Dear Parents Issue: 03 October 13th 2021
Best wishes to Miss Tyrrell and her fiancé on their upcoming wedding. The whole school community would like to wish them Health & Happiness in their future life together!
Enrolments for Secondary School:
- Presentation College Athenry online application form will be available on their school website: www.presathenry.ie from Friday October 8th until 1pm on Friday October 29th.
- Clarin College Athenry will hold their virtual open night tonight, Wednesday October 13th at 8pm. Please find link to the digital invitation: https://venngage.net/pl/n1au2Q9yFQg. Here is the link to the enrolment page also: https://clarincollege.ie/page/2022-23-Enrolment/80661/Index.html
- Coláiste an Eachréidh will hold their virtual open night on Thursday October 14th at 7pm. To register please follow the instructions in this link: https://forms.office.com/r/YL6vuvTK8x
Dates for Diary:
- Thursday October 21st: Cash for Clobber Collection
- Monday October 25th to Friday October 29th: Halloween Break
- Wednesday Nov 10th & Thursday Nov 11th – Parent Teacher Meeting Phonecalls – all children will go home at 1.15pm
- Thursday Nov 25th Staff Webinar Term 1 – all the children will go home at 1.15pm
- Monday February 21st to Friday February 25th: Mid-term break
- Tuesday March 22nd: School Photographer
- Monday April 11th to Friday April 22nd: Easter Holidays
Best Attendance:
- Congratulations to Mrs McSpadden’s 1st & 2nd class on having the Best Attendance for the month of September.
Cross Country Event:
- We had wonderful fun down at the Pres Pitch yesterday.
- Thanks to Mr McDonald for helping me to co-ordinate the event.
- Special thanks to Tim Kelly (father of Aoife Kelly in 2nd class) for donating the bales of hay for our Cross Country course. It was like Irelands Fittest family!!!
- All the children received a Certificate of Participation for completing the course.
- Thank you to everyone for your donations. We raised €520 for the Parents council, while having great fun in the process!!! This money will be go towards buying a Christmas annual for all the children.
- Photos of the event are available to view on the school website.
Safe Routes to School:
Last week you were emailed a link to an important survey. The feedback given in this survey will be used to determine what can be done to make the route to school safer for Scoil Chroí Naofa pupils. The survey is open until Sunday October 31st. Here is the link again: https://arcg.is/19iv95. I urge everyone to take the few minutes to complete this survey.
Heritage Schools:
On Friday Mrs Monson’s 6th class and Mr Kelly’s 5th & 6th class will be having an outdoor heritage workshop
with Alison MacCormaic (Visual Artist and Arts educator).
Cash4Clobber Collection:
- There will be a Cash4Clobber collection on Thursday October 21st, before the mid-term break.
- Bags will not be brought into the school building, given the current public health situation. Instead we would ask that all bags be left in the shelter in the bottom yard on the morning of Thursday October 21st.
- As the bags will be left outside until the truck comes to collect them, please make sure the clothes are in plastic bags that are properly tied up and have no holes!
- Yard gates will be open at 8am.
Halloween:
- Friday October 22nd is a non-uniform day. Your child may come to school dressed in their Halloween costume or they may come to school in their normal clothes. It is their choice, we certainly don’t want to put expense on parents having to buy a costume.
- Our only request is that props such as wands, swords etc. are left at home. These items are always very popular to share and due to current restrictions, it is better your child just wears their costume / face paint (without any props) coming in to the classroom.
- Please ensure your child is able to use the bathroom comfortably by themselves in their costume.
- Please note also, correct footwear is essential for the yard. (Most Disney princess shoes are not made for running in the yard!)
- In keeping with tradition we would like to collect €1 / €2 from the children on this non-uniform day and give the proceeds to Temple Street hospital (“Trick or Treat for Temple St.”), as a number of our pupils attend Temple Street hospital for various different reasons.
- The children will get their holidays for mid-term break on Friday October 22nd. It is a normal school day i.e. Junior & Senior infants finish at 1.30pm and all other classes finish at 2.30pm. School re-opens on Monday November 1st.
Parent / Teacher meetings:
- In the past Parent / Teacher meetings would have taken place in the weeks between Halloween and Christmas. Last year the Parent / Teacher meetings took place by phone during the lockdown.
- We are still not in a position to invite all parents into the school but we would still like to have the Parent / Teacher meetings before Christmas. It’s important to us that they happen early in the academic year.
- With this in mind we have decided to have Parent / Teacher Meeting Phonecalls again this year.
- The dates for the Meeting Phonecalls will be Wednesday November 10th & Thursday November 11th.
- All the children will go home at 1.15pm. This is to facilitate teacher to start making calls from 1.30pm.
- Closer to the time teacher will let you know what time you can expect his / her call.
- Please note phonecalls will be coming from a private number.
Team Hope Christmas Shoe Boxes:
- The Christmas Shoebox Appeal is an annual campaign where thousands of individuals in Ireland donate shoeboxes filled with gifts to children affected by poverty in Africa and Eastern Europe. It is an opportunity to share a little joy and excitement with children who live in circumstances where these can sometimes be in short supply.
- To make a VIRTUAL BOX of your own with your child you can visit www.teamhope.ie at any time and choose the items you would like to add. (Just follow the steps online).
Aladdin:
- Please make sure that you have downloaded the Aladdin app and have notifications switched on, as teachers may be using it to correspond with you during the school year.
- If your child has been absent from school please record the reason for the absence on the Aladdin app (you will need to wait until teacher has marked your child absent first, before you will be given the option to record the reason).
General Reminders:
- A reminder notification will be sent to the few remaining people for outstanding monies for book rental and school costs over the coming days. Please make this payment via the Aladdin app, if at all possible. If this is not possible, you may send the money to the office in a clearly labelled envelope.
- Please label all children’s clothes and belongings clearly
- Please ensure your child brings their raincoat to school every day. The children will be going outside for break every day so they will need their coats in case it is raining. Outdoor activity is being encouraged by the Department of Education.
- Check your child’s hair to ensure that any infestation of head lice is treated at once. Long hair should be tied back.
- Class teachers call the roll first thing in the morning, every day. If your child has an appointment in the morning, please notify the teacher the day before so that your child can be marked present.
- Birthday invitations should not be distributed on the school premises as it causes upset to the children who are not invited.
- Some children have a Severe Nut Allergy. For this reason, children are not allowed to have nuts at school.
- If you Change Address, Email or Phone Numbers, please inform secretary so she can update school records.
- Please DO NOT WALK UNDER THE BARRIER. The barrier is in constant use from 8am til 2.30pm. Parents and children should use the pedestrian entrances (i.e. the gaps in the wall).
Samhain Shona daoibh go léir !
Yours sincerely
Fergal Naughton
Principal
