Good afternoon everyone and welcome back to school!
I hope that you all have a restful, pleasant mid-term break last week. There was a great energy about the building this week as the pupils returned to school and there is so much happening between now and the Winter Holidays. As a gentle reminder, the final school day of Term 1 will be Friday, 22nd of December 2023.
One Day Together 2023
We had a very successful One Day Together 2023 and I am delighted to announce that the school raised €1,965 for our patron body Educate Together. I am so grateful to all of the parents and guardians who donated to this appeal. Members of our Student Council from 6th class wrote a very good letter to the CEO of Educate Together, Emer Nowlan, to tell her all about it. This letter was then signed by every member of the Student Council before it was posted to the national office. You can view the letter at this link.
Winter Coat Collection
I’d like to say a big thank you to Lisa Keogh Finnegan for coordinating a winter coat collection before the mid-term break in aid of Abolish Direct Provision Ireland. Thank you to all parents and guardians for their huge support for this initiative.
Photos for the calendar
Thanks to the parent volunteers who have photographed the children and staff for the annual school calendar. A reminder that remaining photos will be taken this coming Monday, 13th of November for those children who were absent for photo day in October.
Science at St Tiernan’s (4th class)
Our two 4th class groups have been really enjoying their visits to St Tiernan’s CS to participate in science lesson. Aongus’s class had the first of their two visits yesterday. Photos from Katelynn’s class’s visits (which took place in October) can be found on the 4th Class webpage.
Board of Management elections – parent nominees
The election process has now begun to select the two parent nominees to the Board of Management from 2023-2027. In total, five parents were nominated. Each parent can now select their chosen parent from the Mothers’ Panel and their chosen parent from the Fathers’ Panel. The poll is live on the Aladdin noticeboard and will remain active until 12pm on Wednesday, 15th November. At that point, we will announce the results of the poll.
School calendar 2024-2025
The school holiday calendar for the next school year (2024-2025) will shortly be finalised and sent to all families.
Car line safety and rules
I would like to take a moment to highlight a number of issues in the use of the car drop-off lane so that we can ensure efficient, safe drop-offs and collections on our campus.
- Parents may not park in the set-down zone. In the mornings, please drop off your child(ren) in front of the school and exit the drop-off lane.
- Parents may not park in the staff car park at any point during the school day.
- If your child is too young to safely wait at their allocated door to the school without an adult, please park your car in a safe spot locally and walk with them to the school (Park & Stride). Parents should not leave their cars parked in the set-down lane at drop-off/collection time. This is causing a major tail-back for other parents who are seeking to drop off their children and leave.
- Car engines should not be idling in front of the school at collection time. This is needlessly emitting carbon dioxide which is negative for both the environment and our health.
- Be vigilant for members of our school community who are walking, scooting and cycling.
- Do not stop your car on zebra crossings.
- Keep to the left side of the traffic lane at all times.
Thank you all for your cooperation with the issues raised above.
Wishing you all a pleasant weekend.
Paul O’Dwyer, Principal