October Newsletter
The school is full steam ahead. We don’t have time to even watch the leaves fall we are so busy. With the weather getting cooler we should all be wearing our coats and hats to school.
School Closure: The school will be closed on Friday the 26th of October for the Presidental election. School closes for the Halloween break on Thursday the 25th at 3pm.
Entering the school/On Time: Please take caution on entering the school. Please ensure that you arrive on time. If you are late please bring your child directly to the office via the teacher’s car park entrance.
Book Rental: We are just waiting on the last few payments for the Book Rental. We are asking for a very resonable €40 off each student. If you are having difficulty with this payment please do not hesitate to contact me.
New Car park: We have extended our car park so there should be ample room for everyone to park before and after school. Parking on the main road is not necessary and it should be avoided. Parking on the road narrows the road and the road becomes less safe. Children safety is all of our concerns.
Running track: The active flag committee, which is made up of students in the school, have brought it to my attention that they wanted a running track around the school. In the next couple of weeks, we hope to have this in place around the boundary of the school. This means the children will be allowed to run in all weather conditions. Well done to the committee on coming up with this great idea.
Mindfulness/Mental health week: Next week we will be practicing mindfulness and promoting mental health awaeness. This begins at home so fell free to open up the conversation at home.
Uniform week: This was a very successful week. Please continue this into the future and if for some reason your child is not wearing their uniform please provide a note to the teacher.
Health Lunches week: Another great week in the school where we celebrated our healthy lunches. The benefits can be seen with the children in better form, improved concentration and increased stamina especially in the afternoon. Thank you and let’s keep this up.
Food dudes: The children are trying their new fruits and vegetables and getting used to the different tastes. A child must try something four times before they can decide whether they like it or not. Our challenge as parents is to keep up this routine after the food dudes are gone.
Communion and Confirmation dates: The First Holy Communion will take place in Burt chapel on Saturday the 11th of May at 11am. The Confirmation mass will take place on Saturday the 6th of April at 11am. Tea/coffee will be in the school hall afterwards and there will be an opportunity to get photographs taken in the hall by County Photos.
Attendance: If your child is not in school please provide a note to the teacher on the day that they arrive back. The school is required by law to report all children who have missed twenty days in a school year to the Educational Welfare officer.
Donation envelopes: The Donation envelopes will be going out on the Monday the 15th of October. Right now we are securing the future of your children with these new facilities in the school so please donate. The Board of Management will continue to use these funds to better the facilities and resources in the school and make St. Aengus N.S. the envy of the country.
Shoe Box Appeal: Next Friday Ellie Doherty (4th class) will be collecting the shoe boxes full of gifts for the less fortunate children of the world. This special charity is a great life lesson for the children and makes themselves more aware of other children. Well done to Ellie for organising this and for constantly reminding me!!!!!
Field: The field is coming along nicely. We hope to let the ground settle over winter and then sand and sow out the grass in the springtime. A massive thank you must go to the D.J. McDaid’s (4th class) family who have contributed massively to the success of the field. All the dumpers, diggers and trucks will be gone after Halloween.
Building: The building continues to grow and the builders maintain that they will be finished in the early months of the new year.
Garda Ray: Garda Laura, a past pupil in the school, recently graduated from Garda College. As part of her training, she was asked to fundraise for a charity of her choice. Ray, one of our senior infant children, was chosen. Ray has had a difficult couple of years and thankfully health wise things are going great. He is a tonic for everyone in the school and you couldn’t be in bad humour around him. Ray became a national story when the Irish Independent covered his story on Wednesday. The full story is on the website.
Active flag: The school is going for the active flag this year. Master Kelly and Ms. Greene have organised a committee made up of children in the school to make ourselves even fitter than we are.
Health promoting flag: We are going for another flag which will highlight all the healthy initiatives we have in the school. More to follow on the website.
County photos: The very last day for school collection of the photographs will be Monday. If you wish to still buy the photos after this, you must deal directly with the company. Details are on the sheet. You are under no obligation to buy these photos. Feedback has been very good and we hope to use this company for the communion and confirmation photos.
Parents Association AGM: This will take place on Tuesday the 16th of October at 7.30pm in the school. Please come along and support this amazing hard working group of people.
Hair lice: Please check regularly as we continue the struggle in the school.
Nut allergy: We have a Zero tolerance for nut based products in the school.
Cross country: We had 51 children who entered the county cross country. We won the senior boys team competition and came third in the senior girl’s competition. What are we going to be like when we have our all-weather track in place?
Burt GAA: Congratulation to the U-11 Boys who were crowned County Champions on Friday night beating a gallant Glenswilly team in Buncrana. Well done to Kyron (5th class) who was named Man of the Match. Pictures on the website.
Website: We have had nearly 25,000 vies on the website since this time last year. A big thank you must go to Maeve Burgess (senior infants), whose Daddy helped set this up. I hope it gives parents an insight to see how busy a school can be.
Once again I would like to thank everyone for their patience with the building work. The safety of the children is everyone’s concern. My door is always open to new suggestions,
Séamus