Holy Family N.S. Rathmore Co.Kerry P51 N290

NATIONAL FINAL OF CREDIT UNION SCHOOLS QUIZ

We are justifiably proud of our school U-13 quiz team who qualified for the National Credit Union finals at the R.D.S. in Dublin on Sunday April 12^th .  This is our second year in a row to get to the National Final. Getting to the R.D.S. is a huge achievement but to come second was like a dream come true. Congratulations to team members Ciara O’Keeffe, Maggie Buckley, Sean Burke O’Donoghue and Paraic Finnegan.  We congratulate them and their mentor Ms. Anne Marie Murphy for preparing the team so well.  The school wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the generous support the Credit Union have given us for this event.

CREDIT UNION

From 11^th to 15^th May is NATIONAL YOUTH SAVINGS WEEK.  We will run this savings promotion from today May 13^th to Fri. 29^th.    The aim of this is to encourage primary school children to understand the value of saving and become GR8 SAVERS.  To reward little savers a draw will take place in our school on Fri.. 29^th May.  Any child who buys saving stamps in our school up to and including Friday morning and who has bought saving stamps from 13^th May will be included in this draw.  Prizes sponsored by Rathmore & District Credit Union.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

First Holy Communion Mass for the 9 boys and 12 girls from second class will take place on Sat. 23^rd May at 11.00 a.m.  The choir is practising at present and we are very grateful to the children from 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes who have volunteered for the choir. 

PARENTS COMMITTEE UPDATE:

Anti-bullying Talk for Parents
On June 3^rd, (at 7.30 pm) the school will host a workshop for parents around the subject of Bullying. The session will deal with definitions of bullying, types of bullying, impacts of bullying.  It will also offer advice to parents on what they can do if their child is a victim of bullying, and if their child displays bullying behavior.  The Dept. of Education’s policy on Bullying at primary and post-primary will also be discussed. The workshop will be facilitated by Nogugu Mafu, who is a trainer with the National Parents Council Primary, responsible for Kerry and parts of Cork. She has been with NPC for the past 5 years but also works as a part time Family Support Worker with a Family Resource Centre in Tralee. Nogugu has a background in Education/Training and Facilitation, Community Development and Human Rights.      We advise that the workshop is NOT suitable for attendance by children, but encourage all parents and guardians to come along.

Family Fun Day

Following on last year’s successful fun day we are holding a Family Fun Day in the Holy Family School on Sunday June 21^st from 2 pm to 5pm. Further details will be sent home nearer to the event.  Please keep this date for your diary. 

We are looking for donations for our Bric a Brac Stall.  The following items would be much appreciated:

*Games  *DVDs  *Playstation Games  *Nintendo Games  *Toys  *Books 

*Unwanted gifts  *Football boots  *Household items – No Electric items

Items must be in good condition.  Please drop items into school office on or before Friday June 12^th.

If anybody would like to bake for the Family Day could you please give your name to Maureen in the school office. The Parents Committee are working hard to make it a wonderful day for everybody.

PRIMARY SCHOOLS FOOTBALL SKILLS COMPETITION

Padraig O’Doherty, James Darmody and Cian Dineen took part in the East Kerry competition on Monday and are through to the County  Skills competition. Mary Collins, Alexsandra Has and Madhbh Dennehy will be taking part in the Girls Divisional Final Girls Skills competition which will take place on Monday 25^th May in Glenflesk.

HURLING

Well done to our hurlers who won the Division 1 South Kerry Cumann na mBunscol competition.  They go on to play in the County Division 2 competition.  Team members are P.J. McAuliffe, James Darmody, Alan Dineen, Ian O’Connor, Cathal Ryan, Darragh O’Brien, Sean Burke O’Donoghue, Paraic Finnegan, William Casey and Dennis Mahoney.

GIRLS FOOTBALL

Our girls football team played their first game in the East Kerry Cumann na mBunscol competition against Currow recently and they play Cullina in the next round.

BASKETBALL

It has been a busy term for our basketballers.  Our Girls team have gone through to Plate Final and they will play Athea at Convent Gym in Killarney tonight at 7.30pm. The team members are Laura Cronin, Hannah Reen, Madhbh Dennehy, Lily Sheehan, Aoife Nagle, Mary Collins, Maggie Buckley and Caoimhe Dineen.  Thanks to Miriam Moynihan and Helen Dillane who look after and coach the team.

Our boys’ team play in the Cup final on Monday night next, same venue, time to be confirmed.  The team members are Alan Dineen, James Darmody, Ian O’Connor, P.J. McAuliffe, Cathal Ryan, Daniel Herlihy and Sean Burke O’Donoghue.  Thanks to Jamieson Hughes and Stephen Lehane from Rathmore Ravens and to Áine O’Donoghue who looked after the team.  

Glad to report that we now have provided new facilities for playing basketball in the upper yard and GP room.

We are currently using a Blog to display class activities, policies, enrolment, booklists. It also contains an interactive calendar showing school closure dates and important dates to remember. 

Please feel free to search for blog under hfnsrathmorekerry blog (all lower case and space between y and b).  www.oxfordowl.co.uk This website is free and a great one to support your children’s reading at home.  Helpful tips and activities to support reading also.  Log on and create an account. It  takes only a few minutes. One account will do whole family – give it a try.  Majority of books are free.

GREEN FLAG

We have been awarded our 5^th Green Flag and the theme was Biodiversity.  Ms. Bernie O’Sullivan and Diarmuid McCarthy along with 2 members of the Green Schools Committee, will attend the award ceremony in the Silver Springs Hotel, Cork on Tuesday 26^th May.  Congratulations and well done to the Green Schools Committee and their co-ordinators Mr. Paudie Dineen and Ms. Bernie O’Sullivan.  We would like to thank all parents for their support throughout the Biodiversity theme and especially Chris & Therese Barron for all their help.

IRD DUHALLOW RECORDING AND MAPPING PROJECT

Two representatives from IRD Duhallow made a presentation on wildlife on the Allow river to children from 4^th & 5^th classes. The DVD is available from the school on loan. The children in these classes are doing a recording and mapping project in their own townlands.

SCHOOL TOURS

The school tours timetable is as follows:  1^st and 2^nd classes school tour to Muckross, Killarney will take place on Friday 5^th June.  School tour for Junior & Senior Infants classes will take place on Tuesday June 9^th to Ivy Leaf Theatre in Castleisland to see ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ performed by the Talisman Theatre Group and afterwards to Crag Caves. 5^th and 6^th class tour to Killarney will take place on Tuesday 16^th June.  Third and Fourth Classes will be going to Tralee on Tuesday 23^rd June. Letters will be going out shortly to each class re timetable and cost. We hope that all pupils will enjoy their days.

CLOTHES BANK

The clothes bank will be back in place again shortly.

It was taken away in error by the company recently.

DATES TO REMEMBER

First Holy Communion – Sat 23^rd May at 11am

Closed  Fri May 22^nd  -  Referendum

Presentation Award of Green Flag – Tue 26^th May

Closed Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd June

Anti-bullyying talk for parents –

                                          Wed June 3^rd at 7.30pm

Family Fun Day –

Sunday June 21^st from 2pm to 5pm

Closing Friday 26th June, 2015

Please see school blog for next year’s calendar.