Scoil Náisiúnta Seanbhaile

Monday 28th March 2011


Dear Parents,


(i) Upcoming days we are closed or close early

a. Easter Holidays. Closing early Friday 15th April (12.30 for Infant classes (+siblings) and 12.45 for the rest of the school), closed Monday 18th April to Monday 2nd May incl.
b. Bank Holidays. Closed Monday 2nd May and Monday 6th June.
c. School Tours The Junior & Senior Infants school tour is on Wednesday 8th June .School tours for First to Sixth classes are on Thursday 9th June so Junior/Senior Infants/Language Class do not attend school that day.
d. School year ends on Wednesday 29th June and school finishes early that day.
(ii) Other dates for your Diary
a. Tuesday 29th March- First Confession for 2nd Class.
b. Friday 8th April- No Uniform Day in aid of Past Pupil volunteering in Belarus.
c. Wednesday 13th April- date for possible trip by 6th class to the Tutankhamun Exhibition in
Dublin subject to the trip being subsidised!
d. Friday 6th May- date for parents of prospective Language Class students to visit school.
e. Wednesday 11th May - visit to school by the West Midlands Theatre Group- details to follow.
f. Friday 13th May - an earlier date than usual for the Cork City Sports. Trials were held last
Friday and our boys and girls have been selected. Well done to all who tried their best.
g. Wednesday 25th May - Night for parents of incoming Junior Infants 2011. Further details to
follow.
h. Friday 20th May - Staff Meeting.
i. Saturday 21st May - First Communion. Best of luck to our First Communion class and their
teacher, Ms. Boland.
j. Sunday 12th June - Family Fun Day
k. Tuesday 21st June - 6th Class Farewell Party.


(iii) Board of Management. Another parent has been appointed to the Board of Management. Thank you to Mark O'Flynn for coming forward to take on this important role until the term of the current Board finishes.
Valerie O'Mahony , the other Parents Appointee on the BOM has taken on the role of Safety Officer on the Board of Management, linking with the Staff Member with responsibility for Health & Safety, Mairéad Tate. Best of luck to Valerie and a big thank you for taking this on.
Next BOM meeting is Thursday 2nd June.

We convened two BOM meetings over the past two weeks as there was a lot of information to be disseminated and decisions to be made. Some of the items we discussed were:
a. Recent SENO visit and the knock-on effect re the management of SNAs within the school and their roles. I had a recent successful meeting with the parents of children with SNA access to discuss this.
b. Sam Maguire Visit on February 10th went off well and thanks to Eoin Cadogan for coming along. It was a great treat for the children (as well as the teachers!)
c. There are many events planned by the Parents Association beginning with the Race Night Fundraiser on Friday April 1st. Please support. These events are successful only if people come along on the night.
d. The following policies were ratified at the meeting. Parents are welcome to view these policies in the school and offer comments as they are on-going working documents: Fire Drill & Procedures, Shanbally National School Rules, Liaison and Communication with Parents, Enrolment, Exemption from Irish, Shanbally NS Task/Mission statement, Child Protection, Confidentiality, High Achieving Students in Literacy & Numeracy and Teachers' Course Days.


(iv) Irish Daily Mail mastheads: Thanks to everyone who sent in tokens. We have sent them off and hope to be able to order our set of gear shortly.

(v) Cross Border Orchestra. The Cross Border Orchestra was a tremendous success on Sunday 20th February as commented on by the staff who accompanied the children. I was sorry I wasn't able to attend myself but I hope all the parents who went enjoyed it. The Cross Border Choir children will sing their songs in the Church (with background music) for the whole school on next Friday 1st April at 11.30 am.

(vi) Sciath an Scol Fixtures: Following are dates for matches we are playing in. Best of luck to those playing from 5th and 6th classes
" Our first match was against Farran at home. We lost to Farran but the Shanbally team rallied strongly in the second half and showed what they were capable of! Final score Shanbally 1-3 Farran 1-5
" Tuesday 29th against Aghabullogue (away) A bus has been organised.
" Thursday 31st against Crosshaven (home)
" Thursday 7th April against Firmount (away)
" Friday 15th April against Clondrohid (away)


(vii) Miah Walsh will complete his Irish Dancing sessions in the next few weeks. The children really have benefited from this dip into their Irish Culture. This was wholly funded by Parents Contributions.

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

(ix) 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. We hope to get the order off soon and get the books back before Easter.
(x) Parents Association: The P.A. have planned a series of events over the next month or two and will be in contact with parents for support with these. Some events upcoming are the Race night on April 1st and the Family Fun Day on Sunday May 12th . We had a great Cake Sale just last week which everyone enjoyed and they would like to thank everyone who baked and purchased. They were delighted with the effort people went to with their delicious baking.

The Race Night should be a great night out. Please come along to support. Money raised will be going to subsidise school tours and other events in the school so it will benefit your children.

(xi) 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. I have even contributed my first blog.

(xii) 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.

(xiii) Announcement re Extension: After a long wait Shanbally NS has finally been progressed through the Departments List of School Awaiting Extension. We have now progressed to the "Planning and Design Stage" which we are more than ready for! No official documentation has arrived at the school so, other than the announcement around the time of the Election, nothing has happened yet.


(xiv) I recently went around all the classes to take stock of how many children were adhering to the School uniform protocol. I was disappointed with the number of children who were wearing tracksuits on uniform days and who were not wearing the correct footwear. This was most evident with the older boys and the girls. I was however impressed with the high level of adherence in some classes.
Remember:
School Uniforms - Monday and Tuesday for Junior & Senior Infants and
School Tracksuits - Wednesday to Friday

School Uniforms - Monday to Wednesday for 1st to 6th Classes
School Tracksuits - Thursday and Friday

The School Tie is an important part, and the finishing touch of a School Uniform.
Absolutely no runners or white shoes with School Uniform.
It is essential to put names on school jumpers and jackets especially coming in to the fine weather.


(xv) Purchase of Portakabins- The Department recently purchased the portakabins we currently use for various classes around the school. We have been informed that this won't impact on our extension news above. It does mean that the responsibility for their maintenance now falls on the Board of Management.
(xvi) Directive from Department re appointments. The Department recently revised the way schools are allowed to appoint teachers to the school. A Panel operates and school are required to take teachers who are on this Panel and cannot advertise any vacancies until this Panel is clear. This will impact on our appointment of an additional teacher to the school this year.

(xvii) School Grounds: Just to remind you that Junior/Senior Infants who are waiting for older siblings to finish school are not permitted in the school grounds during 1.30 to 2.30. Classes are still on-going at this time in the school and sometimes they are outside doing PE. While we enjoy parents and children using the Memory Garden to reflect, particularly, in the fine weather you can appreciate that we would prefer if it was after school finishes at 2.30.


(xviii) Parking: (before and after school). This continues to be an issue so I would like to remind you of the guidelines we usually include in our September newsletter.


" In the mornings, school opens at 8.35 am - and it would help if everybody did not arrive at 8.45 - 8.50 am!!
" Preferably enter the car-park at the entrance closest to the main school gate, this avoids a situation where you have cars going against the traffic flow. When you enter the car-park, park towards the exits on the far side first.
" Please do not block the exit/entrance either!
" Please be careful of children all around you, especially if reversing. You won't see a typical 4-7 year old in your rear-view mirror and they might not have the ability to avoid you.
" Do not park across the road from the School's main gate. Shanbally residents are justifiably aggrieved at reckless parking on the grass verges. Also this forces the traffic into a single lane and blocks access up and down the road. In fairness there is only a 7/8 minutes period of heavy traffic coming and going at the end of the school day each day.
" Please try car-pooling.
" Also, after school it might help if some parents of older children arrived 10 to 15 minutes after 2.30 when the parking may have eased.


(xix) Junior Infants 2011-2012: We are enrolling 36 children (21 boys and 15 girls) this year and we are in an excellent position to form two small Junior Infant classes (18+19) for the coming year. These two classes will remain small like this as they progress through the school, a tremendous advantage to those lucky children.

This won't have a major impact on the school as a whole as there are 30 pupils leaving 6th class this year. Allocation of teachers to the infant classes will take place in the overall context of staff deployment and appointments over the next 2 months. It is a complex decision and I will consult diligently with all parties affected.


Finally on a personal note I would like to thank all those who sympathised with me recently on the death of my Mother. It was consoling to get such support from my colleagues, friends and parents in the school and wider community of Shanbally.

Go raibh maith agaibh.

Liam Shanahan
Principal




Shanbally National School
Parents Association


Race Night
Friday April 1st
Shamrock Bar
First Race off at 8.30 sharp!

Great night assured. Lots of prizes including one for Best Dressed Lady!