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I am delighted to welcome back the St. Cronan's Newsletter. We would like to encourage all parents to use the Newsletter to reach other Parents and to suggest ideas for articles and features. Feel free to write to the editor with your comments.
The Newsletter will also be published on the Internet, and we would also like to hear your comments about how we might maximise the use of this medium.
This coming year will be one of the most important years in the history of St. Cronan's. During this academic year we expect the construction work on the new premises to begin. We hope that the parents of the pupils will become involved in the construction process with suggestion, advice or in whatever way they feel competent. Living in the age of the "Celtic Tiger" makes many new and challenging demands on those involved in education in Ireland. Preparing young people for the future is a very onerous task for all of us - both teachers and parents alike! One proposal is that young people should be introduced to the world of work while still at school. An organisation called "Junior Achievement" purports to do just that. Junior Achievement is the oldest and largest not-for-profit organisation in the world dedicated to enabling young people experience the world of business. Junior Achievement Ireland is led by a Board of Directors drawn from the highest executive level in Ireland who contribute funds and personnel to the programme. Volunteer business people come to the schools and bring with them a very "hand-on" approach.
St. Cronan's has led the way in introducing enterprise education withing the primary sector in Irish education, beginning in 1996, the first school to launch the Junior Achievement Programme. In that year three classes in St. Cronan's took up the programme and this year all classes are incorporating Junior Achievement in the curriculum. If imitation is a form of flattery we should be proud because many of the other local school have followed our example and enrolled in the scheme. The new school has arrived! Okay, it's only a scale model, but it is proudly on display in Mr. Dodd's office and any parent who'd like to see it is more than welcome. The new school is the biggest project that the Department are undertaking in 1998 and the total bill is currently estimated at £2.2 million. This means that the 15% we must pay towards the cost will be £333,000 and we also are facing an extra bill of £120,000 for alterations over and above the Deparment's basic structure. Obviously, £450,000 is an enormous sum of money and we need to ensure that all parents contribute what they can to help spread the cost. Luckily, the Department has agreed to allow us pay in installments but we must clear all our debts to them before we can take possession of the new school.
Planned Spending:
By June of this year we will be £14,000 short of our commitments. This can be partly funded by loans from the Bank but these will incur interest payments as well. So far this year we have raised only £4,300 and spent in the region of £2,500.
We need your support for all events especially the Voluntary Contribution. Please ensure that you have paid what you can afford. It is all greatly needed. 
A recent survey of the pupils showed that 40% of their families had computers at home, with some 10% also having internet access. The school thought that it might be an interesting ideo to introduce electronic mailing to those homes. Future newsletters or teacher/parent notes could be sent via e-mail from the school. If you are willing to participate in this experiment please send an e-mail to the office. The address is cronews@indigo.ie or jot down your email address in your son's homework journal. The school would also like to begin the process of establishing a computer file for every pupil in the school. (We would like to thank Caroline Casey who has bravely undertaken this mammoth task for us). This would contain the information already provided by you on your child's enrolment form, dates of school medical tests, your child's test scores, etc. Basically, all the information we currently hold on paper would be now held electronically as well. The information is strictly confidential with access given only to each child's parents and teachers. If you have any objections to this please contact the Principal as soon as possible.
Finally, we would like to welcome our new Computer Tutor, Anne Quinn, and we wish her many happy computing hours with the boys. An outline for a project under this scheme was approved by the Arts Council just before Christmas. As a result, St. Cronan's BNS received funding to work with musicial Nico Brown until March 13th. He is developing a project with a theme based on Bray Head with children in all classes. They will use their voices and some musical instruments to re-create the sounds and atmosphere of Bray Head. The children will also do some work on movement with Breege Byrne. We will be dodumenting this project on video and making a recording of the end result. It should be a memorable experience for all of us. If you have Realplayer on your machine you can listen to the first 5 minutes of the recording by clicking on the Realaudio symbol below.
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Team Theatre in Education Group will be visiting our two second classes in February to present Silly Milly's Storybook. This play/workshop session deals with feelings such as anger, frustration and pride and how they can be expressed appropriately.
The children will make pictures, learn songs, invent dances and help the actors to act out the stories. We believe it will greatly benefit the children both at home and in school.
We asked sme of the pupils to report back on their school trips. Here's what they had to say......
Andy Warhol was a famous 'pop art' artist. He was born in Pittsburgh, USA in 1930. He died in 1987. My class are going to see the Andy Warhol Exhibition in the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Friday, February 6th. There will be a lot of what Andy made himself. Admission to the museum is free. Most of the Class can't wait to go. We will have a lot of fun looking at his artistic work.
Mother Goose by Mark Breen, 3rd Class
On the 17th & 18th of December our school, St. Cronan's, went to the Gaiety Theatre to see Mother Goose. 2nd, 3rd and 4th Classes went on the 17th and 5th and 6th Classes the following day. I really like the bad guy and his dog Schnorbitz. June Rogers was really funny. The Landlord was too. The Billie Barry Kids were very good. I liked the part where June Robers was turned around. It was really good.
Silly Bits of Sky by Peter Walsh and Cathal Wogan, 3rd Class
Silly Bits of Sky is a play in the Gaiety Theatre. All the actors in the play are children. We are going on the 27th of March. We got a sponsorship card to raise money for the trip by doing chores. The admission for the play is £3.00 and it is the same again for the bus. We are going to have lots of fun. The play will be on during school hours. We will be getting back in the early afternoon.
Hallelujah Christmas Concert (1) by Daniel Flanagan, 3rd Class
Last year St. Cronan's School Choir went to the Hallelujah Christmas Concert. We went of the 29th of November. It was held at the Point Theatre. There were two groups of singers - alto and soprano. The concert was on Saturday and Sunday. We went on the Saturday.
Hallelujah Christmas Concert (2) by Ronan Horan, Stevie Cranley and Jared Egan, 5th Class
We're sure that we are not the only people to say this, but the Hallelujah Christmas Concert was BRILLIANT. We're sure that the people loved it too. It was difficult work learning all the words and songs but it was all worth it. There was fun and entertainment for everyone including the performers and especially fun for the parents. There was food and refreshments for anyone that wanted them. Billie Barry Kids, an Opera Singer, The Three Fivers and our all-time favourite - June Rogers. There were two breaks in the show and there was popcorn, coke, hot-dogs and fun-packs. At the end, the audience clapped their hands. 
We hope to begin a programme of paired reading in the school shortly. Initially this will begin with the second and thrid classes. We will be asking for the help of all the parents when we get started. Basically, it involves each pupil bringing home a book, or using one of his own books, and reading it with the parents.
It will involve approximately 10 minutes of your time each day. A record will be kept of the books reading by the pupils. The philosophy behind the programme is that it encourages more reading which in itself is very worthwhile.
2nd - Christine Marlow 3rd - Alex Sherwin A very special mention to the class which raised the most money in the Raffle - Ms. Power's 3rd Class who managed to collect a very £167.50
A very brave and daunting task was undertaken last September when the inaugural St. Cronan's Golf Classic was held. It was held on September 2nd in Druids Glen Golf Club in Newtownmountkennedy. The event was sponsored by Douglas Newman Good and raised £10,308.77. These funds will be used as part of the Parents Contribution toward the new school premises.
The event was supported by teams from Bank of Ireland, Compuware, Irish Permanent, Jones Engineering, Texas Instruments, O'Shea Homes, Anglo Irish Banks SDS, Ekochem, Hamilton Osborne King and of course Douglas Newman Good.
The winners of the tournament were Texas Insruments who were presented with their prize by our celebrity guest, the former Leeds United and Republic of Ireland legend, Mr. John Giles. The MC for the night was rugby commentator, Mr. Fred Cogley.
The Committee wishes to thank all those who helped in any way, especially those who managed to raise sponsorship on the day and those who gave of their time to make the event such a huge success.
Finally, a very special word of thanks is due to Druids Glen Golf Club who where extremely generous to us and ensured that the event would be a success.
If you know of any company or individuals who might be willing to pay £250 per person for a really top-class event please contact the committee via the Principal. Any parent who manages to obtain an entry for the event will be entered into a draw for a special prize courtesy of Druids Glen Golf Club.
The first Connell's Cake Sale raised £615. A special thanks to all those involved in organising the event. The Christmas Raffle raised £1,259. A little down on last year - but not bad at all. Congratulations to all the ticket sellers! Your help is really needed and appreciated.
The first tranche of Voluntary Contributions raised £2,366 which is almost £1,500 less than last year. We hope that all those who decided to defer payment until the new year will not forget. This is the very lifeboat of the school and is critical for payment our contribution of the cost of the new school. (see other article in this Newsletter)
February 26, 1998 - Parents meeting March 8, 1998 - Enrolment Mass March 21, 1998 - Faith Friends Programme - Little Flower Hall March 28, 1998 - Faith Friends Programme - Little Flower Hall April 4, 1998 - Faith Friends Programme - Little Flower Hall May 10, 1998 - Communion - Holy Redeemer - Mrs. Fay May 17, 1998 - Communion - Holy Redeemer - Ms. O'Donnell Please note - Queen of Peace dates are not yet to hand.
March 22, 1998 - Application Mass March 23, 1998 - Retreat Day in Glendalough (Mr. Barry's Class) March 24, 1998 - Retreat Day in Glendalough (Ms. O'Sullivan's Class) March 26, 1998 - Holy Redeemer - Parents 2nd meeting March 30, 1998 - Queen of Peace - Parents 2nd meeting April 21, 1998 - Queen of Peace - Rite 2 and rehearsal April 22, 1998 - Holy Redeemer - Rite 2 and rehearsal April 23, 1998 - Holy Redeemer - Rite 2 and rehearsal April 24, 1998 - Queen of Peace Confirmation April 25, 1998 - Holy Redeemer Confirmation (Mr. Barry's Class) April 25, 1998 - Holy Redeemer Confirmation (Ms. O'Sullivan's Class)
Last year I was involved in a video for a pop group, THE KELLY FAMILY. I was asked to cycle a bicycle. When I was finished the video we went to ASSETS MODEL AGENCY and got my photograph taken for the files. Two weeks ago I got a phone call asking me to go for a casting for a pop video. I did not know who the band was at the time. I was asked various questions including my name and age. I had been nervous on the way in but at the casting I was fairly cam and relaxed. A few days later I got another phone call saying I had got a part in the video I had auditioned for and was delighted when my mum told me the group was THE SPICE GIRLS. I spent the whold night deciding what to wear. I got up at 5 o'clock on Tuesday morning. I felt very excited. My mum drove me into Dublin and I arrived at St. Brickens Hospital at 7 o'clock. I had my breakfast at the hospital at 7.30. The video was being filmed in Carnew Street and a mini bus brought us from the hospital to the street. My turn to be filmed came and I was asked to nod my head to the beat of the music. It took four shoots to get it right. I got THE SPICE GIRLS autographs before the shoot. They were friendly and I felt relaxed around them. When it was finished the producer told us that it was all right to go home. On Friday I had my photograph taken for the local newspaper. I was then interviewed on the local radio station. It has all been a very exciting few weeks that I will never forget.
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We intend to hold the Second Annual Golf Classic in Druids Glen later this year. Further details will be published in the coming months.