Scoil Náisiúnta Seanbhaile

Friday 21 January 2011




Dear Parents,

Please read the following with care as there is some important information included.

Days we are closed or close early this term (as notified already to you)

• Staff Meeting- finish early on Friday 11th February.Finish early on Friday 18 February. Closed Monday 21 to Friday 25 inclusive.
• Around St. Patricks Day. Closed Wednesday 16 to Friday 17 incl.Easter Holidays. Closing early Friday 15 April, closed Monday 18 April to Monday 2 May incl.

Days we are closed next term/ close early
Bank Holidays. Closed Monday 2 May and Monday 6 June.
School Tours The Junior & Senior Infants school tour is on Wednesday 8 June .School tours for First to Sixth classes are on Thursday 9 June so Junior/Senior Infants/Language Class do not attend school that day.
School year ends on Wednesday 29 June and school finishes early that day.

• Parents Contributions. To date we have received contributions of €70 from 105 families of the 156 families in the school. We appreciate very much all the support given in these straitened economic times.

• Financial Help I would like to advise parents that if you are struggling with any school related expenses such as school uniforms/ books or upcoming costs such as swimming/ school tours that there is a fund within the school to help out. Please let me know. This is a confidential service provided by the Board of Management and myself.

• Enrolment for 2011. We are later than usual in offering places to potential Junior Infants. This is as a result of the large numbers of siblings and applicants from our catchment area. Due to the overall number of children in the school we are entitled to appoint another teacher in September and we are organising two (smaller) Junior Infant classes of perhaps 24 children for the school year 2011/2012. This is envisaged to be a once-off situation for the coming school year. We will then revert to a single class intake for subsequent years. Offers will be made towards the end of next week.

• Board of Management. Due to ill-health Seán Horgan, a Parents’ Representative on the Board of Management for the last 3 years, is unable to continue to fulfil that role and so a vacancy has arisenwhich must be filled for the duration of the current Board (October 2011). For gender balance we are seeking a male Parents’ Representative on the Board. The name can be submitted by Monday January 31 to the office, proposed and seconded by two parents and with the consenting signature of the person proposed. A ballot will take place if more than one nomination is received. At this point I would like to sincerely thank Seán for all his support and help over the last 3 years, especially in his area of technical expertise, and wish him well.Next BOM meeting is Thursday 17 February.

• Sam Maguire Visit. Shamrocks Hurling & Football Club is pleased to advise that the Sam Maguire Cup will visit the schools of our Parish (Monkstown, Shanbally and Ringaskiddy) on the morning of Thursday 10 February (Shanbally at 11am). It will be accompanied by Nicholas Murphy, who will also present medals to our winning Sciath na Scol Teams.:

• As the numbers of people affected by swine flu in Ireland increased sharply before and over the Christmas period we would ask you to be vigilant with hygiene and ensure your child has adequate hand sanitiser/ tissues in school. If you would like to remind yourself of our Swine Flu policy it will be available shortly on our school web-site www.shanballyns.ie

• Irish Daily Mail mastheads: We are now collecting mastheads from the Irish Daily Mail which are available from Thursday 20 January (yesterday!) to Thursday 5 February. The masthead is the part of the paper including the logo/barcode and date on page 1 of the paper. The boys got a new kit last year from a similar campaign. This year we are targeting a new kit for the girls in the school. While we managed to collect enough last year, it was a fierce scramble towards the end and we only collected enough by other schools being generous enough to donate their spares. Just 2 mastheads per family would be enough if everyone helps out. If we collect 250 we will have sufficient to get the sports kit. We appreciate your support.

• Cross Border Orchestra. The children are working really hard on their songs at the moment. We have an external rehearsal coming up on February 4th. As other schools in the vicinity are also taking part we have arranged to share a bus to travel to and from the rehearsal. The cost of this will be funded by parents’ contributions. The actual concert, which was a brilliant experience 2 years ago, is on in the City Hall on Sunday 20 February at p.m. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.

• Indoor Hurling- 3 and 4 classes. This series of 3 indoor training sessions commenced Wednesday 19 January and continues on Wednesday 26 January and Wednesday 2 February from 3pm to 4pm in Rochestown College. Training is facilitated by Paddy Clifford (6 class teacher). 5 and 6 classes can then participate the next three Wednesdays.on from this are indoor hurling competitions (7 a-side) for 3 class on Thursday 3 February at 1pm (St. Anthony’s school, Ballinlough) and for 4 class on Tuesday 8 February (Riverstick) at 2pm

• Last year was so successful, Miah Walsh, a renowned Irish Dancing Teacher returns to the school to start Irish Dancing on Tuesday March 1 for six lessons across all the classes. This will be wholly funded by Parents Contributions.

• Swimming: Swimming starts for 5 and 6 classes the first Monday after the Easter break, Monday 9 May. They will have 3 lessons. 3 and 4 classes will start on Monday 30 May and have lessons on June 13 and June 20 also. Further details to follow.

• Puffin Book Club: The magazines are currently being distributed to children. Please note that for every euro we order we get the equivalent back in the form of books for class libraries.

• Green Schools update : Our Green Schools Committee are continuing to work towards our First Green Flag. During December we ran a poster competition for all the children in school. The response was fantastic and the following children’s entries won prizes. We will also be appointing “litter busters” in school over the next few weeks.

The Prizewinners are:

• Junior Infants

Sophielynn Geary

• Senior Infants

Molly Field

• First Class

Ciara O’Flynn

• Second Class

Cillian O’Sullivan

• Third Class

Alex Sheehan

• Fourth Class

Jake O’Mahony

• Fifth Class

David Sullivan

• Sixth Class

Peter Walsh

Well done to all who entered!!
Congratulations to the above children!!

• Parents Association: The P.A. are planning a series of events over the next month or two and will be in contact with parents for support with these. Their school calendar with useful contacts and dates is very colourful. Spare ones are available from the office if you would like some. We also have spare Sciath na Scol team calendars. Some events upcoming are: a Race night, Easter party at Chuckies, Cake Sale etc.

• School Blogs: Please visit our school website and click on the link on the Home Page to view our school blog. Here you will find up to date information on school news and events.

• We continue to collect mobile phones for the emergency equipment storage/ Jack & Jill Foundation. If you have old phones at home after Christmas purchases please consider dropping them in to the school.

That’s all for now,

Go raibh maith agaibh.

Liam Shanahan
Principal

Shanbally National School
Parents Association

Cake Sale
March 15

Shanbally NS
in the Halla
during the school day

Children can buy some cakes so please give them a few euros for their purchases. Parents are welcome to come after school (1.30 / 2.30) to purchase also.

As always the PA can’t run a cake sale without cakes so please put some baking in your diary for March.

(Cakes will be accepted in the Halla from when school opens)