Trick or Treat for Temple Street
Our annual fundraiser for Temple Street Children’s Hospital took place today Friday at the school. All money raised will go to the Isobel and Tess Duff Memorial Foundation at Temple Street. A big thank you to Fiona and Brian Duff who supplied treats for the children today!
New Assistant Principal
Ms. Collette Lawlor was recently appointed as Assistant Principal at our school. On behalf of the Board of Management and staff we congratulate Collette and extend the very best of luck to her, in her new managerial role at the school.
Parent/Teacher Communications
The Principal and staff operate an ‘open door’ policy regarding parent/teacher communications. Working together, we can provide the very best 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. We ask that you make an appointment with your child’s class teacher through our school secretary. In that way your child’s teacher can give you their full attention. Just to advise you all, formal Parent teacher meetings will be held after Christmas this year to facilitate preparation for Christmas Concerts.
Office Hours
Office hours are Monday, 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.
Payments to the office
Please continue to forward any outstanding school payments to the school office (Book rental, art and craft, school Insurance, swimming etc) immediately after the MID-TERM BREAK, as the school needs to settle accounts. As usual, we ask that all payments made to the office are in an envelope:
- With your child’s name clearly written on it
- Detailing what the payment is for (book rental, insurance, swimming etc)
Yoga
Weekly Yoga sessions with Siobhán O’Leary begin for all classes after the Mid-Term break and will run for 5 weeks. We would like to thank our Parents Association who are kindly sponsoring these sessions, meaning there will be no cost to parents.
Cross Country 2019/ Nenagh Olympic Athletics Meet
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 how the children cheered their team mates on as they made their way through the course. A special mention for Bronagh O’Leary and Karl Ryan who both came first in their races in the 3rd/4th class competitions, to Jennifer O’Leary who came second in the 5th/6th class competition and to the 5th/6th boys team who were placed second overall in the team competition. A big thank you to Ms. Gene Maguire, who prepared our school’s cross-country team once again this year and to the staff who helped facilitate training sessions.
We have been invited to take place in Nenagh Olympic’s Annual Athletics Meet after the mid-term break, another firm favourite on our sporting calendar. More details to follow.
Vex Robotics
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, to be held in Limerick in the New Year. During these child led classes, guided by teachers, children will learn valuable skills in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), together with skills in design and build, computer programming, leadership, teamwork, marketing, public relations, critical thinking, strategy and much more. Our robot kit has been kindly sponsored by Dell Limerick. Ms. Maguire, Ms. Hannigan and Mr. Gleeson will lead this initiative at our school this year and due to large numbers at the senior end of the school, it is open to 5th class students only for 2019/20. Both Joe Correia and Fran Farrell (Parents/Dell mentors) have kindly made themselves available once again this year, to guide us through the process. We thank them for continuing to share their knowledge and expertise with our staff and children. We thank teachers Ms. Maguire, Ms. Hannigan and and Mr. Gleeson, who attend STEM training sessions outside of school hours, so that we can fully engage with the programme and provide the best educational experience for our pupils.
Friendship/Stay Safe
In line with our revised anti-Bullying policy, the children are currently enjoying ‘Friendship Weeks’, at the school (week before and after the mid-term). The central theme for our friendship weeks is our school motto – ‘Kind Hands, Kind Feet and Kind Words’. The teachers may revisit formal lessons from the Stay Safe programme and in addition, the children will hear stories, make posters and write poetry based on the themes of friendship and bullying awareness.
Dromineer Literary Arts Festival
Congratulations to 4th class pupil Karl Ryan who came first in the 3rd/4th class poetry competition this year and to 5th class pupil Thomas Gaynor who was placed 2nd in the 5th/6th class competition. Jennifer O’Leary’s poem was highly commended in the 5th/6th class competition. This competition is run in conjunction with ‘The Dromineer Literary Arts Festival’, every September. The children were presented with certificates and prizes at an event held recently at the Yacht Club in Dromineer.
Cumann na mBunscol: Gaelic Football
Well done to our u11 and u13 football teams, on getting to the North Final in their respective competitions. Despite displaying some great skill, both teams were pipped at the post on Final Day. Thank you to Mr. O Flaherty, Mr. Gleeson and Ms. Hannigan who trained and managed our teams this year, together with school coach Gilbert.
School Uniform
We are increasingly noticing that children’s preference appears to be to wear their tracksuit throughout the week, particularly as the cold weather is setting in. With children’s comfort/warmth at heart, official tracksuit days will be Thursday and Friday as usual and children can wear their formal school uniform Monday to Wednesday OR please follow a simple rule, blue on top and grey on the bottom, meaning that tracksuit or formal uniform can be worn Monday to Wednesday, OR a combination of both, OR tracksuit all week, therefore allowing an element of pupil/parental choice.
Mid-term break
As per school calendar, we close today Friday, 25th October for the mid-term break. The school will re-open on Monday, 4th November. Enjoy the break everybody!