Dear Parents,
I hope you are well settled in by now. September was a hectic month in school with a lot going on and it seems October has been much the same! Life has a way of motoring on and we have to work hard to keep up!
Some notes and updates for your attention:
- School Website:
We have finally launched our updated Website. Hopefully, this will be of benefit to parents, both present and prospective. A lot of the material on the website is static: ‘About us’, ‘History of the school’, ‘About our Deaf Facility’ etc. However, there are sections that will be updated and refreshed on a regular basis and should be a helpful source of information for current parents especially such as: ‘News & Updates’, ‘School Memos’, ‘School Google Calendar’, ‘School Policies’
(as they are reviewed and updated) etc. Praise and acknowledgement is due to Carmel Lester and her team of teachers who worked with the Website Designer and helped to organise the material for the website.
- School ‘App’:
As mentioned in the previous memo, we have decided to go with a school app which is becoming more and more popular with both Primary and Secondary schools now. The purpose of this is to improve and facilitate better/easier communicate between school and home. There will be a once-off initial financial outlay for school management in setting up this app and there will also be a cost of €3.50 per family to use the app. Families will get a password and school personnel will accept each family as users initially (in order to prevent any unwanted users). Thereafter, the school can send unlimited messages free of charge directly to parents/guardians or groups of same. Other benefits of the app are: absence notifications can be made directly from parents/guardians to school; school calendar and news; link to website and Face Book; the school can send unlimited push notifications etc.
From next school year on, the cost of this for parents will be included in the cost of the school journal which will be produced by the same company. However, in order to get the app up and running this year, we will be asking for €3.50 from parents/guardians over the coming weeks.
- Drama, The Performing Arts and Cultural Education:
This year, we continue to avail of the expertise of Rebecca Allman to coach our children in Speech and Drama, an area that is vital for life skills and confidence-building as well as Education in the Performing Arts. All Classroom teachers engage in Drama as part of an integrated curriculum in History, Geography, Social Personal and Health Education, English etc. However, the skills taught in the discreet area of Speech and Drama are more effectively catered for by an expert in the field.
This year, also, to provide a broader appreciation of theatre, culture and the creative, the children will enjoy a play produced by the West Midlands Children’s Theatre Group (14th November) and they will also partake in another story-telling session with Pat Speight (25th October) who was a tremendous success with the children last year. The combined cost of 8 sessions of coaching from Rebecca, the Theatre Production and the Story-telling session is €10 per child.
We would ask that this money be sent into school by Friday 10th November. If it is convenient for people to pay the €10 and €3.50 for the school app at the same time, you can do so. Put the money into an envelope with your child’s name, class, teacher and what the monies are for on an envelope. However, the €3.50 for the app can be sent in any time before the 30th November if you prefer, thus, spreading out costs/expenses.
- Wheelchair Parking Spaces/Drop Off Zone:
School management is appealing to parents once again not to park in the wheelchair car spaces unless you have a child with a disability with you or you have a disability yourself. There are some people who are using a wheelchair parking permit to park in the school’s wheelchair spaces even though they do not have a disabled person in the car with them and they are not disabled themselves. This is abuse of a system which is designed to help people who have disabilities and it has sometimes left members of our school community who genuinely need the wheelchair spaces without these spaces.
We are also appealing to parents to use the drop off zone for just that: to let your child out and move on so that others can do the same. If you leave your car in this area parked, it prevents others from being able to drop their children off and the system breaks down.
- Parents’ Association:
Thank you to those parents who came to the PA Annual General Meeting and who have volunteered their time to help this year. Thank you also to those members of the PA who helped out recently with refreshments at our Junior Infant Parent Meeting and our Open Night last Thursday.
The PA is hosting the Hallowe’en Coffee Morning this Thursday, 26th October, in our Junior School Hall with performances from some 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th Classes. It will be a fun occasion with an opportunity to meet with other parents, have a ‘cuppa’ with some baking provided by our 2nd Class Families…and support the school at the same time, all are welcome.
News of other upcoming events by the PA can be accessed on the recent PA Newsletter sent by email to all families today.
- Parent/Teacher Meetings:
Parent/Teacher Meetings will be held on the week of the 13th November. Teachers will notify parents of days and times after the mid-term break.
- Junior Infant Photographs:
Quaid Photographers will come to school on Thursday, 9th November, to take official school photographs of our Junior Infants.
- Lord Mayor’s Visit/Half Day 27th October:
Our Lord Mayor, Mr. Tony Fitzgerald, will visit our school this Thursday, 26th October, at 10.45 a.m. This is a very enjoyable occasion every year. We get to acclaim and cherish the county and city of Cork in all its glory and revise such songs as ‘The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee’ and our National Anthem among others.
Of course, one of the most popular aspects of the visit (from the children’s perspective!) is that the Lord Mayor bestows upon us a ‘half day’ as a treat!! We usually keep that half day until the end of the first half term, the day before the Mid-term break. So, in keeping with custom and practice, we will close at 12 o’clock this Friday, 27th October. The children may dress up in Hallowe’en attire on the day of the holidays if they so wish. Please do not go to any expense or undue bother for this, some of the most enjoyable and creative ‘attires’ are made from the ‘bits and bobs’ from home!
Enjoy the break, make sure your child stays safe over Hallowe’en and send them back to us well rested and rejuvenated and ready for the next term.
Your sincerely,
Karen O’Sullivan ( Principal)