Dear Parents Issue: 11 April 5th, 2022
Best Attendance:
- Congratulations to Mrs Murray’s Senior Infants who had the best attendance for the month of March.
COVID-19:
- Last week there have been on average 30 children absent from school each day
- If you contract Covid-19 there are still public health guidelines for us all to follow. Please see www.hse.ie for the most up to date advice.
- The requirement to stay at home if you have symptoms remains – for students and staff alike. One of the key messages to manage the risks of COVID-19 is to do everything practical to avoid the introduction of COVID-19 into the school. If infection is not introduced it cannot be spread.
- School will provide remote work for pupils who are out with the virus, if requested by parents. We understand some pupils may be too unwell & not in a position to complete any work.
- We wish anybody with the virus at this time, a speedy recovery.
Easter Holidays:
- School will close at 11.45am on Friday April 8th for the Easter holidays.
- This will be a Non-Uniform day and will be used to fund-raise for Athenry Playground. Some essential repairs are needed to ensure the Playground can stay safe & open!!
- The children are asked to bring a donation of €1 or €2
- School will re-open again on Monday April 25th.
School Photographer:
- We received the proofs for the school photographs taken by County Photos last week.
- If you wish to order any photos of your child(ren) you are encouraged to do so on-line by following the instructions included with the proofs.
- If you are unable to process your order on-line you may return your order in the envelope provided, to the office. The envelope should include the exact money owed. These envelopes will be collected by County Photos later this week.
Current Afterschool Clubs:
- Basketball Club for 5th & 6th class, starting Tuesday March 22nd and running for 6 weeks
- Basketball Club for 3rd & 4th class, starting Wednesday March 23rd and running for 6 weeks
- Chlub Gaeilge for Jun & Sen Infants, starting Wednesday March 30th and running for 5 weeks
- Science Club for 1st class, starting on Wednesday March 30th and running for 5 weeks
- Coding Club for 2nd class, starting on Monday April 4th and running for 5 weeks
- Art Club for 3rd & 4th class, starting Tuesday April 5th and running for 5 weeks
School Year 2022 / 2023:
- The admissions process for September 2022 is now closed
- Calendar for 2022 / 2023 will follow after Easter
- Parents should note that every child in SCN will probably have to be placed in a combined class setting at least once in their primary school cycle. This is true of most primary schools in the West of Ireland.
- Teachers have not been assigned to their new classes for next year yet.
- Parents are advised that at levels where there are 2 and 3 classes e.g. Junior Infants, Senior Infants, 1st class etc., the makeup of the class never stays the same from year to year. With this in mind parents are advised to voice any points they have e.g. possible friendships their child might have etc. While this information will be useful to have and a reasonable effort will be made to accommodate certain requests, we wish to remind you that no guarantees can be given regarding placement of pupils.
- Parents are asked to voice any points they have before Friday April 29th. Please do so by email to the school only: [email protected] . While points raised will be given consideration, no promises can ever be given in relation to requests made.
Open Night for new Enrolments:
- We will not be holding our traditional “Open Night” for the parents of our new pupils for school year 2022 / 2023. Parents will be emailed with (a) details about Scoil Chroí Naofa, (b) information about the Junior Infants curriculum and (c) some tips on how to prepare your child for starting school.
- A video message for the children from the school will also issue.
- In June you will receive your child’s booklist
- In late August (the day before the whole school re-opens) all the Junior Infant children will be invited into the school for 1 hour to meet their teacher and their new classmates. Further details on this will be emailed to you, once the calendar for 2022 / 2023 has been finalised.
- On this morning in late August we will have a “meet & greet” for all the parents in the school hall, for the duration of the hour that the children are in the classroom.
Sport:
- The 5th & 6th class girls are competing in the final of their in-house Soccer Tournament this week. There will be medals for the winners & runners up, as well as a “Golden Boot” trophy for the top goal scorer of the tournament!!! Best of luck to everyone involved!!
- The 1st class boys have been invited to join the 2nd class boys from the Boys school in a fun soccer blitz in Athenry soccer club after the Easter holidays (Wed April 27th).
- Reminder: Mr Naughton & Mr Kelly will be taking the senior girls for training every Friday for the rest of the school year. This training will be to get the girls ready for all the different team sports that we will be playing throughout the rest of the school year e.g. Camogie, Gaelic Football, Soccer, Rugby, Hockey etc.
- After Easter Miss Feeney will take the 3rd & 4th class girls for camogie training.
Cycling Workshop:
- Each year the Parents Council part-fund a cycling workshop for the 6th class girls. This workshop is provided over a number of sessions and is delivered by “Cycle Right”.
- The workshops are scheduled to commence after the Easter holidays (Tues Apr 26th), when the weather will hopefully be good. Obviously the workshops mainly take place outdoors.
- In light of the current Public health situation and from an “Infection Control” perspective, the girls are encouraged to use their own bicycles and helmets, where possible.
Heritage:
- “The Big Dig” will be visiting the school after Easter.
- The School of Irish Archaeology will bring a replica Viking House & excavation site to school, which allows the children to explore the Viking world through a simulated archaeology dig.
- The workshop will give the children the chance to experience what it is like to be an archaeologist by learning how to excavate the remains of a Viking house
- As they dig through the site, the children will unearth Viking treasures and artefacts dating back 1,000 years. They will learn about the lives of our Viking ancestors as history is brought to life by qualified archaeologists.
Dates for Diary & School Closures:
- Monday May 2nd & Tuesday May 3rd – May Bank holiday long weekend
- Sunday May 8th: Confirmation
- Thursday May 12th: Staff meeting (Term 3). All children go home at 1.15pm
- Saturday May 28th: First Communion
- Thursday June 16th: Staff Training (PLC webinar) (Term 3). All children go home at 1.15pm
School Tours:
- Below is a summary of where each class will be going on their school tour.
- The charge for each of the school tours has been put up on Aladdin. Parents have until the day of the school tour to pay this charge:
| Date | Class Teacher | Venue | Cost |
| Wednesday May 25th | Mr Kelly (5th & 6th class) Miss Murray (5th class) Mrs Monson (6th class) | Tayto Park Ashbourne Co. Meath | €35 |
| Friday May 27th | Miss Feeney (3rd class) Ms Alani (3rd class) Mrs Greally (4th class) | Wildlands Moycullen Co. Galway | €45 |
| Tuesday May 31st | Miss Dolan (1st class) Mr Hanley (1st class) Mrs McSpadden (1st & 2nd class) Ms O’Byrne (2nd class) | Let’s Go! Kingfisher NUIG Galway | €34 |
| Wednesday June 1st | Mr McDonald (Senior Infants) Mrs Murray (Senior Infants) | Turoe Pet Farm | €23 |
| Thursday June 2nd | Ms Tyrrell (Junior Infants) Mrs Duffy (Junior Infants) | Turoe Pet Farm | €23 |
Community Links:
- The Children’s Liturgy team are currently looking for volunteers. You do not need to be a teacher or have children attending the liturgy, you just need to be 18 years old (for vetting), willing to give a few hours every few months and have the desire to share your faith with the young children of the parish. All training is provided. If you are new to the parish, the liturgy is for children aged 5-8 years old and will be held in the Pastoral Centre during the 11am Sunday mass. Volunteers will be on rota a few Sundays per year. Ring / text Deirdre at 087 0984379 for more information.
- The Athenry Playground committee have advised us that URGENT fundraising is need for our Community Playground. The Playground is a treasured and much-used amenity in the town. There are essential maintenance & repair works needed on a regular basis. As most of the funds for this come from fundraising and the public’s generosity, they urgently need help to raise funds to give the playground some necessary care and attention. To this end they have set up a Go Fund Me page: https://gofund.me/fbbdccf3. Any donations would be greatly appreciated.
Beannachtaí na Cásca oraibh!
Fergal Naughton, Príomhoide
