSE Dental nurse Bernadette O' Meara spoke to the Junior Room about the importance of oral hygiene and regular tooth brushing. Emphasis was also placed on the amount of sugar which is in foods, without we even realising it.
BRICÍ SPRAOI On 1st February, the children enjoyed their treat for achieving over 95% attendance. They enjoyed building and creating, and had great fun.
GRANDPARENTS Many thanks to all the grandparents and everyone who attended Grandparents Day on February 19th. It was a lovely morning, and young and old enjoyed it. Thanks to all who helped on the day and all who donated buns etc.
HURLING 3rd and 4th Class had a lovely day at Indoor Hurling in Killenaule Secondary School on 14th February. They played many games and the teams were a mix of pupils from different schools. It was great to see the pupils from all the schools chatting together during and after the matches.
SWIMMING Swimming starts on Friday, May 1st. We ask all Infant parents to ensure that either you or someone appointed by you is there to dress you child. Please let the school know who will be there in the event that you cannot attend. This is important as it forms part of our Child Protection procedures.
1st MAY We have had one half day closure for the New Primary Language Curriculum Webinar on 19th February. Our next webinar will take place on Friday 1st May The children will have a half day this day and may be either collected from the swimming pool or directly from the bus once we arrive back after the swimming lesson, on this day only.
SCHOOL WEBSITE www.slieveardagh.com Please keep up to-date with all activities taking place in the school on our school website throughout the year. There are notes and photos of the activities, art projects, and various other pages on it to be viewed. The website is updated very regularly, so we would be delighted if you would click in on the website.
JANUARY NEWSLETTER 2020
WELCOME BACK We welcome everyone back to school after the Christmas break and wish everyone a great 2020. We especially welcome Mr. Brennan who will be teaching the Senior room and wish him many happy years with us.
PRIMARY LANGUAGE CURRICULUM STAFF TRAINING To facilitate ongoing training in the new Primary Language Curriculum, the school will close at 12 noon on Wednesday 19th February.
GRANDPARENTS DAY We will celebrate Grandparents Day on Wednesday 19th February at 11am. There will be a short prayer service and refreshments and the children will finish school at 12 noon on this day as mentioned above.
RAFFLE The Parent's Council are holding a raffle at Bingo in Ballingarry Hall on Tuesday 11th February. We would like to thank Ballingarry Parish Hall Committee for giving is the opportunity to raise money for the school. We would very much appreciate donations towards raffle prizes - maybe you have unwanted Christmas presents. If you know of anyone that might be interested in donating towards it, to mention the raffle to them, and we can also give you a letter to confirm the raffle. We will need help from parents on the night to sell tickets. Please let the school, Lorraine Fitzgerald, Davina Keating or Fiona Maher know if you are available to help.
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES The children are presently having their Modern Dance classes each week and are thoroughly enjoying it. The cost per child is €90 for all the organised activities throughout the school year and we would appreciate if this could be paid by the end of February.
CONCERN WORKSHOP We had a great workshop from Concern on Water conservation. The children learned how valuable a resource water is. The speaker informed the children on the lack of water in many countries throughout the world and how lucky they are to have it in their house taps. They were also informed on how Concern go into very remote areas and how many people travel for hours to collect water to bring back to their homes.
GREEN-SCHOOLS The Green-Schools Committee are working hard to help us achieve our 3rd flag - Water. Our Water Warriors continue to monitor water wastage daily, ensuring we are not wasting water through dripping taps. Water displacement devices have been placed in all cisterns to ensure we save 250ml of water every time we flush our toilets. Committee members have recently carried out checks for leaks in our toilets and were delighted to find we had none. All the children in the school came up with their own slogan for our Water Flag. From the suggested slogans, our Green-Schools Committee have chosen our school slogan for the Water Flag. "Water is a precious jewel. To waste it would be cruel."
A member from the County Council will be here on 12th February for our Green Flag inspection.
Litter picking continues daily to ensure we maintain the work of our "Litter and Waste" flag. Everybody is working hard to ensure lights and appliances are turned off when not in use to save energy and maintain the work of our "Energy" flag.
Our Water Awareness Day was held on 13th December and was enjoyed by all. Everyone dressed in blue, participated in a 'Walk for Water' activity, took part in a Water Awareness quiz, watched water saving videos and created their own Water Awareness videos on our iPads.
Please keep dropping in batteries and small electrical appliances for recycling to the school.
Tip of the Month: Collect rainwater to use for watering plants and washing cars.
PANCAKE TUESDAY - SHROVE TUESDAY 25TH FEBRUARY We will have pancakes for all the children on this day, with all the toppings of course!
ATTENDANCE Attendance has improved greatly in our school and we look to be on target to be over 95% for January. Keep up the good work, because every day counts.
UNIFORM We remind everyone to wear black/navy footwear with school uniform and to wear the school tie at all times.
CONCERNS/ISSUES We are always available to meet with parents with any concerns/ issues with regard to their child. We do ask that you make an appointment so that we can deal with the issue fully and properly.
DECEMBER NEWSLETTER 2019
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS School closes on Friday 20th December at 12 noon and will re-open on Monday 6th January at 8.50am
MS. O’ HALLORAN Ms. O’Halloran will be leaving us at Christmas, we wish her all the best in her future teaching career and hope to see her again soon. We thank Ms. O’Halloran for all her had work while she was here with us.
CHRISTMAS CONCERT Well done to all the children on a wonderful performance last Friday night. They did really well and the performance was enjoyed by all. Many thanks for all the donations towards our raffle. Amount raised €269.
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES The following is a list of the activities we will have this school year. September-October: Athletics – 8 sessions January-February : Rugby - 6 sessions January-March: Dance - modern – 6 sessions May-June: Swimming (6 sessions)
The cost is €90 per child. Please could this amount be paid in full before 28th February 2020. It is important that every child is paid for, to keep costs down.
The dance classes will start with Niamh Ahern after the Christmas break for 6 weeks. Unfortunately, the rugby had to be postponed over the past weeks and this will be organised again once a facilitator becomes available (this training is given by coaches from Munster Rugby Academy, who are sponsored by Aldi).
INTERNET SAFETY Fergal Flanagan who is qualified in the area of Internet Safety, gave very informative talk to the Senior Classes in relation to internet safety. This included aspects of cyber bullying and staying safe online. We feel this is very important for the children in the world we now live in and also feel it is very important that you as parents also speak to your children about this.
WATER AWARENESS The Green School Committee has organised a Water Awareness day Friday, 13th December and would like if possible for each student to wear an item of clothing the colour blue (Jumper / top etc.,)
AUTHOR VISIT FOR BOOK READING We were delighted to have Olive Mooney, Author of The Chronicles of Cadaver College - The Book of Ornis. Olive read to the pupils in the Senior Room and they were entranced in the story.
RECYCLE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS Well done to all the children who entered the Tipperary County Council Christmas decoration competition. The children made fantastic decorations from recycled materials.
TIPPERARY FOOD PRODUCERS VISIT Following Aisha Lowe winning the colouring competition, the Tipperary Food Producers visited the school for a workshop. They gave a great talk to the children on all the food that is produced locally in Tipperary. The children had a brilliant time completing a Virtual Reality Food Tour. They also received some beautiful books during the workshop based on local Tipperary Food producers.
ST. VINCENT De PAUL Thanks to all for your donations toward our hampers for St. Vincent De Paul. Annie Heaphy our local representative from St. Vincent De Paul committee, will collect the hampers next week for distribution.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS We would like to wish all our pupils, staff and all their families a very happy and healthy Christmas.
NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER 2019
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES The following is a list of the activities we will have this school year. September-October: Athletics – 8 sessions January-February : Rugby - 6 sessions January-March: Dance - modern May-June: Swimming (6 sessions)
The cost for the Athletics, Dance and swimming will be €90 per child. Please could this amount be paid in full before 28th February 2020. It is important that every child is paid for, to keep costs down.
SACRAMENT OF FIRST HOLY COMMUNION First Holy Communion will take place on Sunday, 17th May 2020.
COFFEE MORNING We will hold a Coffee / Enrolment Coffee morning on Thursday 21st November from 10am – 11am. All are welcome. If you know of other families who would have a childing due to start school next September, we would appreciate if you could let them know about our coffee morning.
ATHLETICS WITH MARTIN The children enjoyed 8 sessions with Martin. This was great for the children as they learned to enjoy the exercise of running. They also improved on their throwing skills and jumping.
RUGBY Fethard RFC have arranged with Munster Rugby to undertake 6 sessions of rugby training here in the school. It will take place on Thursdays and will commence on Thursday 14th November. A text will be sent out to parents nearer the date to advise on clothing, footwear etc.,
CHRISTMAS PRODUCTION This will take place on Friday, 6th December at 7pm (time to be confirmed nearer the date). Children have been given their parts. We would appreciate if parents could put costumes together for your child’s part.
ATTENDANCE October’s attendance was 94.4%. We were below our target of 95%. Hope to see improved attendance this month. Children should only be absent if sick. Note must be provided on first day back after absence. If possible, appointments should be made for after school hours. If this isn’t possible, children should attend school before and / or after appointment.
PUNCTUALITY Children should be at their classroom door by 8.45am. Lessons begin at 8.50am. Children should present a note if they are late.
COLLECTION AT HOME-TIME Only those listed are permitted to collect children. If the child is to be collected by somebody different or is to walk home where this not normally how the child return home, a note must be presented to the child’s teacher. This is for Child Protection and Health and Safety reasons.
PRIMARY LANGUAGE CURRICULUM The teachers recently attended a training day, to facilitate further training in new language curriculum. This curriculum is being implemented across the school, from Junior infants to 6th class.
MATHS WEEK: 14TH – 18TH OCTOBER Children participated in a variety of maths games and practical maths activities to celebrate. Particularly enjoyed completing Maths Trails.
MATHS FOR FUN This is an initiative to promote the enjoyment of maths. Gives the children an opportunity to apply mathematical concepts in a fun and engaging way. Children and parents from small groups and play simple maths games together. Volunteers needed for Friday mornings 8.50am – 9.20am. Please let the office or teachers know if available to give your time on any/all Fridays.
COUNTY PHOTOS County Photos visited the school recently. Sample photos were sent home. If you wish to order copy of photos, please complete the form, and return with money and envelope provided to the school this week.
CHRISTMAS SHOEBOX APPEAL Thanks to all families who contributed to this very worthy appeal.
CHILDLINE BREAKFAST / TEMPLE STREET HOSPITAL, DRESS UP DAY. Many thanks to all the children for donating towards those two special causes. We raised a total of €70, so we will send €35 to both Childline and Temple Street Hospital.
PRESENTATION SECONDARY BALLINGARRY TASTER DAY Both 5th & 6th Class will attend the Presentation Secondary Ballingarry taster day on 12th November. The secondary school has organised transport for this.
TIPPERARY FOOD PRODUCERS – ART COMPETITION Congratulation to Aisha Lowe who won the competition. She won a whole school workshop for the school. There will be a virtual reality experience of locations where food is produced in Tipperary. They will call to the school on 5th November.
FOLENS HALLOWEEN ART COMPETITION Junior Infants – 6th Class entered the competition to win a class set of Christmas Annuals – so fingers crossed!
CREDIT UNION ART COMPETITION The Senior Room entered completed pictures under the theme “Walk of Life”.
ACTIVE SCHOOLS Yard games continue every Tuesday (weather permitting). Go Noodle – exercise and dance activities continue every Monday and Wednesday. Training sessions continue every Thursday and Friday.
GREEN SCHOOLS Climate Action Week 14th – 18th October. Everybody took pledges to help reduce litter and waste, and to conserve energy and water. Environmental awareness lessons were thought. Children in the Senior Room created ‘Water Awareness’ videos to explain the importance of water and how it can be conserved. The Senior Room participated in a daily ‘2 minute clean’. Collections of light bulbs, batteries and appliances took place. Energy and water usage spot checks and litter and waste spot checks carried out. A daily ‘low energy hour’ was observed in the Senior Room. Committee meetings were held to discuss ideas on how to further reduce water usage. A variety of surveys were carried out throughout the week.
SCHOOL GARDEN The Senior Room have harvested carrots, potatoes, raspberries and tomatoes. They have also planted tulip and daffodil bulbs. We look forward to seeing these next Spring.
LADIES FOOTBALL The girls played their blitz on 10th October in Fethard. We played matches against Poulacapple and Clogheen. Team: Laura Barrett, Aoibhe Tobin, Erin Tobin, Romy Cleere, Aisha Lowe, Brogan O’Shea, Michelle Maher. Thanks to Joanie Walsh for accompanying Ms. Scott and the team.
OCTOBER NEWSLETTER 2019
SCHOOL CLOSED: 15th OCTOBER – Teacher in-service day. HALLOWEEN BREAK: 29TH OCTOBER – 2ND NOVEMBER.
50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION We would like to thank all who attended our celebration Friday 4th October. Thanks so much to the children who sang brilliantly and took part in the mass. We can’t thank the parents enough for all the work you did in the days leading up and on the night. This celebration would not have happened but for all this help. Many thanks to all the staff for preparing the children for the night and to all the Past pupils helped out during the week and on the night. Thanks to the Parents Association for getting plans into action for the event. We received sponsorship from ART Generation Ltd., Tullaroan and Lee Therm, Fethard. This sponsorship greatly helped towards the costs attached. We wish to thank Fr. Quirke for the lovely mass and words about the school and its history. Our musicians – Noel Webster, Gerard Healy and his father Denis & Danial Quinn for playing great traditional music – there were many sets danced, great to see the tradition of set dancing continuing in The Commons. Annie Heaphy gave a lovely speech on her time spent in the school as a parent, member of the Board of Management and as the school cleaner for many years. Michael Cooney, MC for the night in the marquee. Thanks to the Old School for supplying us with the amplification system (Billy O’Brien and Daniel Quinn for looking after it). When all celebrations were over on Saturday, thanks to Margaret Butler and John O’Meara who did a final tidy up and the school was back ready for Monday morning.
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES The following is a list of the activities we will have this school year.
September-October: Athletics November-December: Tag Rugby (still awaiting confirmation from Fethard RFC January-March: Dance - modern May-June: Swimming (6 sessions)
The cost for the Athletics, Dance and swimming will be €90 per child There maybe an extra cost for the tag rugby, but will advise you when we get word back from Fethard RFC.
We would require that this be paid in full before 28th February 2020. It is important that every child is paid for, to keep costs down.
CHILDRENLINE BREAKFAST & DRESS UP DAY. Friday 25th October: Breakfast will be at 8.30am and children are asked to donate €2 each towards Childline and Temple Street Hospital. We will need help from parents that morning to give out the breakfasts. Each child to bring in a cereal bowl and spoon.
PARENT / TEACHER MEETINGS Parent / Teacher meeting will take place on Tuesday 19th & Wednesday 20th October. We will send a note home with your appointment date and time soon.
SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY In September we went to Thurles Crokes to take part in the Primary Athletics Compeition. Children from 3rd to 6th class took part. They enjoyed their day competing in races. Congratulations to Laura Barrett in bringing home an individual medal in her race.
FOOTBALL U.13 Our U.13 team travelled to Gortnahoe on a terrible wet day to play a blitz. They played Killea and Castleliney. Great skill and team work was displayed in their matches. Well done to all.
FOOTBALL U.11 On 2nd October we travelled to Mullinahone to play in a blitz. We played against Kilcash, Poulacapple, Ballydrehid and Lisnamrock. We beat Kilcash and were unluck to be narrowly defeated by the other teams. An excellent display again was shown.
CHURCH GATE COLLECTION Thanks to all who helped with the Church Gate Collection held recently. We collected €432.17. Without the good help from parents, this collection could not take place. Thanks to all who donated towards it.
SCHOOL GARDEN We wish to thank Yasmin Lowe & Ms. Scott for completing our Agenda 21 application. We hope to get funding towards a sensory garden this year.
SCHOOL EXTERIOR The school exterior is looking great. Thanks to John O’Meara for all his hard work. Putting up the flags for the arrival of the Liam McCarthy Cup, and all the general work each week to maintain the school.
ABSENT If your child is absent for any reason, please send in a note to the school when your child returns. Attendance for September was at 94%. The children will receive a treat when we reach the target of 95% each month.
EXCESS FURNITURE We have some excess children’s tables and chairs taking up space in the school. If anyone is interested in them for your own use or have any suggestions for them, please let us know.
CHRISTMAS SHOEBOX COLLECTION You can now start to put items together for the annual Christmas Shoebox Collection. We would be delighted if each family could send in a shoebox for a boy or girl. Shoe boxes will be collected from the school on 25th October.
SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER 2019
Slieveardagh N.S. wishes a warm welcome to all our staff & students. Mrs. Looby will be teaching the Junior Room, Ms. Scott will be teaching the Senior Room and Ms. O’Halloran who will be our Special Education Teacher.
We bid a fond farewell to Mr. Orry Ryan. We thank him for all his hard work and dedication over the past four years her in our school. We wish him every success in his new post as Principal of Drangan Senior School.
We welcome our new SNA, Mrs. Mary McCluskey, who will be working in the Junior Room. We hope she enjoys her time here in Slieveardagh NS.
We welcome especially our new Junior Infants: Louise Fitzgerald, Gearóid Ivors and Lachlan Behan. We wish them every happiness in our school.
The secretary will be in the office on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday mornings 9am -12noon.
50 YEARS The school will be opened 50 years this month and we will be arranging celebrations to mark this occasion. This will take place on Friday 4th October – starting at 7.30pm We will need a huge amount help from parents to bring this celebration together.
Parents Association We are having a Parents Association meeting on Thursday, 5th September, at 8pm in the school. We would like to see a representative from all families at this meeting. One of the topics to be discussed will be organising the 50 year celebration and will need parents help with this.
Meeting for all Parents. There will be a meeting for all parents on Thursday 26th September at 8pm. Parental involvement and School Policies will be among the topics to be discussed. We wold ask that a representative from each family attend.
Information Sheet Please fill out the enclosed information sheet as we need these in case contact details have changed for any child. We can only allow children leave with those specified on the list to collect children, unless we have been told otherwise.
Tracksuit Tracksuit day will be Thursday and Friday. Only red school t-shirt and navy tracksuit bottoms to be worn for P.E. Plain navy shorts can be worn to GAA training. Runners to be worn on tracksuit days only.
Sport Shorts Paul Meehan has the plain navy shorts in stock.
School Calendar School Calendar for this school year is attached. We ask you to work around these dates as much as possible.
ALADDIN SCHOOL APP Parents need to install the ALADDIN SCHOOL APP on your phones now – it can be found in the App Store on your phone. We will be using this programme very soon to send texts to you from the school. The “text a parent” number which you have already provided us with will be still the number that will receive the texts on. So we need all families to have this App installed on your phones we everyone will be ready when we starting using this new service.
Meeting Teachers – Appointments Should you wish to discuss any issue with your child’s teacher, we would ask you to make an appointment in advance. This is to everybody’s advantage, especially the children. Please send in a note with your child or contact the school by telephone if you wish to make an appointment.
Attendance We hope to see an improvement in attendance this year. We also ask that if your child is absent, please provide the teacher with a note on the day your child returns to school. If possible, please contact the school to let us know that the child is sick while they are out. If the school overall attendance is over 95% per month, the children with be given a treat. We encourage you to make sure that your child attends school each day, unless they are sick.
Cross Country Running All children in the Senior room will compete in the Tipperary Cross Country races in Thurles on 26th September. Training will commence in school daily to improve their fitness for their races. We have organised a bus to bring the children.
School Activities The following is a list of the activities which we intend to have this school year.
September-October: Athletics with Martin Walsh November-December: Tag Rugby (awaiting confirmation) January-March: Modern dancing. May-June: Swimming (6 sessions)
Once we have confirmation that the Tag Rugby will be going ahead we will notify you of the combined cost for the above activities.
Football on Fridays. Training will commence on Friday 13th September with Paddy Ivors. All children from 1st to 6th class will require gum shields for football each Friday. They will also require football boots or old runners.
Green Schools We will hold a “No Energy Day” in our school on Friday 27th September to promote the conservation of energy and the importance of environmental awareness and care.
We continue to work under the “Water” theme, thus reducing the amount of water used and improving conservation methods. Our “Water Warrior” will be monitoring water usage daily.
We will have a litter picking rota in operation daily. And Energy readings will be monitored weekly.
Light bulbs, batteries and small electrical appliances can be dropped in for Ms. Scott to take to the recycling centre. We would welcome suggestions for our to be dropped into our “Suggestion Box”.
Green School Committee: Lachlan Behan, Tristan Cleere, Bridie Fitzpatrick, Conor Cuddy, Michelle Maher, Aoibhe Tobin, Jonathan Lowe, Rachel Fitzgerald.
Tip of the Month. Use a Rose head watering can in the garden instead of a hose to save water.
Active Schools We continue our activities to promote enjoyment of being active. We will have yard games and Go Noodle weekly. Super Troopers will begin again soon. We have a new committee who will continue to co-ordinate events for 3 years until our flag is due for renewal.
Committee: Gearóid Ivors, Ella Tobin, Emily Maher, Caitlin Cleere, Erin Tobin, Nathan Switzer, Thomas Grant, Rachel Fitzgerald.
School Garden Our school garden has developed greatly during the summer. We have a great variety of fruit and vegetables that we will harvest in the coming weeks. The garden is a fantastic addition to learning in the school.
Sammy Stamps We will be starting a saving stamps scheme with An Post like the Sammy stamps which we had previously. We hope to start this on Friday 20th September.
School Maintenance We are delighted with how well the school is looking. Thanks to John O’Meara for all his work over the summer painting, maintaining the grounds, etc., Richard Walsh (Tus Programme) has made himself available should we need help around the school during the year.
Gaeilge We are going to make a really big effort to speak “As Gaeilge” on Tuesdays in school. This is to help the children with spoken Irish and to experience Irish as a living language.
Head Lice Please inform us if your child has head lice so as we can try and not have it become a big problem for other families also. No family wants to have this problem in their house, so we asking you to check your child’s hair each week, contact us in confidence if there is headlice, we can then advise parents of it in the school, so that the problem does not go out of control in school.
MAY 2019 NEWSLETTER
CONFIRMATION Sacrament of Confirmation - Will take place this coming Friday 3rd May. All confirmation children and choir children to be in the church for 10.40am at the latest.The church & parking will be very busy so its important all children arrive on time.
SCHOOL CLOSURES CONFIRMATION DAY: 3RD MAY BANK HOLIDAY: 6THMay LOCAL ELECTIONS: 24TH May BANK HOLIDAY: 3RD June
FIRST HOLY COMMUNION First Holy Communion: Sunday 19th May - 10.30am (children will be required to be in the church at an earlier time – tbc) Children from 1st class & from 3rd – 6th Class are requested to be available on this morning to sing in the choir.
Communion Practice THURSDAY 9TH MAY ( 2ND CLASS ONLY) TUESDAY 14TH MAY (2ND CLASS ONLY) THURSDAY 16TH MAY (1ST – 6TH CLASS)
U. 11 HURLING Our U.11 hurlers took part in a hurling blitz in Mullinahone recently. Well done to all the players, they all played excellently. They won 2 of their matches against Drangan and Grangemockler. Team: Dylan Breen, Sonny Cleere, Sean Barrett, Thomas Grant, Jonathan Lowe, Kyle Scott, Nathan Switzer, Patrick Mullally and Cathal Ivors. Thanks to our parents who transported the children to and from the match and to all who came to support the team on the day.
SWIMMING POOL The first session of swimming classes will take place on Friday 10th May.
Swimming dates are as follows: 10th May, 17th May, 31st May, 7th June, 14th June.
Please could parents / guardians of Junior and Senior infants arrange to be at Clonmel Public Pool for each session for 9.45am to change / dry your child. If you are unable to be there, please arrange for another parent to change / dry your child. Under Child Safety Guidelines, teachers are not permitted to assist children.
SPIKEBALL The pupils in the Senior room will take part in the Spikeball blitz on next Wednesday 8th May in Presentation Secondary Ballingarry. Thanks to the Transition Year students for their excellent coaching over the 6 sessions. Best of luck to the pupils in the blitz.
SPRING CLEAN Our annual Spring Clean will take place on next Tuesday 7th May. We will need some parental help. Please contact the school if you are available 11.15am to 12.15
SCHOOL TOUR This year we will travel to Tayto Park for our school tour. It will take place on Tuesday 18th June. Cost: €33.00 per child: This includes a Fully Guided 45 minute tour of the onsite Zoo & unlimited access to 25 attractions in the Adventure Zone & lunch. Please note some attractions have height restrictions.
STANDARDISED TESTS We recently completed the Drumcondra Spelling Test. We are delighted to inform you that there has been a 5% average increase across the school. We now have an average spelling score of 68%. The national average score is 50%
Over the coming weeks we will continue to have our annual testing in Irish Maths and English. The results of these tests will be in your child’s school report.
SCHOOL YEARBOOK 2019 The Senior room will be shortly commencing the drafting of our School Yearbook. All children will be give 2 topics to write about. We will include all news and activities during the school year. All the families will receive a copy.
ACTIVE SCHOOL FLAG Our committee has recently selected our Active School slogan.
“Be active, don’t be lazy, go out daily. An Active School is a cool school, Running, jumping, skipping …….. Be active in any kind of way ”
We are hoping to get our Active School Flag this school year with a visit to oversee all the work we have undertaken on the programme in May.
Our Active School week will be from 10th – 14th June. The Senior room are creating iMovie’s to document all the activities undertaken over the last 2 years.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOOL COMPETITION We are entering an Environmental School Competition for the first time this year. We will receive a visit by judges very soon. The Senior Room have planted trees, plants and flowers recently to enhance the school garden. We also have a litter picking rota with all pupils allocated 1 week.
GREEN SCHOOL Our Water Warriors are currently monitoring water wastage in the school each day. We hope to reduce the amount of water we waste through this initiative.
CARAMBOLA Carambola have issued us with a letter to confirm that they have sorted the problem with the bread rolls odour. Cuisine de France investigated the problem with their oven’s and they have rectified it the issue. They are confident that this issue will not occur again.
SCHOOL WEBSITE The school website is now launched: www.slieveardaghns.com Our monthly newsletters will be online. We will also have a page on Green Schools, Active Schools, News.
APRIL 2019
FUNKY KIDS Our Funky Kids show by the pupils was a great success. We thank all the parents, grand-parents, family members, past pupils and the community for your huge support on an entertaining and enjoyable night Pictures of the night are on our school website: www.slieveardaghns.com
DVD orders (with money) for the show must be in before Friday 12th April. Cost €15
U.13 CAMOGIE Our camogie team travelled to Clerihan last week to play in a blitz. Team: Lucy Pollard, Eva Walsh, Leah Switzer, Caroline Maher, Megan Grant, Brogan O’Shea, Aisha Lowe, Sarah Pollard, Laura Barrett and Aoibhe Tobin.
They played against teams from Poulacapple, Clogheen and Skeheenarinky. They came up against strong teams, but the girls showed great skill and determination throughout all their matches. Well done girls.
FAI – SOCCER MIXED TEAM We attended a soccer blitz in Newhill, Two Mile Borris on Tuesday 2nd April. Mixed Team: Edward Mullally, Eva Walsh, Jellyan Cantwell, Lucy Pollard, Leah Switzer, Sonny Cleere, Sean Barrett and Dylan Breen. They played 3 matches – many goals were scored and great penalty saving. They enjoyed all their matches. Well done to all the team.
U. 11 HURLING This will take place on Thursday 4th April in Mullinahone GAA pitch at 11.30am
SPIKEBALL The pupils in the Senior continue to enjoy the Spikeball training. Transition Year Students from Ballingarry Secondary are providing the coaching. Blitz will take place on 8th May.
ACTIVE SCHOOL FLAG Our committee has recently selected our Active School slogan.
“Be active, don’t be lazy, go out daily. An Active School is a cool school, Running, jumping, skipping …….. Be active in any kind of way ”
We are hoping to get our Active School Flag this school year with a visit to oversee all the work we have undertaken on the programme in May.
Our Active School week will be from 10th – 14th June. The Senior room are creating iMovie’s to document all the activities undertaken over the last 2 years.
CONFIRMATION Sacrament of Confirmation: Friday 3rd May. – ceremony will start at 11.00am (children will be required to be in the church at an earlier time- tbc) Children from 1st Class to 4th Class will be required to sing in the choir – keep this morning free.
CONFIRMATION & CHOIR PRACTICE IN THE CHURCH Children from 1st to 6th Class will need to be picked up at the school at 1.15pm on the following dates to be brought to Ballingarry Church for choir practice. Collect from the church at 2.30pm. For the children who will not be going to the church, Ms. Scott will be in the school to supervise them.
WEDNESDAY 10th APRIL (1ST – 6TH CLASS) THURSDAY 2ND MAY (1ST – 6TH CLASS)
30th APRIL: CONFIRMATION CHILDREN ONLY PRACTICE (5TH & 6TH CLASS ONLY) Children from 5th and 6th Class only, to be picked up at the school at 1.15pm and be brought to Ballingarry Church. Collect from church at 2.30pm.
The reason we are asking parents to bring children to and from the church this year for confirmation and communion practice is the cost of bus hire is a big expense on the school. If you are unable to bring your child, please contact another parent to help get your child to and from the church.
FIRST HOLY COMMUNION First Holy Communion: Sunday 19th May - 10.30am (children will be required to be in the church at an earlier time – tbc) Children in 1st Class and from 3rd Class – 6th Class will be required to sing in the choir – keep this morning free. Dates for choir practice, etc will be confirmed later.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOOL COMPETITION We are entering an Environmental School Competition for the first time this year. We will receive a visit by judges after Easter. The Senior Room have planted trees, plants and flowers recently to enhance the school garden. We also have a litter picking rota with all pupils allocated 1 week.
GREEN SCHOOL Our Water Warriors are currently monitoring water wastage in the school each day. We hope to reduce the amount of water we waste through this initiative.
SCHOOL CLOSURES EASTER HOLIDAYS: Close on 12th April (12 noon) and re-open 29th April BANK HOLIDAY: 6THMay LOCAL ELECTIONS: 24TH May BANK HOLIDAY: 3RD June
SWIMMING POOL Unfortunately, we will be only able to undertake 5 swimming lessons this year. As mentioned above we are closed on Friday 24th May due to the Local Elections. We have been in contact with Clonmel Swimming Pool and unfortunately, they are unable to give us another date that will fit in around our school schedule. However, to compensate for this we will get Premier Sports to attend for a sports session during our Active Week.
CARAMBOLA We have been in contact with Carambola recently to advise them that some children don’t like to taste of the rolls. They are sending in samples of baps, etc on Friday coming for the children to taste and we will get the children’s opinion on them and report back to Carambola. We have also asked that Ham be put on again as an option for a filling. Should you wish to give your child a sandwich / roll which they would prefer coming to school, that is no problem at all. We would ask that the filling be a healthy option (not chocolate spread!).
SCHOOL TOUR This year we will travel to Tayto Park for our school tour. It will take place on Tuesday 18th June. Cost: €33.00 per child: This includes a Fully Guided 45 minute tour of the onsite Zoo & unlimited access to 25 attractions in the Adventure Zone & lunch. Please note some attractions have height restrictions.
SCHOOL WEBSITE The school website is now launched: www.slieveardaghns.com Our monthly newsletters will be online. We will also have a page on Green Schools, Active Schools, News.
ALDI RUGY STICKERS Many thanks for all the stickers sent in. We are able to send off 2 full posters. Fingers crossed we will be lucky in the draw for the sports equipment!
March Newsletter 2019
CONFIRMATION – DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Ceremony of Light: Wednesday 27th March at 7.30pm – Ballingarry Church Sacrament of Confirmation: Friday 3rd May. – ceremony will start at 11.00am (children will be required to be in the church at an earlier time- tbc) Children from 1st Class to 4th Class will be required to sing in the choir – keep this morning free.
FIRST HOLY COMMUNION – DATES FOR YOUR DIARY First Confession: Thursday 21st March at 7.00pm – Ballingarry Church First Holy Communion: Sunday 19th May - 10.30am (children will be required to be in the church at an earlier time – tbc) Children in 1st Class and from 3rd Class upwards will be required to sing in the choir – keep this morning free.
FUNKY KIDS – SHOW 28TH MARCH Children will need to be dropped to Ballingarry Parish Hall on Thursday 28th March at 9.30am for rehearsal. Children to be picked up from the hall at 1.30pm
Show will start at 7.30pm (children will need to be at the hall for an earlier time – tbc)
We would love to see a big audience, the children are putting in great work at rehearsals. Please bring along family members, friends and spread the word about the show. Admission: cost per adult and secondary school students: €5.00 each. There will also be a raffle on the night. We would appreciate if you could send in prizes for the raffle as we will be making up hampers.
PARENTS ASSOCIATION Parents Association will hold a meeting next Tuesday evening at 8.00pm in the school. All parents are welcome to attend.
LOCAL ELECTIONS – SCHOOL CLOSED FRIDAY 24TH MAY Local Elections will take place on 24th May. Our school is a polling station and therefore, there will be no school on this date.
POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS All children in the Senior Room get computer time each week. They are currently working on creating a PowerPoint presentation. Each child was given a county in Ireland as their topic this year. They will then present their PowerPoint to the pupils from 1st to 6th classes
ART LESSON The Junior & Senior Rooms had an Art lesson with our local artist Katy Goodhue on Wednesday 19th Feb. Their projects were: ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ marker & tissue paper collage project & ‘Twigs & Buds’ investigative drawing project. The children really enjoyed the class.
ORAL HYGIENE We had a visit from an Oral Hygienist recently. She explained and showed the children how they should look after their teeth. All children received a goodie bag to bring home. A very worth-while lesson.
PARISH COMMUNITY GAMES Children entered in the Handwriting & Art competitions. Well done to all our medal winners: Art: Leah, Edward, Lucy, Jellyan, Thomas, Jonathan, Aisha, Patrick, Nathan, Aoibhe & Cathal. Handwriting: Lucy, Leah, Edward & Jonathan.
SPORTS DATES FAI SOCCER: BOYS TEAM: - APRIL 2ND, Venue Newhill, Two Mile Borris U. 11 HURLING: APRIL 4TH, Venue Mullinahone GAA pitch U. 13 HURLING & CAMOGIE: dates to be yet confirmed.
SPIKEBALL The Senior Room are currently having 6 sessions of Spikeball. Transition Year Students from Presentation Secondary Ballingarry provide the coaching. There will be a blitz held in the Secondary School on May 8th, all schools in the locality will take part.
SCHOOL TOUR This year we will travel to Tayto Park for our school tour. It will take place on Tuesday 18th June. Cost: €33.00 per child: This includes a Fully Guided 45 minute tour of the onsite Zoo & unlimited access to 25 attractions in the Adventure Zone & lunch. Please note some attractions have height restrictions.
SCHOOL WEBSITE The school website is now launched: www.slieveardaghns.com Our monthly newsletters will be online. We will also have a page on Green Schools, Active Schools, News and Contact details.
GREEN SCHOOLS Our Green School Committee recently wrote a letter to Carambola (our lunch providers), enquiring if there would be a more efficient way to supply water to the school other than in plastic bottles each day.
We received a reply to their letter: Carambola suggests to get rid of individual plastic water bottle deliveries to our school and replace them with water coolers and reusable bottles. Students will fill their bottle with water before coming to school and can then refill at the water coolers during the day in school. This system would come at no extra cost to the school and Carambola will supply the reusable bottles and pay for the water coolers and water drums.
Thanks to the Green School Committee for working on reducing waste and improving the school’s carbon footprint
Please continue to drop in batteries, small appliances and light bulbs for recycling.
Suggestion Box: We would love to have parents / children to contribute ideas.
ACTIVE SCHOOLS We continue to have our yard games every Tuesday and active breaks daily to promote enjoyment of exercise.
ALDI – RUGBY STICKERS We have filled one poster with the rugby stickers. Big Thanks to everyone for collecting them for us. The students want to start filling another poster, so again please tell family members / friends / neighbours when shopping in Aldi to collect the stickers for our school. Closing date for collecting the stickers is 3rd April. Thanks.
KNITTING WITH SR. MIRIAM Sr. Miriam continues to call to the school each Tuesday to do knitting with the children.
January 2019 Newsletter
WELCOME BACK We welcome back all the children and staff this New Year and wish them all a very happy and healthy 2019.
SUPER TROOPERS We ask that everyone continue to do the Super Troopers Programme at home. This will go towards our active school flag.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Friday 3rd May: Confirmation
Sunday 19th May: First Communion Children from 1st Class to 6th Class will be required to sing in the Choir, please keep this morning free.
December 2018 Newsletter
SCHOOL CLOSURE We will close for our Christmas Holidays on Friday 21st December at 12noon and re-open on Monday 7th January.
CAROL SERVICE Many thanks to you all for attending our Carol Service. The Junior Room put on a short play called “The Snowman” and the Senior Room performed “The Grinch”. All the children performed many Christmas carols and we had lovely performances played on guitar, tin whistle, accordion and keyboard. It was a very enjoyable night and the children loved performing for you all. We raised €229 on the raffle. Thanks for your continued support.
ST. VINCENT de PAUL We are collecting for St. Vincent de Paul this Christmas. We sent home a suggested item for each family to donate towards the hamper. We will need items to be in the school for next Monday 19th December. The hamper will be given to Annie Heaphy who will in turn give it to our local St. Vincent De Paul committee.
IRISH DANCING We have just one more class remaining next week. The children have really enjoyed it each week. Thanks to Michael Cooney for giving the classes.
ACTIVE SCHOOLS We completed ‘An Active Break Every Day Challenge’ as part of our Active School initiative over the past 4 weeks. Every child participated in a running break, exercise break and dancing break every day to promote enjoyment in exercise.
PRESENTATION SECONDARY BALLINGARRY TASTER DAY Our 5th and 6th classes attended this taster day. The children enjoyed sports, home economics, woodwork and French classes, and made items to bring home with them. They all enjoyed the day and learned a lot from the experience.
SCOIL RUAIN, KILLENAULE Mr. Williams, Principal Scoil Ruain, visited the Senior Room. He spoke to the children in 5th and 6th class about the subjects available to them and scholarships available through the school.
SCHOOL OPEN NIGHT We had our open night on 29th November. Our 6th class came in to show parents and children around the school, show the work they have done across many subjects and explain the different projects and activities they participate in. Our 6th class represented their school extremely well.
GAA TABLE QUIZ The GAA Table Quiz was held in Thurles. Our school was represented by our 6th class. Team: Lucy Pollard, Caroline Maher, Leah Switzer and Megan Grant. They answered 8 rounds of 10 questions based on hurling, Gaelic Football, Camogie and handball. They finished in 7th place. Well done girls.
SCIENCE TABLE QUIZ The Science quiz took place in Scoil Ruain, Killenaule. We entered 2 teams. Team 1: Jellyan Cantwell, Lucy Pollard and Eva Walsh Team 2: Caroline Maher, Megan Grant and Leah Switzer They girls answered 8 rounds of questions and represented their school very well.
PARENT / TEACHER MEETINGS Many thanks to all the parents for attending the meetings. It is great to receive such positive feedback.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS We would like to wish all the pupils and their families, and the staff a very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful Christmas and all our very best wishes for 2019.
November 2018 Newsletter
U.13 LADIES FOOTBALL Team: Lucy Pollard, Leah Switzer, Jellyan Cantwell, Eva Walsh, Megan Grant, Caroline Maher, Lucia Jorge, Rachel Fitzgerald, Brogan O’Shea. Our team travelled to Mullinahone to play their blitz. We played against Poulacapple and Lisnamrock. Luck was not on our side on this day. The girls played great and excellent team work was clearly to be seen in each of their matches. Well done girls.
U.11 FOOTBALL Team: Sean Barrett, Dylan Breen, Sonny Cleere, Thomas Grant, Jonathan Lowe, Brogan O’Shea, Kyle Scott, Cathal Ivors, Patrick Mullally. The team travelled to Mullinahone for their matches. They played against Kilcash and Killusty. They played very tough matches and went on to beat Kilcash 1-1 to 2-6. Again, it was great to see excellent team work and well done.
SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY The Senior Room travelled to Clonmel for cross country running. Lots of training was put in leading up to the day. Unfortunately, there was a mix up on the day by the organisers in that 5th and 6th class children did not get to run. However, they cheered on and supported our participants from 3rd and 4th classes in their races. Special Congratulations to Laura Barrett who came in 2nd place and Thomas Grant who came in 4th place in their races. Well done to all.
SCHOOL OPEN NIGHT Our school open night will take place on Thursday 29th November, 6.30pm –7.30pm. We would appreciate it if you could let parents of children due to start school next September about our open night.
VISION & HEARING SCREENING The HSE (Public Health Nurse) will be visiting the school to check Vision & Hearing on Tuesday, 4th December. Should you have any concerns and would like to have your child’s vision / hearing checked, please contact the school and we will arrange the appointment.
PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION The Parent’s Association will hold a meeting on Monday, 19th November at8pm in the school. All are welcome to attend.
GREEN FLAG We took part in Climate Action Week as part of our Green Schools initiative. The children took Climate Action pledges and brought in WEEE items. The Senior Room made their own environmental awareness videos on the iPads. The Green Schools Committee did litter and waste spot checks and energy spot checks. The Senior Room held a ‘2 minute clean’ daily and participated in a ‘No Energy 30 minutes’ each day.
We are still collecting the following WEEE items for recycling: broken small household electrical items, light bulbs, batteries
CONFIRMATION DATE The Sacrament of Confirmation, will take place on Friday 3rd May in Ballingarry Parish Church.
CHEERIOS CHILDLINE BREAKFAST Thanks to all the children for supporting our Cheerio’s Childline Breakfast. Amount raised was €69. The children enjoyed their School Disco and treats on the same day.
IRISH DANCING We have started Irish dancing classes with Michael Cooney – this will take place on Wednesdays for 6 weeks. School tracksuits to be worn on this day.
BASKETBALL The basketball training finished just before the mid-term. It was great to see the improvement in the children each week. Their hand / eye co-ordination and skills greatly improved each week with the excellent training they received from Martin. This training will be valuable in time to come as it’s a sport which is competitively played in secondary schools.
KNITTING WITH SR. MIRIAM Sr. Miriam calls to us to do knitting classes with children from 2nd – 6th class every Tuesday. Great to see the children enjoying it. And of course, Sr. Miriam enjoys the chat with them all.
BOOK FAIR Thanks to all for supporting the book fair on 5th October. Hope the boys & girls enjoyed their books.
CHRISTMAS SHOE BOX APPEAL Many thanks for supporting this very worth while cause. The boxes were collected and will be on their way shortly to very worthy children around the world.
ABSENT If your child is absent for any reason, please send in a note to the school when your child returns.
ATTENDANCE Please note we are a school which is really trying to improve attendance, therefore your child should only be absent if they are sick.