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Holy Family National SchoolNewsletter September 2004 |
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| Welcome back to all our staff and pupils after the summer holidays. As the new school year begins we extend a special céad míle fáilte to the children who are starting school in Junior Infants - at this stage they are all well settled in with their teacher Ms. Loughney. | |
| School Rules | |
| As we start off another year there
are a few rules which we ask for your co-operation in
implementing. 1) The staff car park is for staff cars only. In the interests of children's safety it is not to be used for dropping off and collecting children. 2) If you have to drop a lunch or book to your child during the day please leave it at reception and it will be delivered to your child with minimum disruption to the class. 3) School starts at 9.00a.m. When the children are taken in work starts immediately. Please ensure that your child arrives on time. Parents collecting their children from the Infant classes at 1.45 p.m. are asked to do so punctually as the Infant teachers are often required to mind other classes. It is understandable that from time to time a parent will get caught in traffic but persistent lateness is inexcusable and does cause considerable disruption. 4) If the morning is wet please time your child's departure from home so that they arrive in school at 9.00 a.m. If they have to be dropped off earlier encourage them to use the school shelter. 5) Homework is an essential part of school life and has many merits. The following is a rough estimate of the maximum time which your child should spend on his/her assigned homework:
6) Parents who wish to consult teachers outside of the scheduled Parent/Teacher meetings must do so by making an appointment through the Principal. |
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| School Uniform | |
| You are no doubt aware that the
proper school uniform is compulsory this year in our school and we would like
to thank you as parents for your co-operation in this matter. The navy jumper
with crest and grey slacks or the school tracksuit are all acceptable as a
school uniform. However we would ask you to ensure that they are wearing
tracksuits on the day they have PE, when they are going swimming or if they are
playing a match for the school. We must insist this year that all jumpers, trousers, tracksuit tops and bottoms are properly labeled with the child's name. Labels can be bought in the major stores with your child's name printed and then ironed onto the item of clothing. The name can be written with a marker or even a biro - anything that will identify the pupil's uniform. An enormous amount of time is wasted trying to identify who owns a jumper or tracksuit and it is scandalous the number of uniforms that are left unclaimed around the secretary's office. We will have a uniform check day on Wednesday October 20th - each uniform and tracksuit will be inspected to see if it is properly labeled. |
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| School Activities | |
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| School Closings 2004-2005 | |
| Mid-term break ............ 25th -
29th October inclusive (1 week) Holy Day ........................ 1st November (Monday) Holy Day ........................ 8th December (Wednesday) Christmas Holidays ...... 22nd December @ 12.00. Re-opening Monday 10th January 2005 Mid-term break ............ 17th & 18th February St.Patrick's Day ............ 17th March Easter Holidays ............. 23rd March @12.00. Re-opening Monday 4th April May Bank Holiday ......... 2nd - 6th May inclusive (1 week) June Bank Holiday ......... 6th June Summer Holidays .......... 30th June @12.00 |
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| School Events 2004-2005 | |
| School Book Fair ....................
16th to 23rd November Parent/Teacher Meetings ...... 15th & 16th February First Confession ....................... 8th March First Holy Communion ........... 28th May Ceremony of Light ................. 24th May Confirmation ........................... 31st May Sports Day .............................. 17th June |
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| School Finances | |
| Our annual Golf Classic was a tremendous success - we had a net profit of €14,750.00. Well done to everybody who was involved in any way. The money will be used to fund Music and Computer classes during the year and to purchase educational materials for classrooms. During the summer we employed a firm to put down markings in the school yard so that the children would be able to play a variety of games during break time and during their PE lessons. The children love them and the teachers of the Junior Classes especially find them invaluable for PE. | |
| Enrolments for September 2005 | |
| We would ask parents who wish to
have their child enrolled in Junior Infants for next September to do so as soon
as possible but no later than 31st March 2005. Our Enrolment Policy states that places will only be
offered to children who have applied for enrolment before that date. First
priority is given to children whose brothers and sisters are already enrolled
in the school and second priority to other Catholic children living in the
parish of Saggart/Rathcoole. If there are still places available at that stage
(which is very unlikely) then they will be offered to other children from
outside the parish. This year we were able to accommodate all children from within the parish who had applied on time for enrolment but unfortunately 4 or 5 parents were disappointed because they were late with their applications. |
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| School Attendance | |
Under The
Education Welfare Act 2000 parents are required by law to ensure that their
children attend school regularly and punctually. Last year we drew up a policy
to promote good attendance and to inform parents of their responsibilities in
order to comply with the above act. The following is a brief summary of the
main points of our policy:
The full policy is available on request from the school or it can be accessed on the school website. |
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| Administering Medicine to Children | |
| We are at present drawing up a policy
on procedures to be followed by parents and staff if there is a need for a
child to take prescriptive medicine during school time. A
draft policy is available on request from
the Secretary's office or it can be accessed on the school website.
Any comment or contribution to the policy would be most welcome. When the views of staff, parents and members of the Board of Management have been heard the policy will be brought to a meeting of the Board of Management for ratification. |
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| Parking | |
| I have been asked by the Gardai to
remind parents that parking on the zigzag lines near the school gates is
illegal and that they will be issuing parking tickets to those who flout the
law from now on. The lines have been put in place to minimize the risk to
children attending the school and those who ignore them are putting the lives
of your children in danger. Illegal parking is also making the job of the
lollipop lady very difficult. I have also been informed that South Dublin Co. Council are introducing a number of traffic calming measures in the form of ramps on approaches to the school from both sides. These very welcome proposals have gone on display and will be put in place very shortly. |
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| Overweight and Obesity | |
| A national awareness campaign has
been launched by the Dept. of Health and Children this year in response to the
growing levels of obesity and overweight in Ireland. Every Step Counts ….. Small Changes Make the
Difference is the campaign theme, promoting two main lifestyle areas of
healthy eating and regular physical activity. We are all too aware of the growing level of overweight and lack of fitness among children - too many spend their leisure time watching television and playing video games. That lack of physical activity, coupled with unhealthy lunches and convenience dinners, has led many to believe that a new generation of obese children will grow up to experience many health problems in the future. We in Holy Family N.S. have always encouraged children to become involved in sport and there are ample opportunities for them to do so during PE lessons, break time and after school activities. We want parents to become involved in promoting a healthy lifestyle among their children and to that end we have arranged a talk for parents in the school hall on Tuesday 9th November on the topic "Why children need to be physically active". At a later date we hope to have a nutritionist speak to parents and children about healthy eating habits and from that we hope to put a policy in place on healthy lunches for children in school. We will be in touch with you at a later date about the meeting on Nov. 9th. |
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| Other Newsletters: | April 1997 | |
| October 1997 | ||
| March 1998 | ||
| April 1999 | ||
| October 1999 | ||
| November 1999 | ||
| November 2000 | ||
| October 2001 | ||
| November 2002 | ||
| October 2003 | ||
| January 2004 |
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