Sept' 09

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome back to all members of our school community. We look forward to a very busy and hopefully, a very fruitful and enjoyable year ahead.

ICT - A great deal of work was carried out in the summer months to upgrade our ICT facilities. We invested over 30,000 euro in new equipment for the children. We purchased and installed sixteen new computers in the classrooms. We also purchased four new Interactive Whiteboards which are now up and running. These boards are a wonderful resource and the children are getting great benefit from them. We would hope over the coming months to add to this resource depending on the finances available to us. Thanks to Ms. White for all her work in this area.

School Calendar - The Board of Management will meet next week and the school calendar will be released as soon as possible after that meeting.

Greenschools - Our Greenschools programme continues. Children are asked to use re-usable lunch boxes and bottles and to bring home any papers or peels in their box. We would ask everyone to remember WOW (Walk on Wednesday) as we encourage as many people as possible to leave their cars at home. We sent out a leaflet to all families in the past week regarding the Safe Cross Code and would encourage parents to revise the code with their children.

Uniforms -Thanks to all our parents for supporting the Uniform policy. As you know the children are permitted to wear either the school tracksuit with white or sky blue polo shirt or the school uniform. The uniform remains the same, that is grey jumper, grey trousers and light blue shirt for boys and grey cardigan, grey pinafore or skirt and light blue shirt for girls. We would remind families that the wearing of sports jerseys is not permitted except on specially organized occasions.

Yard Collection - At present we are trying a new system of collection for the boys and girls in First and Second Class. We are asking that these children be collected from the middle yard at the back of the school. We have introduced this change to reduce the confusion on half days when the children from Junior Infants and Senior Infants are collected at the same time. We would ask that parents observe a one way system when collecting these children and that children leave the school via the senior yard. We would also ask that parents wait along the back fence.

Early Arrivals - Parents are reminded that school commences at 9.20 a.m. Teachers do not take children into their care until that time. Until Halloween parents may escort Junior Infant children to their classes from 9.10 onwards to allow them settle in. All other children are collected from the school yards at 9.20 by their teachers.

Swimming - This year we are commencing a pilot project to promote swimming as part of the PE curriculum. The children from third class are invited to take part in six swimming lessons in the Sportslink complex over the coming months. We intend to partially fund the lessons through the Voluntary Contribution. If the lessons are a success we plan to continue with this project each year, providing all children with the opportunity to attend swimming lessons when they are in third class. The class teachers will be in contact with parents/guardians about the programme in the coming days. Thanks to Mr. Gleeson for organizing the programme.

Sport - A range of sporting activities are already up and running this year. Hurling coaching and Football blitzes have begun. The Athletics season is also commencing. We would like to thank all the teachers for giving up their time for the children. We also welcome back Shane to coach GAA throughout the school and Gerry who coaches tag rugby in the senior classes. The children very much enjoy these sessions with visiting coaches.

Community Garda - The Community Garda will visit the senior classes over the next few weeks to discuss issues such as road safety, fire safety, bullying and other issues related to our SPHE curriculum.

Cut Backs - The government cutbacks bought in last year severely impact on our ability to provide our children with the best education possible. We lost one class teacher resulting in the amalgamation of classes. One English Language post was cut meaning less children will receive English language support than in previous years. The hours allocated to provide learning support were also cut which will impact on our ability to cater to pupils with specific learning support needs. Unfortunately further cuts seem likely this year. As issues arise we will be in touch with all those whose children may be affected.

Cookery - Thanks to the members of the Parents Association who have commenced cookery classes with the children in third and fourth class. The children really enjoy the classes and get great benefit from developing this aspect of life skills.

Pupil Contact Forms - We would remind any families that have not yet returned the Pupil Contact forms to please do so as quickly as possible. It is in your child’s interest that we have the most up to date contact details possible.

H1N1/ Swine Flu - We continue to take steps to stop the spread of Swine Flu in our school. As you are aware we have replaced hand towels with paper towels, placed alcohol gel dispensers in classes and corridors and provided new bins for the safe disposal of tissue waste. We have spoken to the children several times to encourage them to “Catch it, Bin it, Kill it.” Some parents have also provided their children with their own small hand cloth (in a ziplock bag) and with their own hand spray. These would seem sensible steps to take where possible.

School Car Park - We request that no cars stop opposite the school gates or on double yellow lines outside the school as this blocks all traffic along the road. We would also ask that parents do not park in the overflow parking area as space is limited and it could be a danger to the children. This area behind the scout den is for staff parking only.

Voluntary Subscription - We will be communicating with parents regarding the Voluntary Subscription in the coming weeks. As we did last year the programme will be a joint appeal between the Board of Management, the Parents Association and the school. As you know there is an array of school activities which could not take place without this support. While we appreciate that these are difficult financial times we would ask all parents that can make a contribution to do so. As the saying goes every little helps.

Once again, thanks to all our parents/ guardians for helping us throughout the year in so many ways and best wishes for the year ahead.

Regards,

Paul Comiskey.

Principal.

Principal: Paul Comiskey, B.Ed., Dip. Ed. Man., M.St.

Deputy Principal: Peggy O'Connor N.T., D.A.I.