Dear Parent / Guardian / Colleague / Board Member,

 

We welcome all our pupils and staff back and especially our new junior infants, their parents and families.

 

Thanks to those who worked at our school during the summer, staff and contractors alike, especially Tina our cleaner and Jim our caretaker.

 

Condolences to the Kennedy family of Glasha on the death of Aisling in July. To SNA, Fiona O’Grady and her family on the death of her father in August and to Fr Toomey on the death of his aunt last week.

 

Slán le Fr Desmond who leaves the area for his new parish of Newtown / Kilmacthomas and welcome to his successor Fr Jim Denmead. Congratulations to past pupils who enjoyed recent success at Fleadh Ceoil na hÉireann.

 

Best wishes to Ballymacarbry Breakfast Club & After School Service, their manager Helena, staff, Sinead and Helen as they start their new venture at our school. We hope it is beneficial to you, our families and that it ensures our continuity as a rural school long into the future.

 

This week marks the 50th anniversary of our opening. We plan to stage a year of Jubilee events at intervals throughout the year, commencing with an outside Start of Year Mass tonight at 7pm. All are welcome.

 

Our uniform policy will remain the same for the year ahead i.e., Monday, Wednesday and Friday are PE uniform days whereas Tuesday and Thursday are full uniform. Please note that a navy tie is part of our full uniform. Parents are asked not to purchase branded tracksuits in the interest of uniformity please.

 

Staffing – In a change to the staffing list, Miss Kelly will now commence with Rang 5 instead of Mrs Kelly.

 

Friendship Month – To commence the year on sound footing, we have decided to make September Friendship month. Teachers and staff will be adopting new and old initiatives to encourage friendship and discourage bullying or exclusion.

 

Swimming – Rg 5 & Rg 6 will commence swimming lessons from 1:50pm Fri 23^rd Sept at Clonmel pool.

 

Thanks to those who have already brought in Arts & Crafts, Book Rental and Homework Journal monies. Family numbers will be issued in the next few days – please use this number for monies collected etc.

 

I attach the provisional Academic Year Calendar to this e-mail. Changes to this will be notified to parents as soon as possible. A hard copy will issue and be distributed next week.

 

We are glad to report that over the summer we replaced the carpet in the Assembly Hall with laminate wooden flooring. We also acquired 16 new I-Pads through the DES ICT Grant.

 

Is mise,

 

Michael J. O’Ryan – Principal