Dear Parents & Guardians,

I hope this email finds you well. As we approach the Halloween Break I would like to tell you that the children are
all well settled into the routine of school life. It has been a busy half term & I hope the children enjoy their time off
over the Mid-term break. Please find below a list of recent & upcoming events.

New Board of Management: As per the email sent on Oct 6 th we are in the process of putting together a new
Board of Management that will manage the school for the next four years. We are having a meeting this
Wednesday 25 th of October at 8:30pm in the school hall for the election of Parents representatives on the
Board. We encourage anyone interested to attend.

Family Fun Bingo Night: Huge thanks to the fundraising committee of Regina Fahy, Karen O’Sullivan, Veronica
McDermott, Jamie Storan, Maria Beattie, Jillian Healy, Laura Mahon, John Naughton & Brian Kelly for organising
this very enjoyable & successful event last Friday night. A massive amount of work went into making the night so
enjoyable for everyone. We are very grateful to all involved. Thank you all for supporting the event & to all the
local businesses who gave very generously. The sum raised was €10,920. We are delighted with this & it is a
great start to our fundraising efforts. Below are some of the other upcoming events.

Fundraising:
1. Progressive 25 Card game & Prize draw. This event is taking place on Sunday 7 th of January in the
Temperance Hall, Loughrea. Tickets €10 each are to be sold after the Bingo night. Our aim is to sell
1000 tickets for the event. We will need lots of help to achieve this goal.
2. Table Quiz/Auction. We are planning to have a Table quiz & auction in mid-February in the Village Inn.
We have kept some of the spot prizes from the Bingo to auction on the night.
3. School Lotto: It was decided to postpone the school lotto for the time being. We are going to look at it
again in the New Year. It was felt that there was too much going on from a fundraising point of view.
4. Idonate page. Thanks to Laura Mahon for setting up the schools Idonate page. There is currently €630
donated. We would be very grateful if you could share the link
https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/KilchreestNS1 with anyone you know who has a connection with the
school & may be living away. They might like to contribute to the Idonate page.

Sacraments: The date for First Holy Communion next year is Saturday 1 st of June. We will confirm the date for
First Penance with Fr Roche in the New Year. We are awaiting the date for Confirmation & I will let 5th & 6th class
parents know when it comes out from the diocese.

School Photos: County Photos were in the school recently to take the children’s photos. They came to collect
the envelopes on Tuesday 17 th of October. You can still order on line if you missed the date.

Seesaw: We decided at the start of the year not renew the school’s subscription to the educational platform
Seesaw. This was due to a significant increase in the price of the subscription. The teachers in the Junior end of
the school are using Google classroom.

Maths Week: Maths Week was from Monday 16 th October to Friday 20 th October. This is always an enjoyable
week for the children. We would ask that you continue to give children the opportunity to use Maths in the
Environment for e.g. estimating shopping bills, using measures when cooking, cost of petrol/diesel per litre,
identifying shapes & looking at numbers on road signs or in the home.

Congratulations: We pass on our congratulations to the St Thomas’ Senior Hurlers on reaching the County final
for the sixth year in a row. This is a fantastic achievement by a wonderful group of players. We wish Kenneth, the
rest of the management team & the players the very best of luck in the Co. Final vs Turloughmore. The children
can wear their St Thomas’ colours/gear if they have it on Thursday 26 th October.

Camogie Final: Well done to the St Thomas’ girls on drawing the Senior B County final on Saturday. We wish
them the very best of luck in the replay.

Halloween Costumes: The children will be allowed to wear their Halloween Costumes, if they have them, on
Friday 27 th of October.

Parent-Teacher Meetings: Parent Teacher meetings will take place on Tues 21 st & Weds 22 nd of November
from 3-5pm on both evenings. A schedule of appointments will be given out in advance of the meetings. If you
could please indicate times that would best suit you to the class teachers & we will try and accommodate you as
best, we can.

School Book Fair: The annual school Book Fair takes place on the week starting Monday 20 th of November.
Parents will be able to view & purchase books on the evenings of the Parent Teacher meetings. Proceeds from
the Book Fair go towards purchase of resources to stock the school library & other literacy initiatives.

Shoebox Appeal: The children got the Information leaflets for the Annual Christmas Shoebox Appeal. This is a
very worthy cause & is always well supported. If you are interested in sending a shoebox, please return them to
the school by Thursday 9 th of November.

Friendship Week: Monday 23rd – Friday 27th October. A week of activities organised by 6th class students to emphasise the
importance of Friendship in school.

Schools Hurling/Camogie/Football:
1. Cuman na mBunscol competitions took place. Camogie Wednesday 4 th of October & Hurling Friday 10th of
October. Boys Gaelic football 4th of October
2. Lauren Solan Schools GAA coach has just completed a 6 week coaching block with 3rd & 4th class.
3. Garda Boys Football 7-a-side Tournament Tuesday 24th October

Cycle Safe Lessons: 5th & 6th class children recently did 4 cycle safe lessons with Trained instructors from Cycle safe Ireland.
The lessons were very well received by the children.

School Trail: The children from 3rd -6th went on a local SESE tail to Woodville Walled Garden. Thanks to Margarita Donoghue
& all at Woodville for having us. The children had a great day.

STEM projects – 3rd & 4th class would like to thank Ray Keenan and Evelyn Fahy for talking to them about their jobs in
engineering and to Aidan Clarke for providing the maps of the new school development for their STEM projects.

New Primary Maths Curriculum: An email sent recently outlined the details of the New Maths Curriculum that is being
introduced to schools this year. There will be a Full Day school closure at some point between November & June. This will
be determined by the Dept. of Education. We will communicate the date as soon as we get it.

Bun & Biscuit Day: 3rd & 4th class will be having their annual Bun & Biscuit day on Friday 27 th October. Parents of
the children in these classes are invited in for a cup of tea & a bun or biscuit at 1:30pm

School Closures:
Mid-Term Break Monday 30 th October-Friday 3 rd November. School reopens Monday 6 th of November.

If you have any further queries in relation to any of the above, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Yours Sincerely
Francis O’Connor
Principal