September Newsletter 2024

Dear Parents & Guardians,

We have all just completed our first month back at school. The children have really settled back into the routine of school life. I would like to bring to your attention some recent & upcoming events in the school.

Sports Capital Funding

We were delighted with the announcement last week informing us that we had been successful with our application for funding through the Sports Capital Scheme. We were granted €136,713 to build an astro-turf facility on the school grounds. Sincere thanks to the members of the Development Committee Mike Mahony, Aidan Clarke, Shane Nash, Fiona Clarke, Lisa Mahon, Michael Fahy & Darren Burke for all the hard work putting the application together. Local politicians Ciaran Cannon, Anne Rabbitte & Geraldine Donoghue also gave us great advice & support. Thanks also to Chairman James Geoghegan & all members of St Thomas’ Club Executive for supporting the Application. We are very grateful for this as we would not have been able to apply without the backing of the club. This significant sum of money will help us complete the next phase of the development.

Fundraising

Our Fundraising Committee are very busy getting everything in place for the Family Fun Bingo Night on Friday 18th of October. We are very grateful to the Committee members for all the hard work they are putting in behind the scenes. Amongst other things, they are currently collecting spot prizes from local businesses.

The raffle for the Teddy will take place again this year. This year there will be one big Teddy as 1st prize & two other Teddies for 2nd & 3rd prizes. We are very thankful to David Kelly of Galway Trade Windows (Grandfather of 3rd class & 1st class students Sean & Jemma Kelly), for sponsoring the Teddies this year.

As we are serving refreshments on the night we would be grateful if parents would be willing to send in some bakes for the event. The Tickets were sent home with your child last week. If you haven’t received them, please check your child’s school bag. Could you please have the money for the tickets back to the school before Friday 11th of October. We are all looking forward to another enjoyable & successful night.

School Lunches

We are still waiting to hear back from the Department to see if our application to be included on the Free School Lunches scheme was successful. We would be delighted to accept the scheme if we get it this time. I believe it is to be rolled out in all schools by 2025. Until we hear more we’d like to remind you of our School’s Healthy Eating Policy. Children are asked to bring healthy lunches each day. A small treat is permitted on Fridays.

Music Lessons

As per a recent email Tin whistle teacher Yvonne Barrett is not able to teach music lessons this term. We have decided to get drumming instructors from Drumadore to come to the school for 6 weeks to teach all classes the drums. This will culminate with all classes performing for the parents prior to Christmas. The cost of the lessons are €2100 for the 6 weeks. €350 per day. We are asking for €15 per child & the school will pay the balance. The lessons will commence on Friday 8th of November. Thanks to Ms Kelly for organising this.

Communication

As per previous years our monthly newsletters will be emailed to you & they will also be available to access on the School’s website. Text-a-parent will still be used for more urgent messages. It is important that we have all the correct contact details. If your contact details have changed, please send a note to the class teacher in your child’s homework diary with the updated contact details.

School Photos

County Photos were in the school on Friday 13th September. The proofs of the photos & the order forms were sent home last week. If you are interested in getting the photos you can go online or return the order form to the school. The order deadline is Friday 4th of October.

Friendship Week

The 6th class children organised activities to celebrate Friendship week last week. They did an excellent job giving out friendship bracelets, organising poster competitions, performing role plays, Kahoot quizzes & playground games. They also taught the whole school a song they adapted themselves. Congratulations to the boys & girls in 6th class for organising a very successful week.

As part of the whole school strategy on friendship there is a Buddy Bench on our school playground. One of our picnic benches is painted in multi-colours. This bench is for children to sit on if they are looking for someone to play with at break-time. We would ask you to remind your children to look for someone who might be sitting there & to tell your children to sit there if they would like someone to play with.

Maths Week

Maths Week will run from Monday 14th October to Friday 18th October. This is always an enjoyable week for the children. As children will not be getting written Maths homework that week we would ask that you give them the opportunity to use Maths in the Environment for example: 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.

Mini-7s Hurling/Camogie/Gaelic Football

The Cuman na mBunscol Mini-7s tournaments are in full swing at the moment. The boys Mini-7s hurling took place on Friday 27th September in St Thomas’ GAA grounds. The camogie blitz is going ahead this Thursday 3rd October in St. Thomas’ GAA grounds. Thanks to Ms Kelly for preparing the team. The boy’s football team have two blitzes: Mini-7s Monday 30th of September in Loughrea & the Garda Football tournament Thursday 10th October in Gort GAA grounds.

Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal

Leaflets for this very worthy cause will be sent home with each child this week. Return date for the shoeboxes is Tuesday 5th of November.

Bun & Biscuit Day

Bun & Biscuit day in 3rd & 4th class is Friday 25th of October. Parents of these classes are invited in for a cup of tea & treats from 1:30pm.

Explorers Programme

The children from 3rd–6th class will take part in the Galway Education Centre’s Science Explorers programme over the next few weeks. On Monday 30th of September members of the team did a workshop with the children based on marine animals. Following this, the children from 3rd to 6th class are going on a trip on Tuesday 15th of October to the Galway Aquarium to complete science experiments & get a tour of the Aquarium. The price for the bus & aquarium is €10. Thanks to Ms Flanagan for organising this.

Reminder Dates

• Mid-Term Break: Monday 28th Oct – Friday 1st November
• Parent Teacher Meetings: Tuesday 19th & Wednesday 20th November
• First Holy Communion: Saturday 31st of May

Thanks & Gratitude

For the last number of weeks a huge amount of work has gone in behind the scenes in order to open the school. I would like to thank the Board of Management & Staff for all the help & support they have given. I would like to thank Steve Rowe our caretaker for the work he did over the summer months. School Secretary Christina has always been available to assist with any administration work.

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