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...
Read MoreNovember 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...
Read MoreOctober 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’...
Read MoreSeptember 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...
Read MoreDear Parents/Guardians I hope you are all keeping well. As we are well into the third term all staff are delighted how well the children have done to date. We have a number of activities & trips organised for the next few weeks. Where there is bus travel we would ask the children to bring €2 to help cover the cost of the buses. The class teacher will remind the children when this is the case. Please find below a list of recent and upcoming events. Relationships & Sexuality Education (RSE): Relationships and Sexuality education is an integral part of the S.P.H.E programme. The sensitive elements of the Relationships and Sexuality education programme are covered under the Strand Units, ‘Growing and Changing’ and ‘Taking Care of my Body’. We will be completing these Strand Units with all class levels in the forthcoming weeks. In the past the school has arranged for an outside facilitator to speak to the children in 5th & 6th class about the sensitive areas of the R.S.E curriculum. On the last occasion I felt that the programme could have been delivered better so I have decided that I will be teach the programme myself this time. Please find attached the home/school links pages of the Relationships and Sexuality manual which outline the material that will be covered in class and encourage further discussion on the topics at home. If you have any concerns, please make an appointment to see the class teacher. https://www.pdst.ie/sites/default/files/RSE%20in%20Primary%20School%20Parent%20Tips_0.pdf https://www.pdst.ie/sites/default/files/parent_booklet_going_forward_together.pdf https://www.kilchreestns.com/rse-content-overview/ Hurling & Camogie : In preparation for the upcoming schools hurling & camogie championships the hurling & camogie teams are playing a primary schools blitz on Tuesday 30 th of April in St Thomas’ Gaa grounds. The Blitz is being organised by Peterswell N.S. & we are grateful to Principal Michael Mulkerins for the invitation. The school hurling team will be playing their Cuman na mBunscol Blitz on Friday 17 th of May in St Thomas’ Gaa grounds. The school camogie team will be playing their Cuman na mBunscol camogie blitz on Friday 24 th May at 10am in Cappataggle. Confirmation: Congratulations to the boys and girls in 5th & 6th class who received the sacrament of Confirmation on Wednesday...
Read MoreDear Parents & Guardians, I hope you are all keeping well. Please find below a list of recent & upcoming events. Staffing: Ms Hannah Flanagan will be teaching 3rd & 4th class for the remainder of the school year. We are delighted to welcome Ms Flanagan back to the school. Confirmation: 5th & 6th class children are making their confirmation on Wednesday 17 th of April at 11am in Castledaly church. Bishop Michael Duignan will be present to perform the ceremony. Preparations are under way & we are looking forward to having our school choir present to add to the occasion. The school will provide a bus to bring the children in the choir to the church on the day. The 5th & 6th class children will wear their school uniforms on the day of the Confirmation. Solar Panels: The school is being fitted with Solar panels over the Easter holidays. We received a grant from the Department of Education & JFW Renewables were awarded the contract. Hopefully this will make a significant difference to our ESB bills. 6 th Class Trip to Dublin: The girls & boys in 6th class had a very enjoyable trip to Dublin on Wednesday 13th of March. The children went to Glasnevin Cemetery, Kilmainham Gaol & Island Bridge. The trip was very kindly organised by Fr Roche for all the 6th class children from the schools in his parishes. Credit Union Table Quiz Teams: Congratulations to our table quiz team of Sarah Larkin, Greta Gallagher, Sarah Smyth & Liam Burke that participated in the Chapter Stage of the Credit Union Schools Quiz on Sunday 3rd March in the Menlo Park Hotel, Galway. It was a great achievement to get to this stage & thanks to Ms. Keely for all her hard work preparing the children. World Book Day/Lá Glas: Well done to the children & parents for making such an effort for World Book Day & Lá Glas recently. There was great excitement in the school on both occasions. Child Protection Policy: The schools Child Protection Safeguarding Statement & Risk Assessment was reviewed & is available to view on the school’s website. Dates for your attention: School Closures. The school will be closing...
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