Dear Parents & Guardians,

I hope you are all keeping well. There is great excitement in the school as we approach the Christmas break. The children in
school are doing so well & there is no doubt that Santa will be good to all the boys & girls in Kilchreest N.S. I would like to
take this opportunity on behalf of the Staff to thank you all for your help & support throughout 2023. I would also
personally like to thank all the staff of the school for all their hard work & dedication to the children. We are so fortunate
to have such fantastic teachers & SNA’s who are committed to ensuring your children receive the very best education with
kindness & care. Thanks also to our school Secretary Christina, our Parents Association & all the members of the Board of
Management who do lots of unseen work to keep the school running so efficiently.

Please find below a list of recent and upcoming events.

School Car Park: We plan to have the new school Car park open before the Christmas Concerts on Thursday
21 st of December. The day of the Christmas concerts is traditionally the busiest day of the year in the school car
park. It will be great to have the car park open to help with the additional volume of cars. Once the car park is
open we would ask that no cars park at the front of the school anymore. There is a one-way system in place & cars are to enter opposite the entrance to the new car park and exit from the other side. The children coming in
cars will enter the school from the new car park. It would be much appreciated if cars could reverse into the
spaces as it makes it safer for everyone when leaving the car park. I realise it will take some time to get used to it
but I would appreciate your patience and co-operation.

Progressive 25 Card game and Prize draw. This event is taking place on Sunday 7 th of January in the Temperance
Hall, Loughrea. The fundraising committee have been working very hard to sell the tickets for the Progressive 25
card game. Over the last few weeks’ groups have been selling tickets in Loughrea Mart/Beatty’s of Loughrea,
Gort Mart/Centra Gort, Westside Shopping & the Parish Bazaar in Castledaly. We really do need to make this a
success as the invoices for the work on the Car park need to be paid. We appreciate that it is an expensive time
of year on families & you have already contributed so generously for the Bingo night but we really need the book
of 5 tickets sent to each family to be sold. We would like the stubs for the tickets & money returned before
Thursday 14 th of December. Even if you don’t play cards and can’t attend the event there are great prizes like
Hotel breaks to be won in the draw. The committee are meeting this Thursday night 14 th of December at 8pm in
the school to plan how best to sell the remaining tickets. The committee are planning to sell tickets in McInerney’s
SuperValu on Friday 22 nd of December. It would be great if we could get a few additional people to come along and
help share the work.

Christmas Concerts: This year’s Christmas concerts will take place on Thursday 21 st of December. Parents are
welcome to come in but due to space constraints we would ask that you only attend the performances of the
classes that your children are in. Below are the times:

Infants 11am-11:30am
1 st & 2nd 11:45am-12:20pm
3 rd & 4th 12:30pm-1pm
5 th & 6th 1:15pm-1:45pm

School Book-Fair: Thanks to all who supported this year’s Book Fair. A total of €1621.60 was collected. The school are
allowed to keep 20% of that figure totalling €324.32. This money will be put towards supporting Literacy initiatives in the
school. Thanks again to Ms Keely, Joby & Assumpta for running the Book Fair in the school this year.
St Thomas’s All-Ireland Semi-final: We wish the players & management the very best of luck in the All-Ireland Club Semi-
final vs Ballygunner on Saturday 16 th of December

Swimming: Swimming lessons for children from 3 rd to 6 th are going ahead in Kilcornan swimming pool in the New Year. They
will commence on the 31 st of January & run for 6 weeks up to the Easter break. We will provide further details in the New
Year closer to the time.

Kilchreest NS Inter-School’s Fundraising Table Quiz: After an absence of a few years we will be running the Inter-Schools
Table Quiz for children from 3 rd – 6 th class. The date has been booked for Thursday 18 th of January in the Temperance Hall
Loughrea. Further information will follow in the New Year.

Teachers Gifts: You are always so generous with gifts for teachers and they are very much appreciated. Teachers fully
recognise that Christmas is an expensive time on families. Teachers do not expect gifts as they do not want to put further
expense on you.
School Closures:

Christmas Holidays: Fri 22 nd School closing at 12:30pm Buses will run as normal. School reopening
Mon 8 th January.
I would like to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas & a very Happy New Year.
Please do not hesitate to contact me at the above number or via e-mail should you have any queries in relation to any of
the above.

Yours sincerely,
Francis O’Connor
Principal.