Holy Family National School
Rathmore, Co. Kerry
Tel. 064/7758492 / Mob. 086 1806018
e-mail hfnsrathmorekerry@gmail.com
15th
March 2021
Dear Parents,
It is wonderful
to have all the children back in Holy Family as of today 15th of
March. I would like to thank the pupils, parents and staff for the manner in
which they all embraced Distance Learning throughout the school closure. We are
delighted to see the happy and healthy children again. Schools will focus on
the wellbeing of pupils to begin with as the pupils adjust to returning and
begin to rebuild relationships with their peers and staff. We look forward to
building on where the children are at in their learning.
Parents are
asked to maintain a distance of 2m from other people at all times in the school
grounds. We ask that parents wear face
coverings at all times on the school grounds. Please adhere to public health
guidelines and do not congregate.
RETURN TO EDUCATIONAL FACILITY PARENTAL DECLARATION FORM
A student returning to school after being absent for any reason
please complete the Return to Educational Facility Declaration Form on the
right hand side of the School Blog. Alternatively you can bring a note to
school using the wording of the official declaration we sent home previously.
UPDATE ON FIRST COMMUNION FROM FR. PAT:
Unfortunately
the situation re Covid has not greatly improved, to the extent we had hoped. As
a consequence, it will not be possible to go ahead with First Communion on the
dates we had proposed. First Penance has
not yet taken place, and we still do not know when Churches will be allowed to
open for congregations.
Hopefully
we will have some greater clarity after the next Government announcement in
April, but there is a strong possibility that First Communion Day may have to
be deferred till the autumn.
We will
clarify the situation as soon as possible after the Easter Holidays.
Mass for
First Communion Children:
A Do this
in Memory Mass for all our First
Communion Children will be held on Saturday
March 20th at 6p.m
https://mcnmedia.tv/camera/st-josephs-church-rathmore
Blessing
for Children awaiting Baptism
As we did
in the first lockdown we will have a special blessing for children awaiting
baptism on Sunday March 21st at 11.30am.
https://mcnmedia.tv/camera/st-josephs-church-rathmore
PARENTS’ COMMITTEE
CHRISTMAS RAFFLE
We wish to thank everyone who helped to organise the Christmas
raffle and míle buíochas to all who contributed. The amount collected was €834. This will be a
great boost to the Parents Committee funds and we are very grateful to McCarthy
Londis who sponsored the hampers. We intend to put some more durable playground
markings down when the ground temperature rises and weather permits with the
funds raised. All children will benefit
from the use of these during PE and at lunchtime.
QUIZ
The
Parents Committee will be running a Remote Quiz for all families commencing on
Monday 15th March. The cost of entering is €20 per entry and Hickeys
Centra have kindly sponsored three hampers for the winners. Questions include
the history of the school, the school layout, puzzles, riddles and a
photographic round also. These are available to view on the school blog. I am
attaching a blank answer sheet for you to complete and return with the fee on
Friday 19th March. Please place answer sheet and money in an
envelope and write child/children’s name(s) on the envelope. Of course you can
pay by debit/credit card if you wish. We will set up epayments for each family
and you will receive a text with the link.
The
answer sheet will be quarantined and corrected the following week with the
winners announced before the Easter Holidays. We would greatly appreciate your
support and the funds raised will create an outdoor classroom space for the
summer term. If you are available to
give a hand transplanting some trees in the courtyard area please text the
school mobile and we may gather for a couple of hours closer to Easter.
ROOF WORKS
We
are delighted to be approved funding to complete the re-roofing of the school
building. We expect to commence work on this project in the first week of
April. When completed, this will allow for work on our new mainstream classroom
to begin in the summer.
JUNIOR INFANTS 2021
If
Public Health advice permits it, we will have an enrolment morning where the
new Juniors Infants and their parents can come to the school. If this is not
possible we will make some alternative arrangements in June
PARENT/TEACHER MEETINGS
This year Parent-teacher meetings will take place by
telephone and teachers will be in touch to arrange a phone appointment. Junior
Infants to Second Class are planned for Monday 22nd,
Tuesday 23rd& Wednesday 24th March. Third to Sixth Class are planned for Tuesday
20th, Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd April.
If
you have any immediate concerns about your child, please feel free to contact
the school to arrange a phone appointment with the teacher.
RETIREMENT OF MRS. SHEILA MURPHY
Best wishes to Sheila Murphy on her retirement from secretarial
duties from Holy Family N.S. Sheila
joined the Convent N.S. in 1997 and worked as Secretary and SNA. She retired as
SNA in 2018. We thank Sheila for her wonderful contribution to Holy Family
National School. From all the pupils,
staff, parents, Parents’ Committee and Board of Management we wish Sheila a
long and happy retirement. Aisling and
Maureen are in the office on a part-time basis and if your call is not answered
please try the school mobile.
SIXTH CLASS 2020
We
were delighted to welcome back the Sixth Class of 2020 on last Friday 12th
March to collect their Graduation Pack.
Boys: Gavin Breen Girls: Zenefa Ahmed
Jack Casey Jennifer Buckley
Eoin Cashman Orla Cronin
David Darmody Lauren Horan
Seán Dineen Ciara Hughes
Matthew Kennedy Celine
King
Filip Kmita Sarah Mahoney
Seán McAuliffe Emer
McAuliffe
Farath Miah Grace Murphy
Conor Moynihan Abigail
O’Leary
Gearóid Nagle Caoimhe Reddington
Darragh O’Keeffe
Donnacha O’Sullivan
Evan O’Sullivan
Alex Thompson
Darren Twomey
Kamil Zoltek
We
wish the 11 girls and 17 boys good health and the Grace of God in the years
ahead.
(A
notable achievement by Alex Thompson was that he had perfect attendance for the
eight years he was in Holy Family N.S. – Congratulations and Well done Alex)
LEE STRAND
We are
very grateful to Lee Strand who have provided free homework journals to our
school for the past 6 years. Even though
we did not have the required amount of tokens collected last year we received
free homework journals for 1st to 6th class pupils for
this school year.
For each
journal, we need 10 Green 100% renewable cap & Carton Might Mike tokens and
only found on the 1 litre & 2 litre Lee Strand Cartons. Please do
your best from now until June to collect these tokens. When buying milk for the family please keep
in mind the tokens for the free homework journals. Thank You.
CONGRATULATIONS
Sending
Best Wishes to all the proud parents who are members of staff of our
school. Congratulations to Ms. Áine O’Donoghue on the
birth of her baby girl, Siún in May 2020, to Ms. Philomena O’Connell on the
birth of her baby boy, Donagh in September 2020, Ms. Helen Dillane on the birth
of her baby boy, Seán, in December 2020 and to Ms. Caroline Lee on the birth of
her baby boy, Aaron in February 2021.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Closed Wednesday 17th March (Public Holiday)
Closing Friday 26th March at 12 noon for Easter
Holidays
Closed Monday 29th March to Friday 9th April (Easter Holidays)
Re-opening Monday 12th April, 2021
Closed Monday 3rd May (Public Holiday)
Closed Monday 7th June (Public Holiday)
Closing Friday 25th June for Summer Holidays