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                                                                    Holy Family National School, Rathmore, Co. Kerry.
                                                         Tel. 064/7758492 
                                                          e-mail hfnsrathmorekerry@gmail.com
                                                            Blog: hfnsrathmorekerry blog
                                                                                                              4th March 2019
Dear Parents,
CREDIT UNION QUIZ
2 teams represented our school in the Chapter 23 Quiz last  Sunday 3rd March in Tralee. The U-11 Team were Jack Casey, Eoin Cashman, Ava Kelleher and Cian O’Connell. The U13 Team were Liam O’Keeffe, Amy Donnelly, Katie Rea and Grace Murphy. The U11 team claimed third place in their category.  All pupils did us proud on the day. We congratulate all involved and their teacher Anne Marie Murphy.

LENT
Next Wednesday March 6th is Ash Wednesday - the beginning of Lent. The school support team will visit our school on Ash Wednesday and distribute ashes to the children.  
For forty days that follow, leading to Easter, we try to make more space for God in our lives.  Lent is an opportunity to become closer to God, to let Him into our hearts.  There are different ways we can do this.  There are four ways in particular that we can place God at the centre of our lives.  WE CAN...
PRAY:           Spend more time with God in prayer.
DO:                             Show our love for God by doing something extra.
DO:                             Show our love for Jesus by giving something up.
ACT:              Helping and caring for others, as Jesus would want us to do.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE
Holy Family N.S. will be taking part in the Rathmore Parade on next Sunday 10th March at 2 p.m., assembling at the Credit Union at 1.30 p.m.  The theme for this year’s parade is ‘Education: Past, Present & Future’.  This year, again, Paudie Cronin, on behalf of MC Group is providing us with an arctic trailer to accommodate the school band.  We would appreciate if parents could volunteer to help out our Parents Committee to decorate the float.  The arctic truck will be on the school grounds at 11am on Sunday 10th before the parade. If you are free at this time please come along. 
The children from fourth, fifth and sixth classes will perform tunes on the float and the rest of the children are invited to march behind the lorry. This week children are busy practicing their music for the parade. A number of children want to participate in the parade with other groups also on the day.  We have asked that the order of the parade will facilitate this and as soon as children reach O’Keeffe’s XL shop they will be free to leave our group and join whatever group they wish.  Please collect children as soon as possible after they finish.  The children will dress in their full uniform and it would be nice if they could wear green hat/ribbon to add to the occasion.
FIRST CONFESSION
First Confession takes place on Wed. 13th March at 8pm (after Mass) in the Church.

SEACHTAIN NA GAEILGE
As we celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge (4th to 17th March) at Holy Family N.S. we would urge parents to encourage their children to use ‘cúpla focal’ at home. Ba chóir go mbeadh meas mór againn ar ár dteanga féin. Labhair í agus mairfidh sí.  
ENROLMENT
Enrolment of new pupils took place last Friday March 1st.  We had a lovely day. We wish to thank all the parents who came in to help out with refreshments for all the new parents.   

CHOIR
A big thank you to all the boys and girls in 4th and 5th classes who participated in the choir for the Confirmation on Tues. Feb. 19th.  We wish to thank Mrs. Brenda Moynihan who prepared the choir for the Confirmation.   Their participation added immensely to the occasion. Our next outing with the choir will be for the First Confession ceremony on Wed. 13th March. 


PARENTS COMMITTEE UPDATE:
OUR ANNUAL TABLE QUIZ TAKES PLACE ON THURSDAY 11th APRIL 7.30PM – 9.30pm IN THE SCHOOL.  IT WILL BE DIVIDED INTO 2 CATEGORIES 3rd & 4th CLASSES AND 5th & 6th  CLASSES.  TEAMS OF 4 - €5 PER STUDENT - €20 PER TABLE.  RAFFLE ALSO ON THE NIGHT WITH VALUABLE PRIZES TO BE WON.  PLEASE  SUPPORT
If anyone would like to donate a raffle prize it would be welcome.

GYMNASTICS
Gymnastics began on Tuesday 26th Feb. for all classes in the school.  These classes are being funded by the Parents Committee and will run each Tuesday up to Tuesday 2nd April.  Tracksuit bottoms to be worn by children on Tuesdays for gymnastics.  We hope the children will enjoy these lessons. 

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, Tracksuit Thursday, Wake Up! Shake Up! and pupils are being given active homework.  Parents are asked to encourage their children to actively engage with these physical activities at home. We had our first ‘Tracksuit Thursday’ last Thursday and all children and staff enjoyed participating in our running initiative.
More activities are planned for the coming months. The school will also be holding an Active School’s Week in the last term- Tues. 7th to Fri. 10th May. We would welcome parental involvement, so if any parents have expertise in any areas of physical activity please contact the school.

GREEN SCHOOLS
We are continuing work on our seventh flag.  We thank the transition year students of Scoil Phobail Sliabh Luachra who collaborated with the school recently on the theme of Global Citizenship and Energy.

            WORLD BOOK DAY
World Book Day is Wednesday 6th March.  This week we will be enjoying DEAR time in class (Drop Everything and Read).  The senior side of the school will visit the junior side for some paired reading and the senior children are invited to bring in a book the younger class may enjoy.  There will also be vouchers for each child to avail of some books in their local bookshop at a discounted rate.

SPRING CLEAN
We look forward to the National Spring Clean.  More details to follow.

ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICINE
Any child who needs to take medicine on a day to day basis e.g. inhalers for asthma or antibiotics, must now
do so themselves under supervision of the class teacher.  Medicine to be brought to the class teacher properly labeled in a container to be safely stored.  Parents / Guardians of such children must contact the teacher and fill out a form.  This form is available in the school.

SCHOOL MEDICAL SERVICES
Please note that eye care, hearing and dental services are available free of charge to all primary school children.  If you need any information please contact the school.

SCHOOL BLOG
Please log in to school blog frequently where you will find links and information on Internet Safety, homework etc.  We would remind parents that it is important to supervise children while online.  http://hfnsrathmorekerry blogspot.ie/ 
SCHOOL TOURS
The dates for our school tours this year are as follows:

                                    Junior to 2nd Classes       -      Thursday 20th June
                                    Third to Sixth Classes     -      Friday 17th May



IRD DUHALLOW LITERACY / NUMERACY SUPPORT PROGRAMME

IRD Duhallow offers a literacy support programme for primary school children with Dyslexia and Dyspraxia, consisting of two strands:  Literacy Workshops and TTRS.
IRD are piloting a new initiative offering a numeracy support programme for primary school children struggling with maths.
(Subsidies are available for those in receipt of a welfare payment or who hold a medical card.  To register contact Louise at 029-60633 / email: louise.bourke@irdduhallow.com




DATES TO REMEMBER

Ash Wednesday – Wednesday 6th March – Ashes will be distributed to the children in school
First Confession – Wednesday 13th March at 8.00pm in the Church
Closed Friday March 15th – St. Patrick’s weekend
Closed Monday 18th March – Public Holiday for St. Patrick’s Day
Easter Holidays:
Closing Friday 12th April at 12 noon
Closed from Monday 15th April to Friday 26th April
Reopening Monday 29th April
First Communion - Sat. 4th May at 11am
Closed Monday 6th May – May Bank Holiday
Swimming lessons begin on Thursday 9th May
Tuesday 7th to Friday 10th May -  Active Schools Week
Closed Monday 3rd &Tuesday 4th June - June Bank Holiday weekend
Closing Thursday 27th June, 2019