Holy Family National School
Rathmore, Co.
Kerry
Tel. 064/7758492
Mobile: 086/1806018
e-mail hfnsrathmorekerry@gmail.com
http://hfnsrathmorekerry.blogspot.ie/
6th September 2018
Dear Parents,
We welcome everybody back from their summer holidays and pray that
the children in our care will be happy and that they will grow in knowledge and
understanding during the year ahead.
NEW PRINCIPAL
I would like to thank everybody for the
warm welcome to Holy Family National School. I look forward to working with you
in the years ahead. A good relationship with parents and the local community is
something I value highly and in working together we will ensure the best
interest of each child is provided for. Please do not hesitate to contact me if
ever there is an issue causing you concern.
Paul Horan
BEGINNING OF YEAR SCHOOL MASS
The beginning of
year school mass will be celebrated on next Tuesday 11th September in the
church at 9.30 am. We will be
leaving the school at 9.15am and if children arrive after this time please
bring them to the church. Children who
do not wish to attend the Mass may come to school at 10.30 am on the day but
are also welcome to join us in church. Everybody
welcome.
JUNIOR INFANTS
Junior Infants
go home at 12.00 noon for the first two weeks of school. From Monday 17th September they
will go home at 1.50p.m. There will be a
meeting in the school for parents of Junior infants on Thursday night 13th
September at 7.30pm.
NEW SCHOOL MOBILE
The school has a new mobile number (086) 1806018. This will be used on
school trips and outings. You may also
ring this number if the office cannot be reached.
CREDIT UNION
SAVINGS STAMPS
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE CREDIT UNION NO LONGER PROVIDES THE SERVICE OF SAVING
STAMPS TO OUR SCHOOL. Please
ensure that if your children have saving stamp books, they need to be returned
to Rathmore Credit Union Office for reimbursement before 15th Sept 2018.
PUPIL PERSONAL ACCIDENT
INSURANCE
Pupil Personal Accident Insurance forms attached for
your child(ren). You can pay by
cash/cheque and we will also set up epayments. If you are paying by cash or
debit/credit card, please complete a
form for your child(ren) and
return to the class teacher before the end of September. People are free to avail of it if they
wish.
PHOTOGRAPHS / VIDEO
Please
note that people do not have permission to take photographs or video children
in the school or at school events.
PARENTS COMMITTEE
ELECTION
We will be electing
new parent representatives for Junior Infants, First, Third and Fifth classes. Ballot papers will be issued to these classes
shortly.
The work done
by the Parents Committee at HFNS should never be underestimated. The members of
our Parents Committee require your help from time to time and I would encourage
everyone to help out if at all possible. “Ní neart go cur le Chéile” Unity is
strength, when parents volunteer to help out with the work of the Parents
Committee it is much appreciated, it is not fair that a small number of parents
should do all of the work. Last year the Parents Committee funded Drama
Lessons, Music Lessons, Gymnastics and subsidised swimming lessons. In the past they have also subsidised the
Book Rental Scheme.
PARENTS COMMITTE - FAMILY BINGO NIGHT
As the Family Bingo Night was such a tremendous
success last year, the Parents Committee plan to run another fundraising Bingo
night this year. It will probably take
place in Rathmore Community Centre in October (Date to be decided). If anybody would like to sponsor a prize for
Bingo games or raffle please let us know as soon as possible.
MUSIC/DRAMA
LESSONS
Henry
Cronin will start music lessons with 1st, 2nd and 3rd
classes on Thursday 20th September.
We hope that lessons for 4th 5th.and 6th
classes with Pádraig Moynihan will recommence after mid-term break. We wish
Padraig a speedy recovery to full health. Every boy and girl from 1st
to 6th classes are encouraged to learn to play a musical
instrument. Generation “D” tin whistles
are available from the school @ €8 each.
If you wish your child to learn accordion or fiddle you would need to
provide these instruments yourselves.
We
also hope to organise Drama lessons and Gymnastics for all the children in the
school and this will also be sponsored by the Parents Committee.
TEAM TEACHING
Team teaching may involve withdrawal of groups of
pupils from class and we do not ask for permission slips for this whereas if a
child is withdrawn from class for SEN teaching we do require parents to sign a
permission slip. It is important that
parents understand that if a child is being withdrawn for team teaching, it is
not the same as being withdrawn for Special Education. If you have any concerns please contact the
Principal.
FIRST COMMUNION AND
CONFIRMATION
First Comunion for Holy Family N.S. takes place on Sat 4th
May at 11am in Rathmore church.
Confirmation date has not been confirmed yet. There will be an Enrolment Ceremony for First
Communion and Confirmation children in October, date to be confirmed. There
will be a talk for parents of all the First Communion children of the parish in
Holy Family N.S. on Tuesday November
6th at 7.30pm. Date for
Talk for parents of Confirmation children to be confirmed. The Diocesan communion programme begins on
Sun. 18th November at 11.30am Mass. (We will let you know of dates for the above
when they are confirmed.)
E-PAYMENT SYSTEM
The
ePayment system is up and running. A lot of parents are using the system for the
different contributions. Certainly it has streamlined the collection of monies
and made it easier for both teachers and administration staff. There are still
a few little glitches such as repeat texts to some parents but we ask you to ignore
if you have already paid. Of course you
can still pay by cash/cheque and receipts will be issued by the class teacher
for all monies received. Please place
money in an envelope and write child’s
name and what money is for on the envelope.
LIBRARY
The
Mobile Library will visit our school on Thursday 13th September and will
visit the Rathmore area once a month until further notice. 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.
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. This is very important now that we have set up
the e-Payment system. 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.
ATTENDANCE
School begins at 9.10 a.m. and ends
at 2.50 p.m. The school authority will
not be responsible for children on the school grounds outside of these
hours. If your child 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 copy for this purpose near the
main door. This has been introduced for
the safety of your children.
UNIFORMS
Congratulations
to pupils and parents on the way children are dressed in their proper school
uniform including the wearing of black shoes. From time to time children mislay their
jumpers, cardigans and jackets during
the school day. To ensure that they find
their own item of clothing please
ensure that jumpers, cardigans and jackets are marked with child’s name.
HEALTHY LUNCHES
We are
encouraging a healthy lunch. To that end we discourage chocolate and sweets. Chewing gum, fizzy drinks, and crisps,
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.
PARKING/TRAFFIC CONTROL – SPEED
RAMPS
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.
Please note that
cars must not park on the bus route and cars must never be abandoned where they
could obstruct other traffic. If you need to leave your car so that you
can come in to visit the school, then please park in the car park on the site
of the old Boys’ School down near the road. We feel that children in first
and second class may be too young to walk down to the car park or main gate on
their own when school finishes. In the
interest of children’s safety it would be best if younger children were
collected at main door.
We have speed
ramps installed to remind drivers to drive slowly and carefully at all times on
the school grounds. Please also remind
children that there is a lot of traffic at opening and closing times and they
need to use the footpaths and not run onto the road and also to be careful in
the car park area during these times.
VISITING
THE SCHOOL
If
you need to meet a teacher at any time, please make an appointment by ringing
the school before hand.
NATIONAL EDUCATION
WELFARE BOARD
Please remember that schools are
now legally bound to notify the National Education Welfare board if pupils are
absent from school in excess of twenty days.
Please note we require a written note on each
occasion your child is absent explaining the reason for absence. The note should be written on a separate
piece of paper so that it can be kept in the pupil’s file.
DANU AFTERSCHOOL
SERVICE
If
your child will be attending Danu Afterschool Service please send in a note to
that effect so that we can put same on file. If anyone wants to avail of this
service please contact
Siobhán
at 064/7758700.
LEE STRAND
We are very grateful to Lee Strand who have provided free
homework journals to our school for the past 6 years. For the past 3 years we collected ten tokens
for each homework journal. It was a
whole school effort and we were able to get a free homework journal for each pupil
in the school. We wish to thank all the
parents, their relations and neighbours for sending in all the tokens. Again this year we are asking you to send in
milk tokens so that we can avail of free homework journals for all pupils next
year. The tokens to collect are Mighty Mike tokens
from Lee Strand milk cartons and bottles.
They will also accept the bar code from Dawn Dairies cartons and
bottles. As you collect the tokens you
can send them to the school office.
SCHOOL BLOG
On the blog
there is information for parents in the “Parent Zone” e.g. Internet Safety
tips, how to help your children with homework, etc. For the children there are useful links to
websites in the Maths and English section.
Click the “latest posts” for most recent entries on the blog. Pictures of recent class activities will be
posted from time to time.
This newsletter
will be available under “Current Newsletter” to read on our blog. http://hfnsrathmorekerry.blogspot.ie/
or google holyfamilynsrathmorekerry blog
BOOK RENTAL
Our scheme works very well and significantly reduces the
cost of buying school books for families.
It is important to remember that children are not allowed write on or
mark book rental books.
BOOK
FAIR
Celtic
Book Fair will be in our school from 22nd to 24th
October. Children will have an
opportunity to preview the books on 18th and 19th
October. More details later.
RATHMORE
RAVENS BASKETBALL CLUB
Registration
night for Rathmore Ravens Basketball club takes place on Friday 7th
September in Teach Iosagain Canteen from 8 to 9pm. New Members welcome.
THANK
YOU
I want to thank you all most sincerely for
your contributions to the celebrations around my retirement. The wonderful memories created for me around
all of these events will live with me for years to come. My retirement Mass was
beautiful and I really appreciate all the hard work that went into it. The kind words and good wishes expressed by
staff, parents and pupils were very much welcomed. I was overwhelmed by the
very generous presentations made to myself and my wife Sheila. A big thank you to all who organised the
refreshments afterwards I particularly enjoyed my last day at Holy Family N.S.,
the guards of honour, planting a tree and the vintage car.
As I begin a new phase of my life I have wonderful
memories of the 44 years in my career. I
have particularly fond memories of my years spent in St. Josephs Boys N.S. and
the Holy Family N.S. The amalgamation of
the Convent Primary School and St. Josephs B.N.S. into Holy Family N.S. was one
of the highlights of my career. I wish
to register my gratitude to the parents and staff of both schools for their
help and co-operation.
I wish Paul Horan every success in his new
post and I know with the help and co-operation of the excellent staff, parents
and pupils at Holy Family N.S. the school can only go from strength to
strength.
Guím Rath Dé oraibh go léir ag tosach na
scoil bliana nua.
Míle
Buíochas. Diarmuid McCarthy
Dates to Remember 2018 –
2019
School opens Thursday 30th August, 2018
Beginning of School year Mass -
Tues. 11th September @ 9.30am in the church
Mobile Library - Thursday 13th September
Please redeem Credit Union
Savings Stamps at Rathmore Credit Union by Sat. 15th September
Junior Infants go home for
first 2 weeks at 12 – From Mon. 17th Sept. They go home at 1.50pm
Music lessons for 1st 2nd
& 3rd classes begin on Thurs. September 20th
Scholastic Book Fair at school Mon.
22nd to Wed. 24th October
Closed Friday 26th October, 2018 (Polling
Day)
Music lessons for 4th, 5th
& 6th classes begin after mid-term
Talk for First Communion
parents in Holy Family NS on Tues. Nov. 6th @ 7.30pm
Diocesan Communion programme
begins Sun. 18th Nov. at 11.30am Mass Rathmore
Presentation Day mass on Wed.
21st November at 9.30am in the church
Closed Friday 7th December
Closing Friday 21st December for Christmas
Holidays
Closed Monday 24th December to Friday 4th
January, 2019
Re-opening Monday 7th January, 2019
Closed Thursday and Friday 21st and 22nd
February
Closed Friday 15th March
Closed Monday 18th March (Public Holiday)
Closing Friday 12th April for Easter
Holidays
Closed 15th April to 26th April,
2019
Re-opening Monday 29th April, 2019
First Communion – Sat 4th
May 2019
Closed Monday 6th May
Closed Monday and Tuesday 3rd and 4th
June
Closing Thursday 27th June for Summer
Holidays
Holy Family N.S. were delighted to welcome past pupils; Darragh Rahilly, Dan Murphy & David Dineen along with Owen Fitzgerald from Gneeveguilla with the Tommy Markham Cup.
Congratulations on the fantastic achievement of winning an All Ireland Medal with the Kerry Minors.
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