January 2016

Dear Parents:
v Welcome back to school and Happy New year!
v Our Christmas Carol singing was a great success and we thank those of you who came along to listen and support us. A special thanks to all of the teachers involved.
v We hope you enjoyed our Christmas Concert Day. We are so proud of all of our classes and their teachers.
v Please ensure that we have up-to-date addresses and contact telephone numbers for you.
v If your child is absent from school it is school policy that they return with a note explaining their absence. This is very important as we are legally obliged to report absences of 20 days or more.
v A very sincere ‘Thank you’ to all the parents who helped out with the variety of events leading up to the Christmas holidays and who attended courses.
v Next meeting of the Parents’ Association will take place on Tuesday, 16th February at 1pm in the Parents’ Room.
v After-School activities this term are: GAA Football-Tuesday / Sports Club – Wednesday / French Club – Thursday. We thank M. Rachel & M. Anna for organising these clubs.
v On Wednesday, 13th January we had very special visitors to our school – Mayor Frank Fahy, Sergeant John Ainsworth and Councillor Niall Mc Nelis. We were presented with the Irish Flag and the 1916 Proclamation.

News from our classrooms
*   All of our classes enjoyed performing their Christmas shows.
*   Room 4 have turned their classroom door into a giant snowman.
*   Room 5 have started Spikeball.
*   Room 12 had Muinteoir Claire visiting them and have started Italian classes.


ENROLMENTS 2016
If you have a child starting school in September 2016 or if you know someone who has, please make sure that s/he is enrolled. Forms are available from the office. Places left are limited. If anyone would like assistance in completing the forms please phone Nora: 085 1121001

School Lunches: It is school policy that pupils either have a school lunch or lunch from home. All pupils must have a lunch box.

Green School News
Congratulations to our great artist: Gradivine Mayemba in Room 5 who won a 30 euro ‘One4all Voucher’ for her  Anti-Litter Awareness Art Competition entry. The school also received 100 euro for participation. Sincere thanks to Muinteoir Siobhan for organising all the ‘Green’ events and of course ‘The Green Team.’

Global Citizenship-ENERGY
Pupils in 5th and 6th class will be reading our electricity meter every morning and afternoon for one week in January to find out our weekly usage and how much it costs us. Pupils in 3rd and 4th class will be examining our oil bills to investigate how much oil we use to heat the school and how much it is costing us. We will be putting the results on our Green Schools Noticeboard over the next few weeks.

Book Fair – Coming Soon!
Our annual Book Fair takes place from Monday, 25th January until Friday, 29th January. A separate note and timetable will be sent to you. Please support our book fair as this allows us choose books for our class/school libraries.

 We have children’s author and Past Pupil, Marguerite Tonery reading her book to 2nd – 6th Classes on Friday, 29th January

SALI Childcare has limited preschool places available for September 2016. If you are interested in 3 hours FREE preschool please contact Paula on 087-7697338.

SALI Childcare will remain open for the February and Easter midterms with very competitive prices. Book your child in by ringing 087-7697338. 


Important Dates for your Calendar!

February Mid-Term Break

Easter Holidays
Closed Thursday 18th & Friday 19th February.
Closing Wednesday, 16th March at 12 noon. Re-opening on Monday, April 4th

Service of  Reconciliation/Confession
Monday, 29th February at 7.30pm in the Abbey
Confirmation
Friday, April 22nd 2016 at 11.00am in the Abbey Church
First Holy Communion
Saturday, April 30th  2016 at 11.30am in the Abbey Church


June 2015


Dear Parents,
Ø It is hard to believe that another school year is coming to an end. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your help and co-operation during the year. We look forward to working with you next year and hope that you have a lovely summer.
Ø We need to order our school books for next year, therefore all monies owed for Book Rental need to be in by this Thursday, 25th June. Thank you to those of you who have already paid.
Ø School Book Lists and will be distributed on Thursday, 25th June.
Ø This year our school has been involved in the following projects and activities: School Completion Programme, Junior Achievement Ireland, Green School Project, Shared Reading, & Peer Tutoring (M. Siobhan).
Ø After- School Activities have included: Environmental Club & Digital Media (William), Hip-Hop Dance (M. Aoife Mc Clafferty), Gaelic Football (M. Ann-Marie & M. Aoife Concannon), Knitting Club (M. Rachel) and Tin-Whislte Club (Laura).

News from our classrooms
Ø All of our classes really enjoyed Sports Day and their school tours. The classes visited Turoe Pet Farm, Athenry Heritage Centre, National University of Ireland, Galway, Westport House and the University of Limerick.
Ø We wish to express a big Go raibh maith agat to our Mammies for International  Day : they told us stories, explained different customs & traditions and baked delicious food.


Ø All classes are taking advantage of the nice weather and heading out and about on nature trails and also visiting our roof-top garden.
We say ‘Goodbye’ to our 6th Class and 1st Class boys this week – we will miss you!

Ø Many thanks to our caretaker Gerry who put his carpentry skills to good  use by building a new Insect Hotel for our rooftop garden.
Ø We enjoyed it's grand opening where Gerry did the honours by cutting the red ribbon!
Ø Robyn Barry from the Dept. of the Environment visited the school on Wednesday to give a workshop on Biodiversity.
 He brought his own insects with him!


Sports News
Athletics
Well done to our athletes who competed in the Galway City Sports in Dangan on Wednesday, May 27th. A special congratulations to Sarah Agboola, 6th Class, Room 10 who won a gold medal in the u13 event. Our thanks to Muinteoir Ann-Marie for training the girls.

SCHOOL CALENDAR 2015 -2016

Tuesday, September 1st
School re-opens
Monday, 26th October to Friday, 30th October 2015
School Closed: Halloween Mid-Term Break
Closing on Tuesday, 22nd  December and re-opening Wednesday, 6th January 2016
Christmas Holidays
Thursday, 18th  to Friday, 19th February 2016
School Closed: Mid-Term Break
Thursday 17th March 2016, re-opening 4th April 2016
School Closed: St. Patrick’s Day/Easter Holidays
Closed Monday, 2nd May to Wednesday May 4th 2016
School Closed: Bank Holiday
Closed Monday, 6th June 2016 to Wednesday 8th
School Closed: Bank Holiday
Thursday, 30th  June 2016
Closing for Summer Holidays
*The School Calendar is subject to change should the need arise