FÁILTE ROMHAIBH AR AIS

Welcome back to everybody after the summer holidays. July and August flew by and we hope you are well rested and that you have a very enjoyable year in Scoil Mhuire. A special cead mile failte to our new junior infants and to any new children who have enrolled throughout the school. Congratulations to Ms Carroll and Mr. Roche, who got married during the summer (but not to each other!). We would also like to welcome three new members of staff-Ms Stenson, who will be job sharing with Ms Bennett; Ms Dillon, who will be teaching senior infants while Ms Walshe is on maternity leave; and Mr.  O Muircheartaigh, who will be teaching in Scoil Mhuire three days a week. We wish all new pupils and new staff all the best for 2011-2012.

Sympathy

We would like to extend our deepest sympathy to Colette Kavanagh, our school chaplain, on the death of her mother Helen. The school was represented at the funeral by some members of staff, the chairperson of our Parents’ Association Mrs Ann Woods and by Ms Carroll’s 6^th class. The beautiful and moving funeral ceremony was presided over by Fr John Hassett and his lovely words will have been a great source of comfort to Colette. We know that her deep faith and spirituality will help her through this difficult time.

Wet Mornings

Unfortunately, we are experiencing some unseasonably wet weather at the moment. We have a system in place, whereby, on wet mornings before school, all children should come into the main school building. Children whose classroom is in a prefab are assigned to a specific classroom in the main building, where they will stay, under supervision, until they are brought to their own classroom at 8.50. All children from 2^nd to 5^th should be familiar with this system. Any child who is not sure should ask teacher. Prams and buggies should not be brought into the school building in the morning, to avoid congestion.

Hometime

When children are being collected at 1.30pm or 2.30pm, we ask parents and minders to keep well back so that the children and the teacher can have an unobstructed view. Teacher will allow the child to go once he/she has seen a parent or minder. Junior classes will line up, at home time, in the same place where they line up in the mornings.

Schoolbags

There are “pigeon hole” storage facilities in each classroom so that children do not have to carry home a heavy schoolbag. We ask parents to help and encourage your child to be organized so that he/she only brings home the necessary books/equipment each day.

Health and Safety

The main school gates will be kept closed during school hours. The car park is for members of staff only

Pedestrians should not use the main gate. Please consider not bringing your child to school by car if this is feasible. Traffic congestion, particularly on wet mornings can be very stressful. If you do need to come by car you might consider parking a short distance away and walking the rest of the journey. There are certain areas in the vicinity of the school which should be kept clear at all times. These areas are marked clearly with yellow lines and we ask you to comply with regulations. Please do not park in any place which prevents residents of Woodview Heights or Airlie Heights from accessing their driveway.

Emergency Forms

Emergency forms will be sent out next week. Please complete them and return them to the school immediately.  A separate form should be filled in for each child, each year.

Text a Parent

We have been operating this system for the past couple of years, whereby parents are informed by text in relation to upcoming important events or in the event of normal school procedure being changed for some reason. (E.g. school closure due to unforeseen circumstances.) We can only facilitate one contact number per family. There is a space on the Emergency form to write down the number at which you wish to be contacted. Please also write this number into your child’s homework journal.

Absences

In the event of your child being absent from school, there is no need to ring the school to inform us of this. A note in your child’s journal on his/her return is sufficient. In the case of a long term absence you will, of course, want to let the teacher know of the circumstances .

Healthy Lunch Policy

Our Healthy Eating Policy can be viewed on our school website www.scoilmhuire.ie We appreciate the support you have given us in relation to this policy in the past and we ask for your continued assistance. Wednesday is “treat day” but please be sensible in this regard.

Mobile Phones.

As and from Monday next, mobile phones are not to be brought into school. Heretofore, we had a system whereby children who brought phones into school could hand them up to the teacher and retrieve them at 2.30p.m. This system is being discontinued. At a meeting of the Parents’ Association Committee on Wednesday 7^th September, there was unanimous agreement that children should not be allowed to bring phones into school and a request was made that a ban should be implemented. The staff is happy to comply with this request and we ask for your co-operation.

Three teams will represent Scoil Mhuire in the Cumann na mBunscol competitions which begin next week. Our junior boys’ team (under 11) will play on Tuesdays; our girls ‘team play on Wednesdays and our Senior boys’ team will play on Thursdays. Mr. Roche will be in charge of the Junior team, Ms Carroll will be with the girls and Mr. Ellis with the Senior boys. We have always received great support from parents in relation to transport to and from matches and we will be asking for your help once again in this regard.

School Coats For Sale

The Parents’ Association will be selling school coats on Friday 16^th September in the hall from 8.30 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. and from 1.30 – 3.00 p.m. The coats cost €25

School Building Programme

Things are progressing slowly on the new building. We are currently awaiting permission from the Department of Education to put the work out to tender. We will keep you updated on any developments.

Jewellery

Children should not wear jewellery into school. This is a health and safety issue.

No Dogs Allowed.

Dogs should not be brought onto the school grounds or premises, even on a lead. We have had issues in the past with dogs fouling on the playground. This is a health and safety issue and we ask for your cooperation in this regard “treat day” but please be sensible in this regard

Term 2

We are continuing with our Green Schools programme in Scoil Mhuire. This involves cutting down on the amount of paper we use, limiting the levels of rubbish we send to landfill and reducing the energy we use on a daily basis. In school we regularly run awareness campaigns to highlight these issues, but we appeal to you, the parents to assist us by using the least amount of packaging you can for your child’s lunch, or at least packaging and containers that can be reused or recycled e.g. greaseproof paper, reuse a plastic bottle, pack some fruit (this requires no packaging, the remains can be composted, and it’s healthy). In addition to the above we are still recycling batteries and mobile phones in Scoil Mhuire.

Lucan Library Junior Book Club

Ms Ní Núnáin would like to bring to your attention the Junior Book Club that will be held in Lucan Library every Tuesday from 3.45 p.m. to 4.45p.m. Booking from Tuesday 13^th September at Lucan Library Tel:  6216422.