Phone 345495 Fax 341779 E-Mail sidecor.ias@eircom.net
SCOIL IDE NEWS
WELL DONE
To our Boys basketball team who defeated Roxboro in the first round of the City League
To our February Aces who continue to work hard and are an
example to their fellow pupils.
SCOIL IDE ACES [ see Bits & Pieces ]
The ACE Awards are given for Attainment,
Community Spirit and Effort
MONSTER RAFFLE
Our only remaining fund raising venture this school year will be a Raffle organised by Mr. Pat Hinchey and Mr. Christy Williams. Prizes have all been generously sponsored by O’Mara Motors, Kiely’s Electrical, Limerick Sports Store and Londis. We hope that each family will take at least one book of tickets (6 tickets at £1 each or £5 for a book). Prizes are a mountain bike, hi-fi system, signed Munster jersey and a giant Easter Egg.
We hope to complete work on our I.T Room with the proceeds and buy a CD Serve which will enable all the PC’s to operate at their own pace from the one piece of software. This is a great advantage for teaching purposes.
We will have a Staff Meeting on Friday 16th March. The School will close for all pupils at 1 p.m.
INSERVICE DAYS
Present plans for Inservice Days are
Monday April 23rd.,Tuesday May 8th and Tuesday June 5th. These, however, are subject to change due to precautions over Foot and Mouth Disease.
We have acquired a domain name for our website to make it easier for parents and children to visit. Last month’s visitors included some from the US , Italy and Bandon in County Cork. The site is regularly updated by our Webmaster Mr. Joe O’Sullivan. We hope to have the domain name in operation very shortly.
Some of our older pupils often have difficulty in finding suitably challenging reading material. Following are some suggestions which might prove of value;
The Hobbit; J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings ; J.R.R. Tolkien
The Road to Memphis; Mildred Taylor.
Let the Circle be Unbroken; Mildred Taylor.
Northern Lights; Philip Pullman.
The Bridge to Terabithia; Katherine Paterson
Goodnight Mr. Tom; Michelle Magorian
Animal Farm; George Orwell.
Many children in the more senior classes received mobile phones for Christmas. However they can be the source of serious distraction in class or on the yards.
We have explained our policy to the children in Senior Classes. Children may have a mobile phone in their bag as long as it is not turned on and it must stay in their bag for the entire time they are on school premises.
If the mobile is taken out or causes a distraction it will be taken from the child and held in the Office until a parent calls personally to collect it. Children do not need these at school as we will always allow them to phone home in an emergency. It is much wiser to leave phones at home as we will not be held responsible for them.
All parents from 5th Class down should have received a booklet titled “Your Child’s Learning” Guidelines for Parents recently. The booklet is a very helpful guide to the Revised Curriculum with hints for parents about how you can assist your child. If you didn’t get your copy please check your child’s bag as they were issued to the eldest in each family.
Well done to the Teachers and children of 2nd Class for the work and preparation that went into the First Confession Ceremony which was held in St. Nicholas’ Church on Monday 5th March.
Our new piano was delivered to the school recently by Kleiser Pianos. It was necessary to upgrade the piano and Ms. Paula Hackett who directs the school musical activities has exciting plans to allocate practice time to children who are learning the piano during lunch time.
We have postponed the talk for parents of Confirmation children . This is in accord with suggested precautions with regard to foot and mouth disease. We have been asked to postpone any gatherings of people unless absolutely necessary.
PRECAUTIONS
All schools and educational institutions have been asked to take precautions against the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease. We have disinfectant mats in place at all entrances to the school and disinfectant is replenished daily.
All schools games have been postponed and all gatherings that were not absolutely unnecessary have been postponed. We have also postponed the visit by pupils and teachers from Gellideg School in Wales. They were due to spend most of next week in Scoil Ide.
We pray that the country stays free from the scourge of foot and mouth and that our neighbours in the United Kingdom bring the situation under control very soon so that normal school and community life can resume.
All Scouting and guiding activities have also been postponed.
We are very grateful to the parents who volunteered to act as hosts and hope that the visit will be able to go ahead before the end of the school year.
Ciara Higgins and James McNamara represented Scoil Ide pupils recently at a meeting organised by the Minister for Children, Mary Hanafin to discuss the Government’s “National Strategy for Children” “The Experience of getting to meet Mary Hanafin was very exciting “ said Ciara” but meeting many children from schools all over Limerick was brilliant. We went into groups according to our ages and discussed getting more school playgrounds and sports centres for children.” Ciara went on “A lot of very good suggestions were made and the day was a great success. I’m glad I went”.
Ciara and James proved to be very worthy representatives of the school and their classmates.
Our Annual Remembrance Mass for deceased past pupils, parents and teachers will be held at the 9.45 a.m. Mass in St. Munchin’s College Chapel on Friday 6th April, the last day of 2nd Term. We extend an invitation to all relatives of those the Mass is offered for to join us. Our School Choir will sing at the Mass.
Our termly School Evacuation Drill was “sprung” on Teachers and pupils on Tuesday 6th March by School Safety Officer Mr. Joe Naughton. The evacuation ran very smoothly with all classrooms evacuated and all children and staff accounted for in less than 4 minutes.
Jim O’Farrell has drafted a number of crests for us. The one displayed here is an evolution of what has been done so far. Symbols are integral to crests and on this one St. Ita or Naomh Ide is releasing the boat on the journey of life. The boat is in the shape of the crescent moon which is a symbol of St. Nicholas, patron of the parish, children and sailors. Naomh Ide was the foster mother of St. Brendan the Navigator. The bridge in the background joins Clare and Limerick as does Scoil Ide through its pupils and of course the journey of life begins on the majestic background of the great Shannon. A number of details remain to be worked out yet but we are pleased with the work done so far.
Friday 16th March: Staff Meeting ; School closing at 1 p.m. for all pupils.
School Closed Monday 19th March; Public Holiday.
Easter Holidays: School Closing Friday 6th April at 12.30 p.m. for all pupils.
Monday 23rd: Inservice Training for Teachers. School closed for pupils.
Tuesday 24th April; School re-opens.
School Closed Monday 7th May (Public Holiday) and Tuesday 8th May (Inservice Training)
School Closed Monday 4th June (Public Holiday) and Tuesday 5th June (Inservice Training)
Summer Holidays; School Closing Wednesday 27th June at 12.30 p.m.
CONFIRMATION: Saturday 5th May at 12 noon for all classes.
First Holy Communion Saturday 19th May at 10 a.m. for Rooms 13 and 19
12 noon for Rooms 14 and 12
