April Newsletter.
March madness is over and done. Phew! Inspections, buildings completed, moving classrooms just to name a few things that went on during the month. We are ready for April whatever you decide to bring.
Teacher return: We welcome back Ms. McDermott and Ms. O’Toole today to the school. We thank our substitute teacher Ms. Doherty and Ms. Sweeney. They both have bright teaching futures ahead of them.
Cycling: Children throughout the school will be taking part in the cycling programme for the next 5 weeks. Junior, Senior, 1st and 2nd classes will be on a Tuesday and 3rd to 6th will be on a Wednesday. Children should wear their school tracksuit on these days. All bikes/helmets are provided by the programme operators. You are welcome to bring in your own helmets if you wish too. Please ensure that your child has adequate rain gear/coats for those days as the course will be going ahead regardless of the weather.
School closure: School is closed for the Easter holidays on Friday the 12th of April at 12pm. We will reopen on Monday the 29th of April. We are also closed for the European and local elections on Friday May 25th. The full school calendar is on the website.
Confirmation is on this Saturday the 6th of April in Burt Chapel. We are asking, as tradition, the 5th class parents to help out with the teas and coffees after the ceremony in the school hall. Please fill in the return slip that is in your 5th class child’s bag and return. We are looking for donations of food from the 3rd, 4th and 5th class parents. Donations can be dropped into the office with Bernie or the school hall will be open from 10.30am on Saturday morning. The top yard will be open as a car park on Saturday.
Inspection: We had an overwhelmingly positive experience when we welcomed the inspectorate to the school. The Wednesday after the inspection we had a meeting with them. The teachers, the Chairperson of the Board of Management, Liam Gallagher and representatives from the Parents Association were also present. They were very impressed with our progressive, hardworking, friendly school. The report will be due out later in the year and will be accessible through the website. Thank you to the teachers, parents and especially the children who showed our visitors what a great school we have.
GAA and Athletics: GAA training starting soon for 4th to 6th classes and Athletics training every Tuesday and Thursday at small break.
Choir: We have had over 70 children practicing for the school choir and a huge amount of work has gone into preparing them for the ceremony. We have only 23 children available on the day. Please if this is the case in the future please let Maureen or Bernie know that your child will not be available for choir so we can better plan for these eventualities.
Easter draw: Easter draw sheets will be in the bags tomorrow. Please donate what you can. All proceeds will go directly back to providing resources and making the school a better place. Please return all draw sheets either sold or unsold by the Thursday the 11th of April. Draw will take place in school on Friday the 12th of April.
Active flag update: As part of our active school flag program, children from 3rd up to 6th class are taking part in a skipping challenge until Easter. Over the next three weeks, we will climb as many mountains as we can by skipping every day!! Every skip is worth 1 meter. Lets get skipping and climbing everyone!!
Field: Over the Easter period we hope complete the pitch. We are putting in extra drainage, sand and seeding the pitch. When the pitch is ready depends on the weather and grass growth.
Maths: We have received a directive from the Department of Education to change some of the maths symbols from tomorrow. The minus symbol will now be the plus symbol and the division symbol will be the percentage symbol. All other symbols will stay the same. Sorry for this inconvenience but it is a department directive.
Car park: Please continue to use the car park when dropping off and collecting children. Thank you for your cooperation. If you are late the children should enter through the pedestrian gate and sign in at the office.
Uniform and Healthy eating: There will be checks in the coming weeks so please make sure your child has their full school uniform and healthy lunches.
LGFA training has commenced up in Burt pitch on a Monday night 5-6pm for U8’s 6-7pm for U10’s 7-8pm FOR U12’s All girls from 5yrs up are encouraged to attend Parents can contact Catriona on 00447736126855 for more details.
School policies: All policies are located on the school website. The website has over 40,000 hits since its inception just over a year ago. Copies of the newsletter are also available from the office.
My door is always open,
Séamus