Newsletter
Holy Family National School,
Rathmore, Co. Kerry.
Tel. 064/7758492 Fax 064/7758499
e-mail hfnsrathmore@eircom.net
School Blog: hfnsrathmorekerry blog
27th
January, 2016
Dear Parents,
CATHOLIC
SCHOOLS WEEK 2016
The theme for Catholic Schools Week for 2016 is
“Catholic schools:
Challenged to Proclaim God’s Mercy”
Sunday 31st January to Friday 5th February 2016
To mark Catholic Schools Week we are having a prayer service in the school on Friday 5th
February at 10.15a.m. Parents and Grandparents are invited to the
prayer service which will focus on Grandparents Day which is officially on
Wednesday 3rd February but we will mark it on Friday. After the prayer service we will organise a
cup of tea after which Grandparents will be welcome to visit the classrooms of
their grandchild/grandchildren. Some
Grandparents might consider bringing in an object from their own schooldays and
talk about it to the children when they visit the classroom.
CAKE SALE
We are having a CAKE
SALE IN AID OF TROCAIRE on next FRIDAY 5th FEBRUARY. This is being organised jointly by our
Student Council with the help of 6th class pupils. We would really appreciate if parents could
do some baking for this worthy event.
You can bring your baking to the school either on Thursday evening or Friday
morning. (Please put your name on the tray/plate/container so that it is easily
identifiable afterwards). Each class
will have an opportunity to visit the
Cake Sale during the day to buy some cakes.
CREDIT UNION QUIZ
Three teams will represent
the school in the Rathmore & District Credit Union Quiz which will be held
in the Secondary School Gym on Sunday 31st January at 2.00 p.m.
FÍS – KERRY FILM FESTIVAL
Last year Ms. Áine
O’Donoghue and 6th class of 2014/2015 made a film “Patrick
O’Connor’s Fight for Freedom”. The
screening of this takes place in Siamsa Tíre on Tuesday Feb. 2nd
at 11am.
PARENTS’
COMMITTEE – BAG PACKING
Parents’ Committee are organising bag
packing at Tesco, Park Road, Killarney
on Friday / Saturday 12th / 13th February. We need volunteers to do 2 hour slots to help
out. If this is well manned it can be a
great source of funds for our Committee and these funds pay for Music and Drama
at H.F.N.S. and it is also used to subsidise transport to swimming as I.R.D.
Duhallow transport are no longer in a position to subsidise transport. Time slots on Friday – (4-6pm)
(6-8pm) – we can also do (2-4pm) on Friday if we can man it. Time slots for Saturday - (10am
-12noon) (12-2pm) (2-4pm) (4-6pm)
WE NEED A MINIMUM OF 4 ADULTS PER 2 HOUR SESSION. PLEASE VOLUNTEER.
You can contact Kay O’Keeffe at 087-6899461, Evelyn
Casey at 086-8049566 or Diarmuid McCarthy at
087-9145711.
Parents’
Committee Christmas Raffle raised a total of €434 for their funds.
Our Parent Association is a
member of National Parents Council Primary (NPC). You can access information at
www.npc.ie or on the school blog where
there is a link to the NPC website in the Parent Association tab.
ENROLMENT
Enrolment of new pupils will
take place on Wednesday 17th February. If you know of anyone intending to enrol a
child in our school please let them know. Enrolment will take place at 1.00
p.m. Enrolment Forms are available from
School Office and are to be returned to the office by Friday 12th
February.
FIRST CONFESSION AND
COMMUNION
First Confession will take place in the church on Monday 7th March at 7.30 p.m.
First Communion for Holy Family N.S. will be held on Saturday 21st May at
11.00 a.m.
CONFIRMATION
Confirmation Pledge: In the past, the Pledge of
Abstinence from Alcoholic Drink and Drugs was part of the Confirmation
ceremony. Now the pledge is taken by
confirmation candidates on a separate occasion.
It is separated from Confirmation itself in order to highlight it’s importance
in these times. This year it is planned
to have the taking of the Pledge on Temperance Sunday Feb 6th/7th. The pledge ceremony will take place at the
following masses and families can attend the Mass that suits them best. Feb. 6th Knocknagree 7.30pm Feb. 7th Gneeveguilla 10 am
Rathmore 11.30am
Penetential Service for Confirmation Candidates and
their families: Ash Wednesday Feb. 10th at 8pm in Gneeveguilla Church. Families willbe given practical arrangements
for the Confirmation ceremony i.e. seating arrangements, photography
arrangements etc. It is important to
attend.
Confirmation Ceremony will be held in Rathmore
church on Tuesday 16th February, 2016 at 3.30 p.m. Children singing in the Choir for
Confirmation will go to the Church from school and we ask parents to collect them
immediately after Confirmation at approx.5.00 p.m. We are very grateful to the children and their
parents for their co-operation.
HOLY FAMILY N.S. TABLE QUIZ
Our annual table quiz will
take place after mid-term break. Date to
be confirmed.
SWIMMING LESSONS
We hope to start swimming lessons immediately after
Easter. These lessons will be for pupils
from 2nd to 6th classes and will run for 6 weeks. We will issue more details nearer the time.
ACTIVE SCHOOLS
Our work towards obtaining
the Active School flag for our school is going well. Current activities we are
engaging in are: Active Breaks, Fit Friday, Wake Up! Shake Up! and Active
Revision. More activities are planned for the coming months. The school will
also be holding an Active School’s Week in the last term- Mon. 25th
to Fri. 29th April. We would welcome parental involvement so if any
parents have expertise in any areas of physical activity please contact the
school. You can keep up to date with latest developments on the active school
page on the blog.
As part of Active
Schools, 3rd class will be undertaking cycle training in February
beginning on next Thursday Feb. 4th and continuing on Thursday 11th
and Tues. 16th. More
information on this will be given to 3rd class pupils next week.
LEE STRAND
We are very grateful to Lee
Strand who have provided free homework journals to our school for the past 3
years. In order to provide us with free
homework journals next year they have asked us to collect Mighty Mike tokens
from Lee Strand milk cartons and bottles.
They will also accept the bar code from Dawn Dairies cartons and
bottles. Please do your best to collect
as many tokens as possible and bring them to the school office. Thank you.
CHRISTMAS
LEAGUE
Our Christmas League is now
into its final phase and we hope Finals will be played before mid-term.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS OR PHONE
NUMBER
It is important to let us know if you have changed
your contact details (address /telephone number) so that we can update your
child’s/children’s contact details as soon as possible. Thank You.
ON LINE MATHS CHALLENGE
LEARNSTORM
Children from fourth to Sixth classes will be
participating in LearnStorm (Formerly known as MATHletes) from January 29th
to April 1st. This is a 9 week online challenge. LearnStorm is a
maths challenge designed to help students to learn. Children will get an
opportunity to partake in the challenge at school but we would encourage them
to participate at home as well if possible. Please visit the school blog to see
more information on LearnStorm or visit LearnStorm.ie. All the children have
been signed up in school through their own Khan Academy accounts.
CREDIT UNION
SAVING STAMPS
A
number of children are availing of saving stamps in the school. It is important to encourage children to save
and buying saving stamps is a very good way of developing the habit of saving. Stamps are €1 each. Stamp cards are available from the school and
when they have filled they can bring to the Credit Union and lodge €20 to their
Savings account
STAY SAFE PROGRAMME
As part of our SPHE programme we teach the Stay Safe
programme on alternate years. This year the six- Week programme will be done in
school for three weeks before Easter and three weeks after Easter. There will
be some worksheets pertaining to the programme to be done at home and may give
rise to some discussion at home particularly on the topic of “Bullying”. At
school we try to avoid the use of this term but would rather emphasise the
promotion of positive behaviour, we use terms like respect for self and others,
being kind, dealing with negative and positive feelings etc.
I would like you to visit our school blog where you
will find our “Code of Behaviour” policy which incorporates our “Anti Bullying
Policy” and I quote the following from that policy
Definition of Bullying: In the context of these
procedures, bullying is defined as unwanted negative behaviour, verbal,
psychological or physical, conducted by an individual or group against another
person (or persons) and which is repeated
over time.
LOCAL ST. VINCENT dePAUL
FOOD APPEAL
The local Conference of St. Vincent de Paul
organisation wish to sincerely thank everyone who donated items to their food
appeal in Holy Family N.S. before Christmas. All items donated were very
sincerely appreciated and helped them to fill hampers which were distributed to
needy families before Christmas.
HEAD LICE
Given that
there are so many incidences of head lice in the school at the moment it would
be advisable that girls with long hair would keep it tied up. Also if you
receive a letter telling you of an incidence in your child’s class please check
your child’s hair and treat with lotion.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Rathmore & District Credit Union Quiz - Sunday
31st January at 2pm in Secondary School Gym
Prayer Service and Grandparents Day – Friday 5th February
Cake Sale in aid of Trocaire – Friday 5th February
Bag Packing – Tesco – Fri 12th & Sat 13th February
Confirmation - Tues
16th Feb at 3.30pm
Enrolment - Wed 17th February at 1pm in
school
The school will be closed for mid-term break on Thursday 18 th and Friday 19th February
First Confession – Monday 7th March at 7.30pm in the church
Easter Holidays:
Closing Wednesday 16th March
Closed from Thursday 17th March to Friday 1st April
Reopening Monday 4th April
Closed Monday 2nd May- Public Holiday
First Communion - Sat.
21st May at 11am
Closed Monday 6th
(Public Holiday) and Tuesday 7th June
Closing Thursday 30th June, 2016