Of Interest to Parents

Newsletter - September 2019

Wednesday, 5^th September 2019

D.L.P – Ms O’ Sullivan

D.D.L.P – Mrs Egan

Welcome Note

On behalf of the staff of Our Lady’s N.S., I would like to welcome each child and parent to the beginning of a new school year.  A special welcome to our new junior infants, and also to the Ivors family.  Welcome back also to our hardworking Parents Council and many thanks to them for the wonderful job in organising our Book Rental Scheme.  I would also like to thank Evelyn, our cleaner for having our school looking so well on our return,  Pat Walsh, our caretaker for all his hard work, Michael Kavanagh for attending to our grass cutting and Eddie Hearne for installing our beautiful new storage units in Mr Gleeson’s and Mrs O’ Dea’s rooms.

Pupil Personal Insurance

We would encourage all parents to avail of the pupil personal insurance scheme.  This gives 24 hour insurance for your child at the cost of €9 for 24hr cover or €6 for in school cover only.  Please return forms and money to the school by Friday 13^th Sept.

Day to Day Rules / Annual Consent Form

Day to Day rules and Annual Consent forms must be signed by all parents/students and returned to the school by Friday 13^th Sept please. 

Contact Information

We are in the process of updating all our school contact info for all families.

We have noted our text-a-parent costing are quite expensive.  We would appreciate just one contact number (where possible) per family for text-a-parent purposes.  Other emergency contact numbers will be kept on file.

Your email address would also be helpful for forwarding any school policies being reviewed or implemented during the year.

Garda Vetting

All parent volunteers who help in any areas of school life must be garda vetted.

Garda Vetting Forms available in the office.  Any parents wishing to accompany infants swimming must be garda vetted.

P.E. Programme

GAA Coaching will continue in the school again this year for 1^st to 6^th class.  Pupils must wear helmets and school tracksuit.  Mrs Egan’s class wear school tracksuit on Mondays and Thursdays.  Mrs O’ Dea’s class wear tracksuits on Tuesdays and Fridays, 3^rd to 6^th classes wear tracksuits up to mid-term.  Gum shields will be needed for football training from 1^st - 6^th Class for November, December and January.

Shorts/Polo shirts may be worn up to end of September.

On P.E days please ensure children wear suitable footwear.

For G.A.A training from 1^st – 6^th all students need a change of footwear for the field.

Full uniform every other day please.

Absenteeism

If your child is absent you must write a note stating reason for absence.  It can be written into your child’s diary. *If a pupil is absent 20 days or more we are legally obliged to notify the Education Welfare Board and you will probably receive a visit from Education Welfare Officer.

When infants are absent Mrs Egan will give them a slip to fill in on their return.

Graduates of 2019

Congratulations once again to our Graduates of 2019.  We wish them well in the years ahead.  A big “Thank you” to them for the beautiful gift of a Cherry Blossom tree.

*Requisites Money

We would like to take this opportunity to ask parents who may not yet have sent in the requisites money to do so as soon as possible please.  Thank you to the parents who have already done so.

Junior/Senior Infants €15, 1^st to 6^th class €21 this money covers homework journal, art & craft materials, photocopying, standardised tests, S.A.E. for reports

Health and Safety

The health and safety of all our staff and students is of paramount importance to school management.

I would strongly urge any parent with any issues related to any area of school life to follow proper procedures in having the matter dealt with.

 Reminders:

• As per our school rules students must wear full uniform to school except on gym days where they are obliged to wear the school tracksuit and appropriate runners for health and safety reasons.  Due to recent regulations gum shields are now obligatory for football training. 

• School Lunches

Please check Carambola website for updates/menu changes on school lunches.  Please talk to your child and change their menu choices regularly online.  We encourage all children to eat their healthy lunches in school.

• Headlice

IMPORTANT HEALTH & SAFETY MESSAGE:

We are asking ALL parents to PLEASE PLEASE check your child's hair on a regular basis and treat immediately if infected. This has to be done in order to avoid re-infecting others.

• Policies on Blog:

All relevant School Policies are available for viewing on the school blog at: ourladysns.blogspot.ie

·        Homework:

Homework is given to all pupils on a regular basis.  We ask you to ensure that it is done carefully and child’s journal signed (1^st – 6^th class) each night.

Infants do not have a homework Journal.

The health & safety of all staff and students is of paramount importance to School Management.  I would strongly urge any parent with any issues related to any area of school life to follow proper procedures in having the matter dealt with.

Dates for the diary

DATE	EVENT
Thurs 26th Sept	Cross Country- 3rd – 6th Class
Sun, October 6th	Sponsored Walk
Oct 10th -17th	Book Fair
Fri, Oct 11th	GOAL Jersey Day
18th, 25th Oct,  8th, 15th, 22nd & 29th Nov, 6th & 13th Dec	Swimming Dates – 3rd to 6th Class
Tues 12th & Wed 13th Nov	Parent/Teacher meetings
Fri, Oct 25th, return Mon Nov 4th	Halloween Mid-Term Break Fancy Dress / Games Playing / Mini Cake Sale
Monday, 9th Dec	School Closed
12noon Fri 20th Dec, return Mon Jan 6th 2020	Christmas Holidays.

Office Hours

Rose, our secretary is available in the office Mon – Thurs from 9.30am – 1.30pm.

I hope all our school community have a happy and successful year ahead in “Our Lady’s N.S.”.

Thanking you

___________________________

Ms S O’ Sullivan

_________________________________________________________________________________

Members of Board:

Fr Derry Quirke                Sheila O’ Sullivan               Deirdre Egan          Áine McGrath

Anne Croke                      Willie McGrath                   Tom Butler               Tadhg Vaughan

Confirmation Day - May 3rd, 2019

Spikeball 2019

Our Spikeball trainers were Mikey, Seán, Cian, Ciarán and Jack. We learned skills for three weeks. We learned the spike, the volley, the dig and the block. For the rest of the time we were put into teams and we played matches.
Jack was our team's trainer. We were called the 'Ballingarry Big Macs'. Our team was Colin, Brian, Robyn, Michael, Elizabeth and me.
Our team didn't do too well in the blitz. Our first match was very close but we lost by one point. In the second match we hammered the other team. The final was between one of our teams (The Stretchers) and a team from Mullinahone. The Mullinahone team won.
I won a prize for the best team player. I really enjoyed the day.

- by Rory O'Brien (6th Class)

u11 Hurling

For the first time, Our Lady's N.S. entered a team into the Cumann na mBunscol u11 Hurling Championship, this year. It proved to be a successful foray into uncharted territory as our young hurlers got to within three points of a County Final. The team, captained by Thomas Treacy, performed admirably and can be justifiably proud of their efforts.

April 8th. - Blitz in Boherlahan

Squad
Oisín O'Brien, Eoghan McAree, Michael Hayes, Thomas Treacy (capt.), Eoin Boylan, Jack Treacy, Dillon Maguire, Niall Kelly, Enda Croke, Killian Burke, Aaron McGrath, James Hearne, T.J. Ivors, David Burns.

Game 1.
Our Lady's N.S. 4-3   Rahealty N.S. 1-3
Scorers: Thomas Treacy 2-2, Eoghan McAree 1-0, Jack Treacy 1-0, Eoin Boylan 0-1

Game 2.
Our Lady's N.S. 2-6   Dualla N.S. 2-5
Scorers: Thomas Treacy 2-6

Game 3.
Our Lady's N.S. 4-4   Moyne N.S. 2-3
Scorers: Thomas Treacy 4-4

Game 4.
Our Lady's N.S. 4-1   Clonoulty N.S. 3-3
Scorers: Thomas Treacy 3-1, Michael Hayes 1-0

May 9th. - County Semi-Final in Cashel

Our Lady's N.S. 2-15   Ayle N.S. 6-5

Squad
Oisín O'Brien, Eoghan McAree, Jack Treacy, Thomas Treacy (capt.), Eoin Boylan, Michael Hayes David, Burns, Dillon Maguire, T.J. Ivors, David Burns.

Scorers: Thomas Treacy 1-14, Jack Treacy 1-0, Eoghan McAree 0-1

Enjoying a well earned ice-cream on the way home.

Board of Management - Agreed Report, May 2019

Our Lady’s N.S.

Board of Management

The following is the Agreed report from Board meeting held on Thursday 9^th May 2019.

·        The Board expressed their congratulations and delight at the three new huts in “Our Outside Classroom”.  They have been part funded by Tipperary County Council and Carambola Loyalty Money which is an annual payment to our school as a thank you for our business.

·        The Board wishes to compliment Eddie Hearne on the fantastic upgrading of built in storage in the Junior Room.  They pledge to improve storage in other classrooms over the coming months.

·        The Board would like to remind all parents to read our Child Safeguarding Statement on our blog  ourladysns.blogspot.ie.

  

·        The Board congratulated all our students and thanked the teachers for all the success in hurling, football, basketball and spikeball during the year.  It has been a particularly successful year for Our Lady’s N.S.

·        The Board congratulated 5^th & 6^th Class on their recent Confirmation.

  

·        The Board thanked and congratulated the school choir for the beautiful singing at the Confirmation

·        The Board wished all our students well on their school tours and hoped they would have an enjoyable and safe day out.

·        The Board wished all our Communion Class well on their very Special Celebration on May 19^th.

Newsletter - May 2019

Wednesday 15th May 2019

D.L.P – Ms O’ Sullivan
D.D.L.P – Mrs Egan

Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome back after our Easter break!  Hope you all had a very pleasant Easter.

Confirmation Day
Congratulations to our 5th & 6th Class students who were confirmed on Friday 3rd May.

Junior Infant Welcome Day 
On Thursday 30th May at 1.15pm we invite our New Junior Infant Class of 2019/2020 and their parents to a welcome meeting in the school.
We are looking forward to seeing them all.

School Tours
Our Junior Tour will travel to Nore Valley Park on Wednesday 5th June, cost is €15.
1st & 2nd Class will go to Castlecomer Discovery Park on Thursday 6h June, cost is €20.
3rd to 6th Class will go to Trabolgan on Monday 10th June, cost is €30.
All tours are subsidised and buses are paid for from fundraising

Bring and Buy Sale
Our fundraising “Bring and Buy Sale” takes place on Wednesday 12th June.  Our 6th class students are going to organise and manage the event again this year.
Donations of toys, books, unwanted gifts, jewellery, brica brac, home baking etc will be greatly appreciated for the sale.
All donations will be accepted from Monday 27th May.

Matches/Games
We would like to congratulate all our Hurling/Camogie/Soccer/Spikeball players on their achievements during the school year.

• Some important dates for your calendar for the rest of this very busy term:-
 First Holy Communion – Sun 19th May
 School Closed – Mon 20th May
 School Photographs – Tues 21st May
 First Communion parents can bring in Communion outfit and dress their children for photographs if they want Communion photos, 11am for Communion photos.

 Polling Day, school closed – Fri 24th May
 New Entrants Open Day – Thurs 30th May
 School Closed – Fri 31st May
 School Tour
 Junior/Senior Infants – Wed 5th June – Nore Valley Park
 1st & 2nd Class – Thurs 6th June – Castlecomer Discovery Park
 3rd – 6th Class – Mon 10th June - Trabolgan
 Bring & Buy Sale – Wed 12th June
 Sports Day – Thurs 21st June
 Graduation Day – Tues 26th June at 11am.
 Summer Holidays – Wed 26th June at 12noon, return Thurs 29th August.

Reminders:
• As per our school rules students must wear full uniform to school except on gym days where they are obliged to wear the school tracksuit and appropriate runners for health and safety reasons.  Due to recent regulations gum shields are now obligatory for football training.

• School Lunches
Please check Carambola website for updates/menu changes on school lunches.  Please talk
to your child and change their menu choices regularly online.  We encourage all children to eat their healthy lunches in school.

• Headlice
IMPORTANT HEALTH & SAFETY MESSAGE:
We are asking ALL parents to PLEASE PLEASE check your child's hair on a regular basis and treat immediately if infected. This has to be done in order to avoid re-infecting others.

• Policies on Blog:
All relevant School Policies are available for viewing on the school blog at: ourladysns.blogspot.ie

• Homework: Homework is given to all pupils on a regular basis.  We ask you to ensure that it is done carefully and child’s journal signed (1st – 6th class) each night.
The health & safety of all staff and students is of paramount importance to School Management.  I would strongly urge any parent with any issues related to any area of school life to follow proper procedures in having the matter dealt with.

Thanking you

  _________________________
   Ms S O’ Sullivan – Principal


_________________________________________________________________________________
Members of Board:
Fr Derry Quirke       Sheila O’ Sullivan              Deirdre Egan          Áine McGrath
Anne Croke                  Willie McGrath             Tom Butler               Tadhg Vaughan