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Newsletter
                                                Holy Family National  School 
                                                            Rathmore, Co. Kerry
                                    Tel. 064/7758492 Mobile: 086/1806018
                                     e-mail hfnsrathmorekerry@gmail.com
                                                                        http://hfnsrathmorekerry.blogspot.ie/
16th October 2018
Dear Parents,
PARENTS’ COMMITTEE REPORT 2017/2018
The following are the Members of the Parents’ Committee for the year 2018 – 2019:
Junior Infants               -          Michael O’Riordan
Senior Infants              -          Eileen Hartnett 
First Class                    -          Michael O’Sullivan
Second Class               -          Tara Healy
Third Class                   -          Caterina Cronin
Fourth Class                 -          Catherine Daly 
Fifth Class                    -          Colin O’Leary
Sixth Class                   -          Sinead Daly
B.O.M.                        -           John Kennedy
B.O.M.                        -           Carmel Healy                         
We thank Eileen Hartnett, Tara Healy, Catherine Daly and Sinead Daly for agreeing to serve for the coming year.  We welcome Michael O’Riordan, Michael O’Sullivan, Caterina Cronin and Colin O’Leary as new representatives for Junior Infants, First, Third and Fifth classes for this year.  We also take this opportunity to thank very sincerely Arthur Moynihan, Antoinette O’Leary, Nora McAuliffe and Joanne Breen for their dedicated service to Holy Family N.S.  
The function of the Parents Committee is to support the activities of the school and also to represent the views of parents and guardians on relevant matters.  The bulk of our activity is fundraising and, to date, the funds raised have provided weekly music lessons for every child from 1st through to 6th classes.  Also last year every class had drama and gymnastic classes.  We also subsidised swimming lessons and the Internet Talk in March.  The fundraising activities and funds raised for the year 2017-2018 are presented below. We would like to thank everybody for their ongoing support of these activities, and also the many sponsors that provide prizes and assistance.

Activity
Date
Amount Raised           (€)
Bingo
October 2017
5932.50
Church Gate Collection
October 2017
564.00
Christmas Raffle
December 2017
648.50
Quiz
March 2018
705.60
Bag Packing Tesco
May 2018
783.48
Sponsored Walk
June 2018
2609.00
Tesco Community Fund
June 2018
272.73
Total

11,515.81








RATHMORE PARISH MISSION -  Sat 20th October to Sat. 27th October
Rathmore Parish Mission begins NEXT WEEKEND. It is being given by the Redemptorist order.  On Monday 22nd Oct. we will have a Mission Service @11.30am for the pupils in the school.  There are various celebrations throughout the week – Beginning with a ‘Walk’ from Shrone Church to the ‘City’ on Saturday 20th and ‘Blessing of Babies’ Ceremony on Sunday 21st in Rathmore Church at 2.30pm. Mission programmes are being delivered to all households to give more information on times and events.   Join with the family, neighbours and friends in the various celebrations of the week.
PUPIL PERSONAL ACCIDENT INSURANCE
Reminder: if you wish to avail of the personal accident insurance for your child/children please return the completed forms together with payment as specified on the form, as soon as possible as we need to process this before the Halloween break.   People are free to avail of it if they wish. 
CREDIT UNION ART COMPETITION
Reminder  the  closing date for the Credit Union Art Competition is this Friday 19th  October.  If your child has taken their art sheet home please ensure that they complete same and return to their class teacher by Friday 19th October with form signed by a Parent. Thank You.

THANK YOU  -  CHURCH GATE COLLECTION
Our annual Church Gate Collection was held before the 6.00 p.m. and 11.30 a.m. Masses  last weekend Sat. 13th/14th October.   The amount collected was €754.00. We thank all who helped out and supported us.

BOOK FAIR

We have the great pleasure of inviting you to attend our exciting Book Fair.  We feel that this is a wonderful opportunity to promote the love of reading. 

Date: Mon. 22nd Oct., Tues. 23rd Oct., & Wed. 24th Oct.     -       Time:  9.00am – 10.00am

Date: Mon. 22nd Oct. & Tues. 23rd Oct.                                  -        Time: 1.50pm –   2.50pm

Place: G.P. Room,  Holy Family N.S.

In addition to the above times, each class will have the opportunity to attend the fair with their class teacher.  It will be possible for the children to purchase books during the aforementioned visits.  However, younger children should be accompanied by their Parents if possible at the above times.  Each family have received a book fair brochure which illustrates some of the books in stock.  However, parents should not feel under pressure to spend a lot of money at the Book Fair.  The commission from the fair allows us to buy books for the classroom and library so every book you buy helps us to get new books for the school.  Thank you for your support.


HALLOWEEN DRESS UP DAY FOR BRÚ COLUMBANUS
Thursday 25th October will be our last day at school before Halloween and will be a No Uniform Day. We are inviting children to dress up in their Halloween costumes or their favourite jersey for the occasion.  Brú Columbanus provides “home from home” accommodation for the relatives of seriously ill patients in Cork Hospitals and Hospice, especially relatives of sick children.  Children can donate a voluntary contribution on the day.  No need to buy costumes for this event.

IRISH DANCING CLASSES
Irish dancing classes commenced for Junior Infants, Senior Infants, First and Second classes on Tuesday 25th September for six weeks.  Tríona Mangan is the dancing teacher.  The children enjoy these classes and the parents committee are funding these classes.

MOBILE LIBRARY
The Mobile Library have a new van and will visit our school and the Rathmore area once a month.  Children from First to Sixth classes avail of this service and parents are encouraged to go to the Library with younger children.  Visiting the Library will help in encouraging your children to read. 

MATHS WEEK
Maths week is from 13th to 21st October.  Scoilnet will be hosting a Problem of the Day with 5 junior and 5 senior challenges throughout maths week. Lots of resources are available on ‘Maths Week 2018’ website which will be used in 1st to 6th classes with particular focus on Problem Solving and Target Boards.   We would encourage everyone to go onto the Maths site and to look at Maths section of our School blog.  Hope you enjoy engaging with Maths week.

ACTIVE SCHOOLS
We are ready for another active year in Holy Family N.S. and we are looking forward to another fun filled year.  Look out for updates on the school blog.

FIRST COMMUNION AND CONFIRMATION – DATES FOR DIARY
Talk for parents of First Communion children will be on
Wed. Nov. 7th at 8pm in Holy Family N.S.
 Talk for Parents of Confirmation children will be on 
                                               Thurs. 15th Nov. in Holy Family N.S. at 7.30pm.
First Mass of Communion Programme will be on Sunday 18th Nov. at 11.30am in the church. 
Confirmation – Tues Feb. 19th  at 11.00am in Rathmore
First Confession -  Wed. 13th March at 8.00pm  First Communion – Sat. 4th May at 11 am

Parents Committee - Fundraiser
BINGO
RATHMORE COMMUNITY CENTRE
SAT. NOV. 10th 2018
at 7.30pm
Fabulous Prizes
All welcome
Children attending Bingo must be accompanied by an adult
Bingo Books €10 each, Double Books €12, Jackpot Sheet €2
We hope that everyone will have an enjoyable night
Bring a biro or marker to mark your numbers – Best of luck

(We hope to organise a bingo session for pupils from 1st to 6th classes before the event)

HEALTHY LUNCHES
We are encouraging a healthy lunch.
Chewing gum, fizzy drinks, crisps, chocolate and sweets are forbidden. 
We also ask that children in Junior Infants do not bring yogurts or yogurt products in their lunch boxes.  Our aim is to continue with the good work of the Food Dudes Programme, which began in our school, to increase and maintain children’s consumption of fruit and vegetables. We  have two pupils in the school with severe nut allergies. It is very important that pupils do not bring items to school that contain nuts.  We ask parents and children to be vigilant as some products contain traces of nuts. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
PARENT/TEACHER MEETINGS
Parent-teacher meetings (Senior Infants to Sixth Class) are planned for Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th November  If you will not be able to attend on either of these days, please contact the teacher as soon as possible and we will make an alternative arrangement otherwise you will receive details of times  during the week before the meetings.
Parent – teacher meetings for Junior Infants will take place in January 2019.

LEE STRAND
Again this year we received homework journals for all pupils in our school from Lee Strand.  We are very grateful to all students who brought in Mighty Mike tokens from Lee Strand Milk milk cartons and bottles and bar codes from Dawn Dairies and Ashgrove cartons and bottles during the year.  In order to provide free homework journals next year for all pupils we are asking for your help again this year to collect the tokens and you can send them to the school office.  Thank You

CUMANN NA mBUNSCOL FOOTBALL
On Friday 21st September, our school football team had a great win over Fossa N.S. The following Friday 28th September we played Nagle Rice, Milltown and won.  On Thursday 4th October we qualified for the County Semi-Final with a win over Lissivigeen N.S. The semi-final will be on Thursday 18th  Oct. at 1.00 p.m. in Farranfore and we will be playing Gaelscoil Aogáin, Castleisland. We thank their trainer Paudie Dineen for his work with the team.

SCHOOL BLOG REMINDER
This newsletter will be available to read on our blog.  http://hfnsrathmorekerry.blogspot.ie/ or google holyfamilynsrathmorekerry blog
Please log on to blog where you will find very valuable links to tips and advice for parents on Internet Safety.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS, TEL. NO
If any of your child/childrens’ details have changed e.g. address, contact details, illness, etc. please contact the school as soon as possible.   Thank You.

MOBILE PHONE NUMBERS
We have a facility for texting parents.  If you have not received any text message from Holy Family N.S. please let us know.  The text automatically goes to the mother’s mobile phone unless we have been instructed otherwise.  Thank you

DATES TO REMEMBER
Closing Date for Credit Union Art Competition – Friday 19th October
Maths week   -    13th to 21st October

Mission Service -  Mon. 22nd Oct. at 11.30am  

Book Fair – Mon., Tues. and Wed. 22nd, 23rd & 24th Oct.

Halloween Dress up Day – Thursday 25th October.
School Closed   -   Friday Oct. 26th   -   Presidential Election Day
Halloween Break:
Closed Monday 29th October to Friday 2nd November                 
Reopening: Monday 4th November
Drama Classes commence Tues. Nov. 6th
Talk for parents of First Communion children – Wed. Nov. 7th at 8pm in Holy Family N.S.
Parents Committee Bingo    -      Sat. November 10th   at 7.30pm in Community Centre
Parent Teacher meetings -  Tues. 13th  and Wed. 14th November
Talk for Parents of Confirmation children – Thurs. 15th Nov. at 7.30pm in Holy Family N.S.
First ‘Communion Programme Mass’ -  Sunday 18th November at 11.30am in the church          
Closed  Friday 7th December
Christmas Pageant – Thursday 13th Dec. and Friday 14th Dec.
Christmas Prayer Service for pupils and staff  -   Wed. 19th Dec. 2018
Christmas Holidays:
Closing for Christmas holidays on Friday December 21st
Closed Monday December 24th to Friday January 4th 2019
Re-opening Monday January 7th 2019