Newsletter March 25th

Update 6 March 25^th  2015

Dear Parents,

 

As we approach the Easter holidays please read the following with care as the information is important.

 

• Days we are closed or close early this term

 

1. Easter Holidays. Closing early Friday 27^th March, closed Monday 30^th March to Friday 10^th April incl. Juniors and Seniors (with their siblings) finish at 12.30 and the rest of the school at 12.45. School re-opens on Monday 13^th April.

 

• Closings next term

1. May Bank Holiday. We are closed Monday 4^th May and Tuesday 5^th May.
2. June Bank Holiday. We are also closed Friday May 29^th to Tuesday June 2^nd incl. We re-open Wednesday June 3^rd.

1. The school year ends on Friday 26^th June and school finishes early that day. Junior and Senior Infants (with their siblings) will finish at 12.30 and the rest of the school at 12.45.

 

• Other dates to note

1. Liam Middleton Easter Egg Appeal: Thank you all very much for all the eggs donated so far. All the eggs will be collected from the school on this Friday morning. Any eggs can be left in the Halla (you can’t miss them!!) or in the office. Just to remind you that this collection will go to various local and national charities incl. CUH, Mercy, Cope Foundation, Enable Ireland, Cork Deaf Association, Crumlin and Temple Street Children’s Hospitals. They collected over 23,000 eggs last year and hope to exceed that amount this year! Liam Middleton is a pupil in 4^th Class in our school.
2. You might be aware that Carrigaline is due to benefit from a number of new secondary schools over the next few years. One of these is Edmund Rice College, Carrigaline who are holding a public meeting on Tuesday April 14^th 2015 at 7.30pm in the Carrigaline Court Hotel.
3. First Holy Communion takes place on Saturday 16^th May at 10.30am. More details will follow immediately after the Easter break with details of blazers, seating etc. A reminder to return forms to the school in relation for Individual/ Class Photos for Christine McCarthy Photographer when you can.
4. Reminder that different Standardised Tests are on the following dates: Tuesday 19^th, Wednesday 20^th, Thursday 21^st and Tuesday 26^th May as communicated previously.
5. Open Evening for parents of incoming Junior Infants takes place on Wednesday, May 27^th at 7.30pm.
6. Cork Primary Sports is now organised for Wednesday June 10^th at the CIT track in Bishopstown. We will have more information on this new venue following their AGM which is being held today.
7. Sixth Class Leaving Night is scheduled for Thursday June 18^th.
8. We welcome our incoming Junior Infants for an introductory session on Friday June 19^th. High Street Books and Laura’s Uniform Supplier will also be in the school that morning.

 

• Monies Outstanding: We’d like to remind parents to submit any monies outstanding as soon as possible. Examples are French for Fifth and Sixth classes (now finished) which is €20 for 2 terms, Gymnastics for all classes (finishing shortly) which is €8 per child, and Swimming for 3^rd and 4^th classes (due to start after Easter) which  is  €50.  Please remit to class teachers
• Recent Sporting Outings: Our teams really enjoyed the Inter-Schools Chess Tournament last month and took home well deserved runners-up medals. A team comprising Adam McGinty, Cian Barrett, Sam Lee (all 6^th Class) and Adam McSweeney (5^th Class) came 3^rd. The 3^rd class Hurling and Camogie indoor blitzes were well played by all involved. 4^th Class also took part in a Hurling Blitz. Children from 6^th participated recently in a Basketball blitz which were well organised and enjoyed by all. 4th class participated in a fun spikeball blitz in Upper Glanmire. This gave them the opportunity to try out their spikeball skills that they had been learning over the past few weeks. 4th to 6th classes took part in Drumming Workshops which raised the roof of the Halla and went down a treat with the classes. Our Sciath na Scol hurling team has recorded their first victory against Dunderrow with 3 more games coming up after Easter.
• Transition Year Students:  We recently had some teenagers, mostly past-pupils, in on Transition Year Work Experience. This is just a taster of what they did while they were here. Ciara Browne and Julia Moxley (Carrigaline Community School) taught Chinese to some of the classes; Sarah Twomey (also CCS) taught Soccer to the Junior Infants, and Alex Walsh (CCS) and his Dad Dermot did a taekwondo lesson with 4th to 6th classes.
• Recent Achievements:
  9. Colin Murphy in 4^th Class runs with Belgooly athletic club and they recently came second in the Munster under 12 relay 4@100 meters indoor championships. Colin ran a personal best of 9.01 seconds over 60 meters in his first Munster 60 meter indoor final, coming in 7^th.They also qualified for the all-Ireland indoor championships which were held in Athlone last weekend. Colin’s team won a silver medal in the all-Ireland 4@100 meters relay event and only just beaten in a photo finish!
  10. Conor Lillis in 4^th Class plays for Carrigaline United and they won the Cork premier soccer league u11’s recently.

• Congratulations to Ellie (6^th Class) and Marc Galland (3^rd Class) who represented the school in the Minor Schools All-Ireland Swimming Championships. Marc secured a bronze medal and Ellie placed well in a strong group.

• Swimming: Swimming starts for 3^rd and 4^th classes only on Monday April 20^th. They will have 7 lessons in total on April 20^th, 27^th, May 11^th, 18^th, 25^th, June 8^th and 15^th. We estimate the cost per child will be €50. Swimming or Aquatics is one strand of the Physical Education Curriculum. The other strands are : Athletics,  Dance, Gymnastics, Games, Outdoor and adventure activities. As the curriculum document states: The organisation of aquatics will be influenced by the degree of access to pool facilities, the provision of transport and the availability of suitably qualified swimming teachers. For some schools access to a facility for aquatics is not possible, but every effort should be made to provide even a short block of time for each class at some stage during the primary years. The sub-strand units of Aquatics are as follows:  Hygiene, Water safety, Entry to and exit from the water, Buoyancy and propulsion, Stroke development, Water-based ball games and Understanding and appreciation of aquatics.

 

• Celtic Book Fairs: This Book Fair will visit the school from Tuesday 21^st to Monday 27^th April incl. Your child (and you) will have the opportunity to purchase books which will also benefit the school. For every euro spent we get 60% back in the form of books for class libraries.
• School Tours: School tours dates have now been set. They are as follows:

Mon 8^th  June  – 5th + 6^th Classes, Mon 8^th – 1st + 2nd Classes, Thurs 11^th  June- Jrs/Snrs and Fri 12^th June- 3rd + 4th Classes. You might like to budget for these now. We now have a better idea of the cost for the tours: Jrs/ Snrs- €16, 1^st/2^nd – €20, 3^rd/ 4^th – €30 and 5^th/6^th approx. – €32. More details to follow.

• 50^th Anniversary Celebrations: After Easter we will announce our planned celebrations of our 50^th anniversary on this site. As you are aware we are holding a Golf Classic on Friday May 8^th in Monkstown Golf Club. Furthermore we are currently finalising a history of the school which will go the printers over the Easter. It is our intention to hold a joint launch of both the book and the Golf Classic on Friday April 17^th at 8pm in Monkstown Golf Club. More details to follow in the week we return to school.
• Summer Camps: Our notice board in the main building displays various summer camps which you might like to view. Of particular note are the following camps that are held in or near the school e.g.
  1. Club Ciarán –run by Shamrocks GAA adjacent to the school Mon 29^th June to Fri 3^rd July
  2. Mr. Shanahan’s Summer Camp run privately in the school on 6^th to 10^th July (1^st– 3^rd classes) and 13^th to 17^th July (4^th – 5^th classes)

• Stretch n Grow Summer Camp run privately in the school on 20th July to 24th July (3 – 7 years old)

 

• Calendar for 2015/2016 School Year

 

• Monday August 31^st Staff back to school
• Tuesday September 1^st All children back to school
• Monday 26^th to Friday 30^th October Mid-term break
• Tuesday December 22^nd Close early for Christmas holidays
• Wednesday January 6^th 2015 Back to school after Christmas holidays
• Thursday 18th – Friday 19^th February February mid-term break
• Wednesday 16^th March Finish early for Easter holidays
• Monday 4^th April Back to school after Easter holidays
• Monday 2^nd – Friday 6^th May School closed for week
• Monday June 6^th School closed for bank holiday
• Thursday 30^th June School finishes early for summer hols.

Thank you,

David Nolan Principal