Newsletter – October 2018
Trick or Treat for Templestreet
As you are aware our annual ‘Halloween Dress-up’ fundraiser for Templestreet Children’s Hospital takes place tomorrow, Thursday. A donation would be most welcome for this worthy cause, (€2 per child or whatever you can afford). Children can bring a treat in their lunchboxes as it is a very special day at Kilruane NS. Please remember we are a NUT FREE ZONE. All monies raised will go to the Isobel and Tess Duff Memorial Foundation at Templestreet.
Parent/Teacher Meetings
Formal Parent Teacher meetings will take place over two evenings again this year, on Tuesday 20th Nov. and Tuesday 27th Nov. Your child’s class teacher will send home your timeslot after the Midterm break. In general, we operate an ‘open door’ policy regarding parent/teacher communications at Kilruane NS. We believe that working together we can provide the best education for your child. If you would like to discuss any aspect of your child’s education, or indeed if you have any worries or concerns that you would like to share with us, we both welcome and encourage you to do so at any time throughout the year. We ask that you make an appointment with your child’s class teacher through our school secretary so that s/he can give your concern their full attention.
Change to Office Hours
Office hours are Monday 9am to 11am, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday , 9am -2pm.
If you have a telephone query, or you wish to call to the office in person, or pay a bill, we ask that you do so within the times outlined above. The office and telephone will be unattended outside of these times as all staff must prioritise their pupils and their teaching duties.
Friendship/Stay Safe
In line with our Anti-Bullying policy and SPHE policy, the children are currently enjoying ‘Friendship Week ‘, at the school. The central theme for our friendship week is our school motto – ‘Kind Hands, Kind Feet and Kind Words’, the children will hear stories, make posters and write poetry based on the themes of friendship and bullying awareness.The teachers are also teaching formal lessons from the Stay Safe Programme.
Dromineer Literary Arts Festival
Congratulations to 4th class pupil Grace Ryan and 6th class pupil Adam Carroll whose poems were highly commended in both the Junior and Senior Primary School Poetry Competition run by The Dromineer Literary Arts Festival Committee in September. Both Grace and Adam were invited to the Yacht club in Dromineer recently for a presentation of certificates.
Cross Country 2017
Well done to all the boys and girls who performed so admirably at the Primary Schools Cross Country event held in Thurles recently. It was a fantastic day out and we were delighted with their energetic enthusiasm, how they cheered each other on and of course their behaviour on the day was impeccable as always. A special mention for Jennifer O Leary who came first in her race and to William Jones and Cormac Kennedy who were placed in the top ten! A big thank you to Ms. Maguire who trained our team once again this year.
Vex Robotics
The senior children began their work on the Vex Robotics initiative in September. For those of you who are new to the school, Vex Robotics is a fun, exciting programme for senior classes, where students design, build and programme their own robot, with a view to competing with their class robot against other schools in a spectacular regional competition, held in the New Year. Children learn skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM subjects), design and build, programming, leadership, teamwork, marketing, PR, critical thinking, strategy and much more. Our robot kit has been kindly sponsored by Dell Limerick again this year and Ms. Maguire and Ms. Butler will lead the programme at our school. Parents Joe Correia and Fran Farrell have kindly made themselves available to guide us through the process again this year and we thank them for continuing to share their knowledge and expertise with us. We made it all the way to the National Finals last year, picking up some very prestigious awards along the way, a wonderful achievement for our small school. Best of luck to all involved!
Headlice
Together with the Parents Association, we ask that in order to prevent the spread of headlice during the school year, please ensure that long hair is tied up for school. Please continue to check your child’s hair regularly.
Tin Whistle
Tin Whistle classes at the school for 1st to 6th classes have resumed. As usual your child’s class teacher will collect €1 weekly (per child) to go towards the cost of the lessons.