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                                      Newsletter

                                                                    Holy Family National School, Rathmore, Co. Kerry.

                                                         Tel. 064/7758492 

                                                          e-mail hfnsrathmorekerry@gmail.com

                                                            Blog: hfnsrathmorekerry blog

                                                                                                            28th March 2023


Dear Parents,

 

PARENTS COMMITTEE – QUIZ

The Parents Committee online Quiz is ongoing since last Wed. 22nd March and the closing date has been extended to Thursday 30th March.  It helps to raise funds for the various school activities such as music lessons weekly, gymnastics, etc.  We would greatly appreciate your support for this event.

 

DO THIS IN MEMORY MASS

The next ‘Do This in Memory’ Mass is on Holy Thursday 6th April at 6pm in Rathmore Church as part of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

 

Amber Flag

20th to 24th February, we celebrated Kindness Week. The Amber Flag Committee/Student Council did a great job helping school staff to identify pupils who were making an extra special effort to show kindness or engage in random acts of kindness.  From 1st to 5th May The Amber Flag Committee is excited to announce the activities we have planned for ‘Friendship Week’.

 

·       Monday- No school

·       Tuesday – Picture a world without bullying – children partake in a slogan/poster competition. To encourage children to express themselves and celebrate their individuality - Children may wear odd socks.

·       Wednesday – Team up against Bullying – children can wear jerseys/team colours.

·       Thursday – A Good friend is a dream come true- children are invited to wear pyjamas, dressing gowns, onesies etc.

·       Friday – Hairs to being a good friend – pupils are welcome to create crazy hair styles.

         Donations will be collected for Pieta House on Friday May 5th.

Thanks to Ms. Carmel Casey for all her work with the Amber Flag committee.

 

Green Schools

The theme for flag 8 is Global Citizenship and Marine. We recently planted an oak tree on the school grounds to mark Climate Action Week and classes engaged with webinars on Green Schools themes. We registered last week for the 'In My Shoes Charity Campaign'. This charity is very much in keeping with our theme of Global Citizenship. The idea is that pupils would bring in 'pre-loved' footwear, shoes, football boots, runners etc which would then be sent to less well-off children in Africa.

This campaign begins after the Easter holidays and we will send further details then. The campaign was very well supported in 2020 when we collected 153 pairs of footwear, we hope with your support to do as well again in 2023.

 

SWIMMING LESSONS (3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th Classes)

Swimming is part of the curriculum. We have organised swimming lessons for the boys and girls from Third to Sixth class for six days commencing Thurs. April 27th, and continuing on May 4th, 11th, 18th  and 25th,  and finishing on June 1st.  The children will be taken by bus to Glen Eagle Hotel and Leisure Centre, Killarney.  The cost of the lessons and transport will be €50 per child.  To reduce the cost, our Parents Committee are giving €1000 towards the cost. (Otherwise it would cost €60 per child.)  A big thank you to the Parents Committee for their fund-raising efforts and making this possible.  We will set up the epayment method for swimming and you can pay directly into our bank account or children can start bringing in the money when it is convenient.

Please ensure that children bring swim gear, caps and a towel on these days. No need for shampoo.  If your child has goggles he / she can bring them also. Whereas there are a number of hair dryers in the changing rooms, time does not allow for the complete drying of long hair.  It might be an idea if girls with long hair would try and prevent their hair from getting totally wet by wearing waterproof head gear that you might deem suitable. Some people find that a rubber swim hat is very useful for this purpose.    Even if your child has no previous experience of swimming, please try and encourage him / her to take part.  This course is being provided so that all children will have the opportunity to receive swimming instruction.  It will work best if all children take part.

 

LEE STRAND

We have renewed our efforts to collect 960 MIGHTY MIKE tokens before the end of May so that pupils from First to Sixth classes can avail of free homework journals. Ten tokens are required for each homework journal.  If each class collects just 15 tokens per week we will reach our target. Each class are making a great effort and we are encouraging all pupils to keep bringing in the tokens from the 100% renewable Lee Strand 1 litre and 2 litre milk carton only.  Family, neighbours and friends can also help.  Thank you.

After Easter we will introduce the Lee Strand Milk Programme. Children will be able to avail of getting ¼ litre carton of milk each day or they may get water instead if you so wish. We had this programme running up to March 2020 but because of Covid it was discontinued.  It is also in line with our health eating policy.

 

FREE SCHOOLBOOKS FOR ALL PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS

From September 2023, schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks for children in primary schools, will be provided to every child free by their school.  There is no need for parents to buy or rent these.  All children in their classes will have access to the schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks that they need.  The schoolbooks and workbooks will be on loan to the children.  They must be returned at the end of the school year, or if the child leaves the school.  It is important that books are kept in good condition so they can be re-used by another child. 

 

INTERNET SAFETY

Internet Safety Expert Ger Brick will work with the 4th, 5th & 6th class students on May 11th to remind them about the safe use of the internet.  He will also do a zoom with parents.  More information nearer the time.

 

 

 

RELATIONSHIP & SEXUALITY EDUCATION (R.S.E.)

5th & 6th classes will have the R.S.E. talks on Thurs. April 20th for 6th class and Tues. May 2nd for 5th class, with Sarah Meyler of “In My Own Shoes” programme.  She will provide the talk in line with the S.P.H.E. curriculum.

 

LANGUAGES CONNECT

Third to Sixth classes will enjoy an hour per week of French and German for 8 weeks after Easter with Ms. Mairead Golden.  This is funded by Post Primary Languages Ireland.  Thanks to Ms. Sarah Riordan for a successful application.

 

JUNIOR INFANTS 2023

We look forward to welcoming 20 Junior Infants in September 2023.  Enrolment forms are still available from the office.

 

SCHOOL TOURS

School tour for Second and Third classes takes place on Thursday June 1st. The venue is Nemo Rangers Park, Douglas, Cork and Lets Go Summer Schools are organising it.  School tour for 4th, 5th and 6th classes will take place on Friday 9th June.  They will take a boat trip across the lake and visit Kate Kearneys cottage and do the Black Valley walk. School tour for Junior Infants, Senior Infants and First classes will take place on Tuesday 13th June.  The venue is IT Tralee Kerry Sports Academy and Just 4 Fun school tours are organising it.  We will have more details on all tours nearer the dates.

 

School Self Evaluation

We are embedding our School Improvement Plan this year, which focuses on presentation.  To assist parents we are attaching a standardised letter formation page with the upper and lower case letters, which are taught from Junior Infants to Sixth Class.

 

CONFIRMATION

Congratulations to the 6th Class who received their Confirmation on Tuesday 14th February in Rathmore Church.  Bishop Ray Browne and Fr. Pat celebrated the sacrament and it was a very special day for all involved.  In addition, we wish to thank the children for their donation of €317 to the ‘Kerry Diocesan Project Fund’ charity.  Thanks to Mr. Dineen, Catherine Dillane and all the staff for preparing them so well.  A special thank you to the choir made up of pupils from 4th and 5th classes, Mrs. Moynihan for preparing them so well and to Mrs. Kelly for playing the organ.

 

PANCAKES

Sincere thanks to Linda O’Sullivan of Linda’s Café, Rathmore who visited the school on Tues. 21st Feb.  She provided sumptuous pancakes to all pupils and staff with a variety of toppings and accepted no payment.  We really appreciate this generous gesture to all the pupils and staff.   Thank you also to Marie Cleverley of the Parents Committee for assisting and helping out.  Pupils and staff enjoyed the treat.  Wednesday February 22nd was Ash Wednesday - the beginning of Lent. Staff members distributed ashes to the children on Ash Wednesday.  Also on Friday 3rd February staff members blessed the throats of pupils which was the feast of St. Blaise.

 

 

GYMNASTICS

Gymnastics began on Tuesday 31st January, for all classes in the school.  These classes are funded by the Parents Committee and finished on Tuesday 28th March.

 

HURLING / FOOTBALL

Colm O’Brien AND Vince Cooper the Kerry GDAs have been visiting the school providing hurling / football lessons to various classes this term. The children are enjoying practising their skills. 

 

WORLD BOOK DAY

World Book Day was Thursday 2nd March.  We enjoyed DEAR time in class (Drop Everything and Read).  During that week the senior side of the school met with the junior side for some paired reading in their classrooms and the senior children were invited to bring in a book the younger children might enjoy.  Children received vouchers to avail of some books in their local bookshop at a discounted rate.  On Friday 3rd March, the children were invited to dress up as a character from their favourite book. The Irish Community Air Ambulance benefited from the funds raised by the children which came to €355.78.  The costumes were wonderful – well done to all.  Thanks to Ms. O’Connell for coordinating.

 

SEACHTAIN NA GAEILGE

Seachtain na Gaeilge was celebrated from the 4th to 17th March at Holy Family N.S.  On Thursday 16th March, we had Lá Glas - pupils wore some green clothes on the day.  We had a lovely Ceolchoirm, where each class performed songs, poems, dances or tunes for each other. 

 

ARTS BLAST

Arts Blast (Bringing Live Arts to Students and Teachers) Residency has been taking place in our school.   The aim of this scheme is to give pupils in schools all over the country the opportunity to work with a professional artist on unique projects. Children in 2nd and 3rd classes have been participating for the last number of weeks with artist Dorota Borowa. The children have been lucky enough to experience painting on ice, working with charcoal and large scale painting with the very talented artist. It has been a very enjoyable experience for all.  Thanks to Ms. Maura Kelly on her successful application.

 

CONCERN PRIMARY DEBATING COMPETITION

Well done to the school debating team of: Grace O’Keeffe, Luke Healy, Cian Kennedy, Anthony Cahill, Evan Foley and Alesha O’Sullivan who represented the school very well in the Concern Primary debating competition meeting Ardfert N.S. and Tralee Educate Together in February.  We thank Ms Sarah Riordan for her guidance in preparing the team.

 

FIRST CONFESSION

First Confession took place on Wed. 1st March in the church for the first time since 2019.  Fr. Pat, Monsignor Dan Herlihy and Fr. Pat McCarthy heard the children’s First Confession.  Shrone school also joined us for the Sacrament.    Thanks to Maura Kelly and Maura Amy O’Connor, their teachers, who prepared them so well and to Mrs. Moynihan and Mrs. Casey for their help.  A big thank you to all the boys and girls in 4th, 5th and 6th classes who participated in the choir.  We wish to thank Mrs. Moynihan who prepared the choir and Maura O’Leary who played the organ on the night.   They sang very well and their participation added immensely to the occasion. Thanks to all the parents for bringing the children.

SCOIL PHOBAIL SLIABH LUACHRA MUSICAL

The Secondary school presented ‘Thank you for the Music’ an Abba inspired musical on Wednesday 15th March at 11.00 am.  Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth classes walked across to the Secondary School gym and enjoyed it immensely. 

 

Read and Raise

We ran a little readathon to coincide with World Book Week. 115 children registered and €2,604 was raised.  Well done to the pupils who logged 23,788 minutes reading.  €700 worth of new readers were purchased €900 worth of PE equipment for the school was purchased and the remainder will be used to restock the school libraries.  Each registered pupil received an Easter Egg as a token of appreciation. Thank you for your generous support.

 

CURIOUS MINDS SCIENCE AWARD

This year we are applying for our fifth award, the Platinum Award in recognition of all the work pupils, parents and teachers are putting into science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) activities in our school. We have engaged in numerous activities throughout the year: Maths Week, Science and Engineering Week, Coding Hour, chess as well as science experiments and engineering activities. 

Last Friday, third to sixth classes exhibited and demonstrated Science and Engineering experiments in their classroom to the pupils from Junior to Second classes. The children really enjoyed the teamwork and creativity involved. Thank you to Ms. Fitzgerald for organising it.

This week we welcome engineer Donal Moynihan to 5th and 6th classes to talk all things engineering.  This award would not be possible to achieve without the support of all the parents.  All of our activities can be viewed on the school blog. 

 

CHESS

Congratulations and well done to 16 of our pupils from 5th and 6th classes who represented our school in a Masters Chess Tournament ran by Ficheall. This is our first year entering a chess team in a tournament and all the children in 5th and 6th are only playing since October. 

The two teams played against 11 other teams and were placed in joint 3rd place. It was a fantastic achievement by them and well done to all the pupil's in 5th and 6th class who are now all playing chess. Thanks to Ms. Fitzgerald for organizing it. Thanks also to Miroslav Faltinek for helping with the Chess Teams and to the Parents Committee for purchasing Chess boards and chess sets.

 

CROSS COUNTRY RUNNING

Congratulations to the pupils from who took part in Cross Country running in Tralee on Wed. 8th March.  Pádraig O’Sullivan, Adam Cremin, Aodán Fitzgerald and Karl Thompson took part in the 3rd & 4th class race.  Cormac O’Sullivan took part in the 5th & 6th class race.  Well done and thanks to Mr. John Moynihan who organized it.   

 

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 news, school updates, pictures etc.

 

 

SOCCER LEAGUE 2023

Our annual soccer league has proven as popular as ever with both boys and girls from 3rd to 6th classes. The games are played with much enthusiasm and plenty of skill! Grace O'Keeffe’s team and Eimear Dennehy’s team will contest the Girls' Final. The boys' league has reached the semi final stage where Sean Moynihan’s team plays Evan Foley’s team and Callum O'Leary’s team plays Luke Healy’s team. Best of luck to all teams over next couple of weeks.

 

Allianz – Cumann na mBunscol Football MINI SEVENS FOOTBALL

The mini sevens football competition was played in Fossa GAA Grounds on Monday, March 13th. Despite monsoon conditions both boys' and girls' teams played some great football. We were grouped with Fossa NS, Faha NS and Firies NS. The standard was very high and although we didn't progress to the second phase we were very proud of the efforts of all players on the day.  Thanks to Mr. Paudie Dineen for preparing them.  Well done to Jeremiah O’Connor and Grace O’Keeffe who represented the school at the Primary Game trials in Killarney recently.

 

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.

 

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.

 

SPEED LIMIT

Parents, please adhere to 15km speed limit.  We remind parents to drive slowly and with extreme care on the school grounds at all times.

Thank you.

 

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

School begins at 9.10am.  Doors open at 9am. School ends at 2.50 pm.  The school authority will not be responsible for children on the school grounds outside of these hours.  If your child is absent or has to leave school for part of the day, please send in a note informing the class teacher of his/her absence.  Children must be signed out by whoever is collecting them if they leave for part of the day.  Again if the child is returning to school, they must be signed in by whoever is returning them.  There is a book for this purpose near the main door. 

 

 

CREDIT UNION ART COMPETITION

Congratulations to Tiernan Moynihan Senior Infants who won the U7 category.  His entry was put forward for the Chapter finals in the Manor West Hotel, Tralee. Well done Tiernan!

 

 

CREDIT UNION QUIZ

Rathmore & District Credit Union held their annual quiz on Sunday 29th Jan. 2 teams represented our school – U11: Ciara McCarthy, Cian Cronin, Tim Dineen and Evan Burke  U13: Damien Nagle, Cormac O’Sullivan, Callum Dineen and Christopher McNamara. They did our school proud. Thanks to Anne Marie Murphy for organizing and preparing both quiz teams.

 

EASTER HOLIDAYS

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE SCHOOL WILL CLOSE ON THIS FRIDAY 31st MARCH FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS

 

DATES TO REMEMBER

 

·       Parents Committee Quiz – Wed. March 22nd to Thurs. March 30th

·       School closing on Friday 31st March for Easter holidays.

·       Easter Break – School closed Monday 3rd April to Friday 14th April 2023.

·       School re-opens Monday 17th April 2023.

·       R.S.E. talk on Thurs. April 20th for 6th class

·       Swimming Lessons – Thurs April 27th

·       First Communion – Sat. 29th April, 2023 in St. Joseph’s Church, Rathmore

(On Sun. 30th April – refreshments will be served in Teach Iosagain after 11.30am Mass for the Holy Communion children and their families)

·       School closed - Monday 1st May 2023 (May Bank Holiday).

R.S.E. talk Tues. May 2nd for 5th class

·       Swimming Lessons – Thursday May 4th, 11th, 18th & 25th.  June 1st.

·       Internet Safety – 4th, 5th & 6th classes – Thursday 11th May plus zoom with parents

·       School Tour 2nd & 3rd classes – Thursday June 1st

·       School closed - Monday 5th June 2023 (June Bank Holiday).

·       School closed – Tuesday 6th June 2023 –Staff In-Service Day

·       School Tour 4th, 5th & 6th classes – Friday 9th June.

·       School Tour Junior Infants, Senior Infants & First Classes – Tuesday June 13th

·       School closing Friday 23rd June 2023 for Summer Holidays.

 

If during the school year there are any changes to school closure, we will let you know.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter

Guímid Cásca shona díbh go léir

From all the staff at Holy Family N.S.