19th Dec 2012

SCOIL MHUIRE NEWSLETTER 2012

Christmas Plays /Carols.

Thank you to all the parents and siblings who helped to make sure that the children all looked splendid for their class plays. Thank you for taking the time to attend the plays too. The Scoil Mhuire Carol Service will take place in the school hall on Friday, 21st December at 9.30pm. Parents are welcome to come along but space will be very limited.

Please do not bring buggies into the hall. There will be a small number of seats for elderly people but it will be standing room only for everyone else. The carol service lasts for approximately 35 minutes.

Well done to the boys and girls from Ms Reilly’s and Mr Roche’s 6th class who raised €280.93 for St Vincent de Paul by Carol Singing at Tesco on Tuesday 18th.

Staff

Ms Brennan is now on maternity leave and we wish her all the best as she faces into a very exciting Christmas period. Ms Bennett has returned from parental leave and she will be teaching third class for the rest of the school year. We are delighted to welcome her back.

Green Schools

Fantastic work was carried out last term in the area of water conservation. Ms Reilly and her team generated a high level of awareness of how important it is not to waste water and we know this message was brought home as well. An assessor called to the school last week to see how the water initiative was doing and she was “blown away” by the enthusiasm, the knowledge and the superb displays throughout the school. This was a great team effort and we are very hopeful of a positive announcement in relation to our third green flag early in the New Year. Our “Blue Day” which was held on November 30th raised €370.00 for the charity “Wells for Zoe” who work in Northern Malawi, focusing on enabling the rural poor to access clean drinking water.

 

Religion

Fr John celebrated our start of year school Mass in October and we are very grateful to Colette for organising the mass. We will be having an inter-faith service in 2013.

Just a reminder to parents of children in 2nd and 6th class that the dates for the sacraments this year are as follows:

Confirmation: Thursday March 7th

Communion: Saturday May 25th

The next Masses for these classes are:

Confirmation: Sat Jan 12th at 7pm in St Patrick’s Church,

Communion: Sun. Jan. 27th at 10.30 a.m. in St Patrick’s Church

Parent Teacher Meetings

We broke with tradition this year by moving our meetings from February to November. You can, of course, meet with your child’s teacher at any stage during the year, provided you make an appointment. If you need to pass on a quick message to the teacher, you can do so before or after school but for a more lengthy conversation please arrange a mutually suitable time. School reports will be sent out in June.

New Building

As you can see, the new building is now looking like a real building rather than a building site. Some classes will move into the new wing at some stage in 2013. We will keep you updated on this. Thank you for your co-operation and understanding in relation to cutting down on traffic and in accessing the school by different routes. The building work has gone more smoothly than we could have expected and this is due, in no small way to everybody pulling together.

 

Sports

Well done to all the boys and girls who played on the school gaelic football teams. Hurling starts up in March and trials will take place in February.  Well done also to the children who represented the school so successfully in the cross country event in Adamstown.  Thank you to all the parents who have helped to transport the children to and from these sporting events.The annual 5th and 6th class basketball league will be starting at the end of January.

Swimming lessons for   classes will begin in January.

Dogs

Just a reminder that dogs should not be brought onto the school premises.

Please co-operate with us in this regard.

Holidays

Children are on holidays from 12 noon on Friday 21st December. School re-opens at 8.50am on Monday 7th January 2013.

Skipping

Our skipping initiative has proven a great success. 1st to 6th class were treated to a skipping workshop back in September. (This was funded by our All Ireland Forecast Fund, which this year made a profit of €2,200) and the craze has lasted right up to Christmas. It is a great way for children to spend their break time. And, of course, it is a very healthy activity.   Please encourage your child to keep practising.

 

Parents’ Association News.

The AGM was held in early December and the chairperson (Ann Woods) and secretary (Susan Nolan) will remain in their positions. A very engaging guest speaker from Barnardo’s gave a thought provoking presentation on Cyber Bullying and Internet Safety at this meeting. All parents present were very impressed.

The recent cake sale raised €851.73 and an entertaining Table Quiz in November raised €695.

Thank You

A huge thank you for the wonderful response to the Team Hope Shoebox Appeal. Our boxes went in two separate shipments this year. Just over one half went to Armenia and the remainder to Ukraine.  These boxes will go to orphanages; street children; children with special needs who have little dedicated care and simply to children in poor families, many of whom live on less than €1 per day.  In the case of Armenia, many of the boxes will go to families displaced by political conflict.

 

May we wish you all a happy, peaceful and relaxing Christmas and Best Wishes for 2013 .  See you all on the 7th January.