Christmas Concert
We would like to take this opportunity to extend a sincere thank to you all, for turning out in such huge numbers for our Christmas Concerts last month. It was wonderful to see so many parents, brothers, sisters and grandparents every day. It is a very special time for our children, they really enjoy the concert prep and always make their very best effort to ensure they put on a great show for everybody. We couldn’t be more proud of them. Thank you for your kindness and generosity in relation to donations for our hampers and ticket sales for the raffles.
Parent/Teacher Meetings
To facilitate preparation for Christmas concerts, formal Parent Teacher meetings are during this term. Meetings will be held on Tuesday 4th and Tuesday 11th of February. Teachers will inform you of your appointment date/time next week.
Staff Inservice Training
The school will close at 2pm for all classes on Tuesday 18th February to facilitate staff inservice training delivered by Speech and Language Therapists from the School Age Team, HSE.
The school bus will run at 2pm instead of 3pm.
Cumann Na mBunscol Fundraiser
Tipperary Cumann na mBunscol have been asked to host the National Cumann na mBunscol Awards Night and AGM in March 2020. With this undertaking comes some additional expense. Bearing this in mind, the committee have asked all schools in County Tipperary to hold a no uniform county/club ‘Colours Day’ on Friday 17th January so as to raise funds to help offset these expenses. On this day children can wear Tipp or Kilruane McDonaghs gear/colours to school. (Alternatively children can wear their own clothes). On behalf of Tipperary Cumann na mBunscol we kindly ask for a small donation from each child, €1 or €2 or whatever you would like to donate. All monies raised will be forwarded to the Cumann na mBunscol organising committee.
VEX
5th Class continue their Vex journey in preparation for the Regional Finals in Limerick on 28th January. Each of the different teams; Build, Design, Programming, Public Relations and Materials have been busy in gaining skills and an insight into working in their individual teams and collaboratively as a whole class team. The PR Committee organised a cake sale before Christmas, to raise funds for their Vex Robotics Project. The Cake sale was hugely successful and the children on the PR committee would like to say a huge thank you to all the pupils who bought cakes and buns, and their parents for all the baking. A big thank you to Ms Maguire, Ms. Hannigan and Mr. Gleeson for their continued dedication to the project.
PTO
GAA Table Quiz
Well done to the GAA quiz team who represented our school at the Tipperary GAA Table Quiz North Final in Cloughjordan before Christmas. Unfortunately, despite putting in a fine performance on the night, we didn’t make it through to the County Final. A big thank you to the children on our quiz teams, Fearghal Doheny, Thomas Gaynor, Conor McGrath, Jack Quinlisk, Cormac Gaynor, Gerard O Looney, Cormac Kennedy and Charlie Kennedy.
Handball Team
Our School Handball team took part in the Primary School’s Handball County finals held in Kilcolman during the Christmas Holidays. Thomas Gaynor represented us in the u11 singles and Charlie and Cormac Kennedy represented us in the u13 doubles. Well done boys on playing some terrific handball on the day.
Nenagh Olympic Indoor Event
Well done to all the boys and girls from 4th to 6th, who took part in Nenagh Olympic’s Indoor Track and Field Event in December. It was another most memorable day and it was wonderful to hear the children’s enthusiasm as they cheered their team mates on. As you are aware, the emphasis is on taking part and there were too many fantastic performances to list, particularly from children who did their first relay, their first 500m race, long jump, shotput or javelin event. A big thank you to our more experienced athletes, who did us so proud on the day! We would like to commend them on their willingness to share their knowledge in guiding their peers through the events.
Whizzkids: Computer Classes 3rd to 6th
Annual computer classes for our senior classes, 3rd to 6th will begin in March this year, so a little later than usual. Smaller Primary schools do not have the financial resources to set up a purpose built computer lab or to provide laptops for every child. Whizzkids is an Irish company who have designed an in-school programme that will offer schools a cost effective solution. The programme consists of the delivery of an 8 week technology course during school, where each class will receive an hour of training per week. Whizzkids will come to our school, provide a laptop for every child and qualified, experienced instructors and will teach a technology programme based on department guidelines, including Microsoft word and computer programming such as SCRATCH. Class teachers/ SNA’s will be present in a supporting role. There will be a financial outlay for parents, we are currently looking at subsidising this cost together with our Parents Association and Board of Management. As a guide approximate cost to parents will be €20 in total per child. More details to follow later in the term.