Newsletters

in Newsletters, Newsletters 2025 |

School Newsletter – March 2025 26th March 2025 Dear Parents & Guardians, I hope you are all keeping well. Please find below a list of recent & upcoming events. School Closures during Storm Éowyn The school was closed for four days following the aftermath of Storm Éowyn. At the recent Board of Management meeting all options were explored on how best to make up for the loss of time. It was decided that over the next few months the school will prioritise tuition time over extra-curricular activities. This is one of the recommendations from the Department of Education. Activities such as school trips, trails, active school weeks, half-day closures, and other such events will either not take place or be reduced. 6th Class Trip to Dublin The girls & boys in 6th class had a very enjoyable trip to Dublin on Wednesday 13th of March. The children visited Kilmainham Gaol, Island Bridge & the EPIC Emigration Museum. The trip was very kindly organised by Fr Roche for all the 6th class children from the schools in his parishes. Stay Safe Programme The Stay Safe Programme will be taught in all classes over the next few weeks. Its aim is to teach children personal safety skills so they can look after themselves in upsetting or dangerous situations. The programme is part of the school’s SPHE curriculum. Parents are encouraged to discuss the content with their children. Worksheets may be sent home. You can view the programme at www.staysafe.ie/teachers/resources.htm. Think Smart Cyber Safety & Mind-set Talk The Parents Association, in conjunction with Peterswell N.S., has organised a talk by Aoife Noone on Cyber Safety. It takes place on Monday 31st March in St Thomas’ GAA Hall from 7:30–9:00pm. Entry is €5 cash at the door. This event is open to parents, caregivers, teachers, and coaches. Thanks to Regina Fahy & the Parents Council for organising it. Parent/Teacher Communication To improve communication, teachers have created dedicated email addresses. Please use the following: Junior & Senior Infants: elainemartinkilchreestns@gmail.com 1st & 2nd Class: mrsniamhcusack@gmail.com 3rd & 4th Class: hflanagankilchreestns@gmail.com 5th & 6th Class: foconnorkilchreestns@gmail.com 6th Class Graduation The 6th Class Graduation Ceremony will take place on Tuesday 24th of June at 1:00pm in the...

in Newsletters, Newsletters 2025 |

January/February School Newsletter 2025 10th February 2025 Dear Parents & Guardians, Please find below a list of recent & upcoming events/dates. School Closures / Storm Éowyn Thank you all for your understanding & patience during the recent school closures following the damage caused by Storm Éowyn. The red weather warning for Friday 24th January meant that the school had to close. The school then had to remain closed from Monday 27th January to Thursday 30th inclusive due to having no electricity, water & the damage to trees/perimeter fencing. The Board of Management will follow guidelines from the Department of Education on how best to make up for the time lost. We will communicate with you once a decision has been reached. Reading World Cup Our annual Reading World Cup is ongoing at the moment for children from 1st–4th class. This is one of our initiatives to promote reading in the school. It might be a nice idea to get your child to retell the story of the book they are reading in sequence. The children in 5th & 6th will commence their Reading World Cup after the Mid-term break. Catholic Schools Week We celebrated Catholic Schools Week from Monday 20th – Thursday 23rd of January. The theme was Alive in Christ. Unfortunately, the week was disrupted by the Red Weather warning on Friday 24th January. Christmas Concerts I would like to congratulate & commend the children for their performances at this year’s Christmas Concerts. The children really enjoyed performing for you. Thanks to Eimhín & Drumadore for the drumming lessons & the performances on the day. In addition, I would also like to thank the teachers for preparing the children so well. Our thanks to Richard Egan & St Thomas’ GAA club for the use of the hall. Swimming Lessons There has been disruption to swimming lessons in the last few weeks due to considerable damage to the roof in Kilcornan Swimming Pool. They are hopeful that they will have the pool open for the lesson on Wednesday 19th of February. The last three swimming lessons had to be cancelled. Every effort will be made to ensure these lessons are made up. Enrolment for September 2025 The school is...

in Newsletters, Newsletters 2024 |

December Newsletter 2024 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 2024. 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. Christmas Concerts There was great excitement last Friday 13th of December for this year’s Christmas concerts. The children all performed so well. We hope you all enjoyed it. The drumming performances by all classes were most definitely the highlight for the children. Thanks to Eimhín Craddock of Drumadore for teaching the children these past 6 weeks & being available on the day for the performances. Thanks to St Thomas’ GAA & especially Richard Egan for the use of the hall. Thanks to the members of the Parents Council who helped to set up & decorate the hall on the Thursday evening before the concert. The Parents Council also paid for the bus to transport children to & from the hall. Thanks to all the class teachers for preparing the children so well. Thanks also to all other staff members that helped in any way to help prepare for the concerts. Art & Craft Group As part of a lunchtime social group initiative, some of our children from 3rd to 6th class made Christmas cards and decorations. They were on sale at the Christmas Concert. Everything sold & the children made €173.50. The proceeds will go towards funding the next craft...

in Newsletters, Newsletters 2024 |

November Newsletter 2024 Dear Parents & Guardians, I hope this newsletter finds you well. Please find below details of some recent & upcoming events. Parent-Teacher Meetings Parent Teacher meetings took place last Tuesday 19th & Wednesday 20th of November. Thanks to all Parents & Guardians for their attendance & positive feedback. School Closure The school will be closed this Friday 29th of November. The school is being used as a polling station in the upcoming General Election. School Book Fair The annual school Book Fair took place last week. The amount raised was €1,569.45. 20% of this goes towards the purchase of resources to stock the school library & other literacy initiatives. Thanks for your support. Thanks also to Ms Keely for organising, and to Joby & Assumpta for helping throughout the week, especially on the night of the Parent Teacher meetings. Shoebox Appeal There was a great response again to this year’s Christmas Shoebox appeal. 100 shoeboxes were donated for this very worthy cause. Thanks to Ms Kelly for organising. Science Week The children were delighted to welcome Scientific Sue to the school on Monday 11th of November. Sue performed her Magic Show on the Science of Dragons for all classes. Also as part of Science Week, the children from 3rd–6th class did some Coding with Corrib Kids Computing & Coding. Thanks to Ms Flanagan for organising both activities for the children. Christmas Concerts This year’s Christmas performances will take place on the morning of Friday 13th of December. The drumming is part of this year’s performances & takes up a lot of room in the school hall. As a result, this year we are having the performances in St Thomas’ GAA hall. There will be a cost associated with transporting children by bus & a sound system. In order to keep the cost down, we would be grateful if parents could bring their children to & from the hall on the morning. Where it’s not possible for parents to attend the performances, children will be brought to & from the hall by bus from the school (leaving the school at 9:20am). Thanks to the Parents Council for helping to support this. As the hall is bigger, this...

in Newsletters, Newsletters 2024 |

October Newsletter 2024 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. Family Fun Bingo Night Huge thanks to the fundraising committee of Regina Fahy, Karen O’Sullivan, Veronica O Loughlin, Jamie Storan, Maria Beattie, Jillian Kelly, Laura Devlin, John Naughton, Brian Kelly & member of staff Ms Hannah Flanangan 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 €6,381.52. We are delighted with this. Parents Council Following the recent meeting of the Parents Council on Tuesday 8th of October the following people were elected as officers of the committee based on nominations from those present: Chairperson: Regina Fahy Vice Chairperson: Laura Devlin Secretary: Karen O’Sullivan Vice Secretary: Jamie Storan Treasurer: Lisa Tannian Vice Treasurer: Sharon Herr PRO: John Naughton Thanks to all of the above for taking on the roles. Sacraments The date for First Holy Communion next year is Saturday 31st of May. The date for First Penance is Thursday 27th February 2025. Maths Week Maths Week was from Monday 14th October to Friday 18th 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 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. Explorers Programme The children from 3rd–6th class went on a trip on Tuesday 15th of October to the Galway Aquarium to complete science experiments & get a tour of the Aquarium. Thanks to Ms Flanagan for organising this. Congratulations We pass on our congratulations to the St Thomas’...

in Newsletters, Newsletters 2024 |

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...