Newsletter
Holy
Family National School
Rathmore,
Co. Kerry
Tel.
064/7758492 Mobile: 086/1806018
e-mail hfnsrathmorekerry@gmail.com
http://hfnsrathmorekerry.blogspot.ie/
27th November
2019
Dear Parents,
BOARD OF MANAGEMENT ELECTION
Thank you to parents who attended meeting on 18th
November. Carmel Healy and John Kennedy have
been re-elected as Parents’ Nominees.
.
The following are Members of the Board of Management for the
term 2019 to 2023:
Chairperson - Lena Kelleher
Secretary - Paul Horan
Patron’s Nominee -
Diarmuid Desmond
Teacher’s Nominee - Grace Fitzgerald
Parents’ Nominee - John Kennedy and Carmel Healy
Community Nominees - Two members of the Community will
be
added next week
PARENTS’ COMMITTEE REPORT 2018/2019
The following
are the Members of the Parents’ Committee for the year 2019 – 2020:
Junior
Infants - Emma
Buckley
Senior Infants - Michael O’Riordan
First Class
- Paula McCarthy
Second Class - Michael O’Sullivan
Third Class - Mary Buttimer
Fourth Class - Caterina Cronin
Fifth Class - Sheila Rahilly
Sixth Class - Colin O’Leary
B.O.M. - John Kennedy
B.O.M. - Carmel Healy
We thank Michael
O’Riordan, Michael O’Sullivan, Caterina Cronin and Colin O’Leary for agreeing
to serve for the coming year. We welcome
as new representatives for Junior Infants – Emma Cooper Buckley, First Class–
Paula McCarthy, Third Class– Mary Buttimer and Fifth Class – Sheila Rahilly for
this year. We also take this opportunity
to thank very sincerely Eileen Hartnett, Tara Healy, Catherine Daly and Sinead
Daly for their dedicated service to Holy Family N.S.
The function of the Parents Committee is to support the
activities of the school and also to represent the views of parents and
guardians on relevant matters. The bulk
of our activity is fundraising and to date the funds raised have provided
weekly music lessons for every child from 1st through to 6th
classes. Dancing, drama and gymnastics classes are also funded by the Parents
Committee. This year the Junior and
Senior Infants will also benefit from Drumming Workshops for five weeks
commencing in January. Funds raised also
subsidised swimming lessons. Funds were also used to purchase five iPads for
use in the classrooms. The school added
an additional three and all eight are being used for Station Teaching in each
classroom. First class shared some of
their thoughts on them:
Eve: “I
like maths fight and book creator on the iPad.
The iPads are fun”.
Andrew: “My favourite app is
Bee bot because I like coding”.
Evan: “I like the iPads because we get to
play Wordscapes. It is a word game
where
you match words out of five letters”.
The fundraising
activities and funds raised for the year 2018-2019 are presented below. We
would like to thank everybody for their ongoing support of these activities,
and also the many sponsors that provide prizes and assistance.
|
Activity
|
Date
|
Amount Raised (€)
|
|
Church Gate Collection
|
October 2018
|
754.00
|
|
Bingo
|
November 2018
|
5244.45
|
|
Christmas Raffle
|
December 2018
|
1789.80
|
|
Quiz
|
March 2019
|
597.50
|
|
Sponsored Walk
|
June 2019
|
2947.15
|
|
Used Clothing Collection
|
June 2019
|
560.00
|
|
Total
|
|
11,892.90
|
LOCAL ST. VINCENT de
PAUL FOOD APPEAL
To help
the Christmas appeal of the local organisation of St. Vincent de Paul we have
placed a large box in the entrance hall so that non-perishable items can be put
into them. The boxes will be collected
from the school on Monday 9th 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 does
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 weekend 7th/8th December at all
Churches in the parish. It is their only fundraiser during the year. Thank You.
CHRISTMAS SING ALONG
As you are aware we have a Christmas Play
every second year in Holy Family N.S.
This year is not the year for the Play but we would like to spread a
little Christmas cheer. We invite
parents to our Christmas Sing Along on Tuesday 17th December at 7.00
p.m. and Wednesday 18th December at 12 noon in the school, the
performance will include all classes and will last for an hour approx. We encourage parents who are in a position to
take time off work to attend on the Wednesday as our Hall can only accommodate
limited numbers.
The Parents Committee will host a raffle at both performances.
CHRISTMAS LEAGUE
Teams for our
Christmas League have been picked and the children from third to sixth classes
are looking forward to participating.
CHRISTMAS CARDS
A total of
125 children responded to designing/colouring the template for the Christmas
Card. These have been sent away. This means that the Parents Committee will
receive approx. €700 from this venture.
FIRST COMMUNION AND CONFIRMATION – DATES FOR DIARY
Confirmation
- Tuesday
February 18th at 3.30 p.m.
First
Confession - Wednesday March 11th at 8.15 p.m.
First
Communion - Saturday
2nd May at 11 a.m.
Talk
for Parents of Confirmation children will take
place in Holy Family N.S. on Tuesday 3rd December at 7.30 p.m. Fr. Donal O’Connor, chaplain in ITT will give
the talk.
CYBER BULLYING TALK
Ger Brick gave an interesting and
informative talk on internet safety in the school on Monday 11th
November. He delivered a workshop to
children from 4th, 5th and 6th classes and he
will forward some useful links for parents to access in the near future.
CUMANN NA MBUNSCOL FOOTBALL
The boys and girls from 5th and
6th classes have had a very successful term on the football field.
They defeated Fossa N.S. at Austin Stack Park on 23rd October to win
the Division 3 title. They defeated
Nohoval N.S. in the County Semi-Final before eventually losing out to St. Johns N.S., Kenmare in the Division 1
County Final. It was an outstanding achievement to reach the Final and well done
to the players, Mr. Dineen and Mr. Moynihan on their success.
TEAM HOPE
The children brought a total of 114
beautifully decorated boxes to school which will bring much joy to many less
fortunate children this Christmas. Team Hope deliver the shoeboxes to children
in Eastern Europe and Africa. Thank you
all for your contribution and to
Chris Barron for delivering the boxes to
the collection point in Killarney.
HALLOWEEN DRESS UP
DAY FOR MERCY HOSPITAL POONS SERVICE Friday
25th October was a No Uniform Day in school and the children had great fun
dressing up in their costumes. They also
raised €328.70 towards Mercy
Hospital POONS Service and this is very much appreciated. Thanking all for
their donations.
PUCLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION
Best of luck to our Debating Team who will compete in the Tralee
Education Centre on the 16th December against St. Michael’s N.S.,
Sneem. We will be opposing the motion ‘Primary School students should be banned
from using a mobile phone’.
SCIENCE WEEK
Science Week took
place from the 11th to 15th November. The children enjoyed conducting science
experiments in the classrooms and the Nutty Scientists provided a science show
in the GP Hall for all classes.
DRAMA CLASSES
Drama Classes
began in the school on Tuesday 5th Nov and will continue to Tuesday 3rd
December. All classes are involved. Margaret O’Sullivan is our Drama Teacher. We know that all will have a very enjoyable
experience. These classes are being
funded by the Parents Committee.
HURLING
Colm O’Brien the
Kerry GDO has been visiting the school providing hurling lessons to 1st
to 4th classes this term. The children are enjoying practising their
skills.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS,
TEL. NO
If any of
your child/children’s 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
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 (€24) 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 before the
Christmas holidays. Thank you
SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION
POLICY
A draft of our
new SEN Policy is available inside the front door of school until Friday 6th
December, if you would like the opportunity to read it and offer feedback
before the next Board of Management meeting in December.
RETIREMENT OF MS.
BERNIE O’SULLIVAN
Best wishes to
Bernie O’Sullivan on her retirement from Holy Family N.S. Ms. O’Sullivan joined the Convent N.S. in
2005 and worked in SET, she was also our Special Educational Needs
Co-ordinator. We thank Ms. O’Sullivan for her wonderful contribution to Holy
Family National School. From all the
pupils, staff, parents, Parents’ Committee and Board of Management we wish Ms.
O’Sullivan a long and happy retirement.
DATES TO REMEMBER
|
Talk
for Parents of Confirmation children on Tuesday 3rd December at
7.30
p.m. in school
St.
Vincent de Paul Food Appeal – will be collected on Mon. 9th Dec.
Public
Speaking Competition: Tralee Education
Centre Mon. 16th Dec.
Christmas
Sing Along:
Tuesday 17th
December at 7.00 p.m. and
Wednesday
18th at 12 noon.
Closing Friday 20th December
for Christmas Holidays
Closed Monday 23rd December to
Friday 3rd January, 2020
|
|
Re-opening Monday 6th January,
2020 – The children will attend Mass
Confirmation in Rathmore – Tues. Feb. 18th at 3.30pm
Closed
Thursday 20th and Friday 21st
February (Mid-Term)
First Confession –
Rathmore Church – Wed. March 11th at 8.15pm
Closed Monday
16th and Tuesday 17th March (Public Holiday)
Closing Friday
3rd April for Easter Holidays
Closed Monday
6th April to Friday 17th April, 2020
Re-opening
Monday 20th April 2020
First Communion – Sat. 2nd
May at 11am in Rathmore Church
Closed Monday
4th May (Public Holiday)
Closed Monday
1st June (Public Holiday) & Tuesday 2nd June
Closing Wed.
24th June for Summer Holidays
If during the
school year there are any changes to school closure, we will let you know.
|