Newsletter
Holy Family School,
Rathmore, Co. Kerry.
Tel. 064/7758492 Fax. 064/7758499
e-mail hfnsrathmore@eircom.net
School
Blog: hfnsrathmorekerry blog
10th
December 2015
Dear Parents
LOCAL ST. VINCENT de PAUL
FOOD APPEAL
To help the
Christmas appeal of the local organisation of St. Vincent de Paul we have
placed boxes in the entrance hall so that non perishable items can be put into
them. The boxes will be collected from the school on Friday 11th December.
The following
is a list of acceptable items:
Any tinned or
dried food, soup, sugar, cereal, porridge, tea, drinking chocolate, pasta, jam,
ketchup/sauces, biscuits, cakes, sweets, chocolates, jelly, custard, cornflour,
bisto, kitchen paper, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc.
This appeal has been very successful in the past in our school and parents have been very
generous. The local SVP organisation do great work in our community and give
hampers to families who are in need over the Christmas period. Their annual
Church Gate Collection will be taken up on the weekend of 12th/13th
December at all Churches in the parish. It is their only fundraiser during the
year. Thank You.
NEW
BOARD OF MANAGEMENT
Our new Board of
Management met for the first time
on Wednesday 9th
December. The following are the members of the board:
Mrs Lena Kelleher (Chairperson),
Diarmuid Desmond,
John Kennedy
(Treasurer), Carmel Healy,
Pat Fitzgerald, Mary
Woods
Diarmuid McCarthy
(Secretary), Philomena O’Connell
We would like to
express our gratitude to all for accepting their positions on the new Board.
A big thank you to all
the Members of the outgoing Board for their dedication and commitment.
SPECIAL MASS FOR
COMMUNION AND CONFIRMATION CHILDREN
Reminder that Mass for Communion and Confirmation children is on Sunday,
December 13th at 11.30 a.m.
We would appreciate if as many choir members as possible could
attend.
USEFUL LINKS
Since September each class has been
integrating ICT into the Maths
Curriculum and there is now a link on the School Blog to these Maths Websites
for children to use at home. We would encourage parents to use these regularly
with their children to help with their maths.
Glad to report there have been almost 2,000
views to our Blog over the last month. Remember the Newsletter is also
available on Blog.
CHRISTMAS GIFTS
We wish to
advise parents that the staff of our school do not expect presents from
children. Therefore, we would ask you
not to be buying presents for members of staff as we feel that families have more
than enough to deal with at these times.
CHRISTMAS CARDS
While we know that children enjoy giving Christmas cards we feel
that these are also an unnecessary expense.
If they still want to give Christmas cards they could make their own at
home. They are much nicer.
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
On leaving school it would be best if cars
turn left at school gate and exit onto main road by Bridge Bar. Effectively, we should treat road in front of
old boys’ school as a one-way system at school opening and closing times –
traffic entering by Day Care Centre and exiting by Bridge Bar. But be careful because some traffic coming
from Rathbeg Cross may turn right towards the school.
PARENTS COMMITTEE
CHRISTMAS RAFFLE
The Parents Committee will be organising a Christmas Raffle. Tickets
will be available to pupils week commencing Dec. 14th . Our Student Council members will coordinate
this event and thanks to our parents committee for organising prizes.
The
Church gate collection for Holy Family N.S.
took place on 24th/25th October,
2015. before all masses in Rathmore Church.
We wish to thank everyone who helped to organise it and a big thank you
to all who contributed. The amount
collected was €690.43.
Upcoming Fundraiser for Parents Committee Bag Packing Fri. 12th Feb. 4pm to 10pm and Sat. 13th Feb. 9am
to 1pm in Tesco, Park Road, Killarney.
We will be looking
for as many adult volunteers as possible to cover 2 hour sessions. More information nearer the time.
STUDENT COUNCIL
Student Council has been set up. They will help out with the school Christmas
Raffle organised by the Parents’ Committee and other school events.
GREEN SCHOOLS
Green Flag No. 6 Global Citizenship and a
revision of litter and Waste (Green Flag No 1)
A new Green Schools Committee has been formed with representatives from
all classes from senior infants to sixth class. They will work on this theme
for the next two years. Best wishes to Green Schools coordinators Mr. Dineen
amd Ms Bernie O’Sullivan and the members of new committee.
ACTIVE
SCHOOLS
Our school has begun the process of working
towards achieving the Active School Flag this year. This process will involve a
number of active initiatives during the year culminating in an Active School
Week in the early summer. As some parental involvement would be required, we
would be grateful if all parents could be supportive of our attempt to obtain
the Active Flag. In addition, if any parents would be interested in giving
talks or providing support in any area of physical activity we would love if
you could contact us.
Our launch event will take place on Friday
11th December so if you are visiting the school, make sure to Drop Everything
and Dance! All pupils are asked to wear school tracksuits on the day.
More events and initiatives will be taking
place during the year and you can keep up with the latest Active School news on
our school blog hfnsrathmorekerry blog or on the Active School noticeboard.
We thank Ms O’Donoghue and Ms Dillane for
coordinating our Active Schools initiative and wish them and their committee
the best of luck.
CHRISTMAS LEAGUE
Teams have
been selected for the boys and girls Christmas League. Games are well under way but progress is slow
due to weather conditions.
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.
We need at least 2000 tokens in order to be eligible for free homework
journals. Please do your best to collect
the tokens and you can send them to the school office.
FÍS FILM SUCCESS
Congratulations to Ms. O’Donoghue and last
years’ sixth class whose project ‘Patrick O’Connor’s Fight
for Freedom’
was highly commended in film making and received an Ipod for the school in
recognition of their work.
MISSIONARY MAGAZINES
Thank you to all the boys and girls who help to distribute and
collect the subscription for the Far East and Messenger magazines during the
year. Orders are being renewed presently
for Messenger (€18) and Far East (€10).
We are asking the boys and girls who distribute the magazines to bring
back the renewal subscription envelopes as soon as possible. Thank you.
JUNIOR INFANTS PARENT /
TEACHER MEETINGS
Parents of Junior Infants will receive
appointments for end of January start of February, to meet with Mrs. McMahon.
HAND HYGIENE
Paper towel dispensers have been installed
in all classrooms and toilet areas in the school. There is no longer any need for children to
bring their own hand towels to school.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Special Mass for Communion and Confirmation
Children – Sun. 13th Dec. 11.30am in Church
Christmas Holidays:
Closing for Christmas holidays on Tuesday
22nd December at 12 noon. Bus will run at this time.
Closed Wednesday 23rd December to Wednesday
6th January, 2016
Reopening Thursday 7th January, 2016
Bag Packing – Tesco – Fri 12th & Sat
13th February
Confirmation Tues 16th Feb at 3.30pm
Closed Thursday 18th and Friday 19th
February
Easter Holidays:
Closing Wednesday 16th March
Closed from Thursday 17th March to
Friday 1st April
Reopening Monday 4th April
Closed Monday 2nd May
First Communion Sat. 21st May at 11am
Closed Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th June
Closing Thursday 30th June, 2016