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Holy Family National SchoolNewsletter September 2008 |
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| Welcome back to all our staff and pupils after the summer holidays. As the new school year begins we extend a special céad míle fáilte to all our new pupils (83) and especially the children in Junior Infants - at this stage they are all well settled in with their teachers Ms Cullen, Ms Meegan and Ms O' Donovan. Welcome to new members of the teaching staff: Ms Meegan, Ms Walsh, Ms McKelvey, Ms Barry, Ms Kelly, Ms Kealy, Mrs Fallon and Ms Carroll who is a Special Needs Assistant. We wish Mrs Macdougald and Ms Wylde the best of luck in their new posts in Waterford and Clare. We also extend our best wishes to Mrs Kathleen Clarke who has retired after 39 years in the teaching profession, 34 of which was in Rathcoole. Children and parents will always remember her with fondness and appreciation for her dedication and hard work as a classroom teacher for 21 years and especially as a Learning Support Teacher for the last 13 years. Those of us who were fortunate enough to work with her held her in the highest esteem and will always appreciate her kindness and sensitivity to the children in her care who were experiencing learning difficulties in their classroom. We wish Kathleen and her husband Eddie good health and happiness in their retirement. | |
| School Development | |
| I'm sure you have noticed the significant development of the school buildings and grounds over the summer months. Two temporary mainstream classrooms and three Learning Support rooms have been installed along with a new tarmac area in the yard and increased spaces in the staff car park. While prefabs are a poor substitute for a proper permanent structure, nevertheless we are pleased with the quality of the new classrooms. We have applied for a permanent structure of 4 classrooms and 3 Learning Support rooms to the Department to be built which will be necessary to accommodate the number of children coming on stream. On that note if you have a child who is due to start school next September please confirm with us that you have filled up an application form - preparations for next year start now. | |
| School Rules | |
| As we start off another year there
are a few rules which we ask for your co-operation in
implementing. 1) If you have to drop a lunch or book to your child during the day please leave it at reception and it will be delivered to your child with minimum disruption to the class. 2) Parents or visitors are not allowed upstairs. This is a child protection issue - it has been known for strangers to walk uninvited through a school building. 3) School starts at 9.00 a.m. When the children are taken in work starts immediately. Please ensure that your child arrives on time. Parents collecting their children from the Infant classes are asked to do so punctually as the Infant teachers are often required to mind other classes. 4) If the morning is wet please time your child's departure from home so that they arrive in school at 9.00 a.m. If they are in earlier encourage them to use the school shelter. 5) Homework is an essential part of school life and has many merits. The following is a rough estimate of the maximum time which your child should spend on his/her homework:
6) Parents who wish to consult teachers outside of the scheduled Parent/Teacher meetings must do so by making an appointment through the Principal. It is not possible for the teacher to give you a fair hearing while he/she has a class to look after. 7) Birthday parties etc. for children are to be planned and organized outside of school hours and grounds - invitations to parties are not to be issued during school time. |
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| School Uniform | |
| Wearing of school uniform is
compulsory. The navy jumpers with crest and grey slacks or the school tracksuit
are all acceptable as a school uniform. However we would ask you to ensure that
they are wearing tracksuits on the day they have PE, when they are going
swimming or if they are playing a match for the school. We must insist that all jumpers, trousers, tracksuit tops and bottoms are properly labeled with the child's name. An enormous amount of time is wasted trying to identify who owns a jumper or tracksuit and it is scandalous the number of uniforms that are left unclaimed around the secretary's office. We will have a uniform check day next Friday Sept. 19th |
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| School Activities | |
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| School Closings 2008 - 2009 | |
| Mid-term break ............ 27th Oct.
- 31st Oct. (1 week) Re-opening Mon. 3rd Nov. Christmas Holidays ...... 23rd December @ 12.00. Re-opening Monday 7th January. Mid-term break ............ 16th - 20th February (1 week). St Patrick's Weekend ... Mon 16th and Tues 17th March. Easter Holidays ............ 6th April - 17th April. Re-opening Monday 20th April. |
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| School Attendance | |
| We have a school policy to promote
good attendance and to inform parents of their responsibilities in order to
comply with the Educational Welfare Act. The full policy is available from the school or
can be viewed on our school website. This July a total of 61 children's names had to be reported to the Educational Welfare Officer for having missed more than 20 days in the last school year - many of them had missed more than 40 days. I expect that the Educational Welfare Officer will be following up on those cases. Good luck to everybody in the coming school year. |
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