HOME – SCHOOL TALK!
HOME-SCHOOL TALK! November 28 2013
As we approach the last month of the term and the long winter evenings we hope that all our students are happy and working hard. The first term is the one that provides a solid foundation for the year’s work and we hope it continues to be a fulfilling one for all.
PTA
The AGM took place on October 22nd and all detail on new officers is available on the school website. Every first Tuesday of the month the meetings takes place at 8:30pm in the school hall. Parents of all children in the school are most welcome at these meetings. As always, we encourage you to come along and discuss your views and ideas. This is where your voice can be heard. The After School Activities are running like clockwork every Wednesday and Thursday – thank you one and all.
LOST PROPERTY
We have accumulated 3 black bags of lost property over the last year. It is mostly items of clothing. In order to clear it we ask that if you are missing an item, you would drop in and have a look . They will be displayed under the central stairwell (behind the lobby area) from Monday to Thursday next week. We then plan to dispose of, or recycle all remaining unclaimed items. Anything suitable will be given to charity.
FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE
Congratulations to the hard working committee on a very successful event – our end of half term Hallowe’en themed party. As well as making much needed funds I think a great and memorable evening was had by the children.
BOARD OF MANAGEMENT
The Board have met on September 25th, November 6th and will meet on December 11th. To keep you informed as to what is going on, the agreed reports on each of these meetings will be published on the school website as they become available.
MEDICAL RECORDS
The updating of our medical records is now completed. You will have received notice from us by post if you gave us information for our files this year. A number of those notices, (where medication was required either on an ongoing basis or in the event of an emergency) needed a form filled. These needed to be filled and signed in the office. Most of these have been returned at this point but there are still a few outstanding. We ask you to drop in to the school over the next week so we can have all those requirements filled and our files fully up to date.
MONEY
A reminder about the €50 contribution towards art, craft etc. and €15 for Educate Together membership if you have not already paid. We depend on the €50 to resource our classrooms for the year so each contribution makes a great difference. Should you have any difficulty with this, please know that you can speak in confidence with me at the office or by phone and an arrangement can be made. The €15 we pay to Educate Together for membership. They depend on this money to run the service of support and development they give to our schools. Funding continues to be a major issue for them to meet these demands.
SPORT
Gaelic training continues with 1st, 2nd,3rd, 5th & 6th classes all participating this term fully supported and coached by Meath and Louth GAA. 5th classes are attending swimming lessons each Tuesday in Aura.
CHESS
Our chess club for our Senior students is up and running every Tuesday at lunchtime and once again we are taking part in the local chess league. We are well established with excellent participation and many noteworthy performances over the years. We both host and travel to other local schools for these matches.
STUDENT COUNCIL & GREEN SCHOOLS COMMITTEE
Our council and committee were elected in October and they continue to meet and work away on their various projects, representing their fellow students and working to make our school an active and better place.
TRAFFIC
You will have received our recent reminder regarding traffic procedures around the school grounds. We urge you to use the car park on the tennis courts (Grammar School grounds). I think we can all agree it’s an excellent facility, which we are most fortunate to have and only a minutes walk from the campus! Safety is the only priority here.
ART PROJECT
We have been invited to participate in a project taking place in Newry called ‘Small Size, Big Citizen’ in February 2014. Part of the project is a Cross Border initiative involving two schools from this area and we are one of the lucky ones approached to take part. The targeted class is third and Rachel’s class has been chosen by raffle. Over 12 weeks, a local artist (also a parent in our school community!), Breda Marron, will be working on a project with the children. As the work will be very much led by the children’s ideas we cannot say what the end result will be! The piece(s) created will be travelling to Newry for the festival from the 6th – 9th February and all are most welcome to go along and share in the festivities. The children’s work will then be returned to us to be a lasting memento of our part in this wonderful project. We’ll keep you posted.
SCHOOL SELF EVALUATION
Continuing on from our process of School Self Evaluation, we will be putting Numeracy under the microscope this year. School Self Evaluation is a national project and we have already begun the process of reflection here at school. Training of staff is currently taking place and then we begin the process of gathering evidence to inform ourselves on future plans and policies. We’ll keep you informed and will be asking for your input.
ASSEMBLIES
Our in-school assemblies run throughout the year and as part of the schedule each class group hosts an assembly on a theme they choose. They do a presentation then for the other classes in the hall. Second class chose the theme Eid-ul-Adha and the Muslim faith last month and we look forward to First class presenting ‘Space’ this Friday.
BOOK FAIR
The Book Fair was a great success again this year. Due to the great response from the community we now have more than €3200 to spend on our library facilities. What a terrific achievement for all involved!
NEWSLETTER
That’s a quick tour of some of what’s being going in school in recent weeks. Our termly Newsletter will be due before we break up for holidays in December so you can read more about the many activities and projects here at Le Chéile.
