Christmas Newsletter, 2023
School Opening/Closing
Our school will be closing on Friday the 22th of December at 12 noon for our Christmas holidays.
Our school will re-open on Monday the 8th of January at 9.20am. Our bus has been informed.
Failte!
We would like to extend a very warm welcome to our newly formed Parents Association. We are very grateful for their support and friendship and we thank them for their enthusiasm and hard work and for all the exciting plans they have for our future.
Our Parents Association are-
Chairperson Hedley Jonas
Treasurer Viktorija Manchevska
Secretary Jess Cody
Classroom Representatives :
Jess Cody
Caroline Clifford
Patricia Mulcahy
Viktorija Manchevska
Committee Members
Clare Smith
Przemyslaw Miszczyk
Our newly formed Parents Association is insured by Arachas.
Their Constitution has now been posted on our website under the Parents heading.
Bake Sale Sunday the 3rd of December,2024
Our newly formed Parents Association will hold a Bake Sale on Sunday the 3rd of December at the Christmas Craft Fair .Please contact Jess on 085-7756628 if you wish to donate any cakes ,buns or biscuits.
Thank you!
Voluntary Contribution,2023
€660.00 has been raised in Voluntary Contributions to support our school .Every little helps and we are very grateful for every penny we receive so that we can give every pupil in our care every opportunity to shine.
Holy Communion, 2024
Our Holy Communion will take place on Saturday the 11th of May at 11am.
School Closure Day 11.12.2023.
On the 11.12.2023 the Staff of our school will receive training in the new Primary Maths Curriculum .Our school will be closed on the day to facilitate this training.
Thank you in advance for your co-operation in this matter.
Lunch Food App
School Food 4 Primary, our lunch food provider recently changed their app. If anyone is still having problems ordering food please contact cashless@schoolfoodcompany.ie.
Middle Room News
In the middle room our pupils are
*Preparing for their Christmas play “A Super Christmas.”
*Looking forward to receiving their class book “No one like me.”
*Completing Winter Wonderland silhouettes.
*Finishing their canvas based on local inspiration.
*Accessing the Digital app Book Creator to write stories.
School Self Evaluation/Oral Language
Our school is now looking at Oral Language .The questionnaires completed by you, our parents and pupils have now informed our teaching and learning for this school year.
In these questionnaires
* pupils expressed a significant lack of confidence when speaking.
*pupils said they couldn’t speak unless they had prepared a topic.
*many pupils said they were too shy to speak but knew many friends and family members who were good at speaking.
We have now
*incorporated more Oral Language into our lessons.
*Purchased Oral Language Textbooks and Prompting posters for our classrooms.
*Consciously modelled good pronunciation and speech in our lessons.
*Held storytelling sessions in our school with Storyteller ,Mr .Paddy O Brien on the 10th of October last to model confidence and ease of impromptu speaking.
* Embraced and used our own language and created our own classroom storybook in the Middle and Senior classrooms.(These storybooks will be published and on sale shortly in our school)
*Downloaded “Talk Time” ,a user guide from the Department of Education and Skills on “talk “ and presented it to each mainstream teacher.
*Printed ”A Total Communication Approach for Children and Young People with Additional Needs “ from the NCSE website and gave it to our teachers in the Rainbow and Sunshine Classrooms.
Halloween Dress Up Party for the Children’s Health Foundation
All pupils dressed up on the day of the Halloween Holidays and raised €116 for the Children’s Health Foundation.
*A special congratulations to Haylee Casey who won the Tuosist GAA Art Competition on the day .Haylee’s prize was two tickets to Fright Night ,a Tuosist GAA Fundraiser.
Thank you everyone and comhghairdeas ,Haylee!
Junior Room News
Our Junior room have settled well into school and are working hard:
*On their Christmas Songs.
*Painting ,cutting ,glueing their canvas based on local inspiration.
*Exploring Transportation in Aistear.
*Enjoying making and creating Christmas Art.
Christmas Jumper Day 8.12.2023
We will have a Christmas Jumper Day on the 8th of December next. Please bring €2 to school on the day. All proceeds will go to the St .Vincent’s De Paul Society. Thank you!
Curious Minds
Curious Minds ,a Breakfast and After School Club provider will set up clubs in our hall in the New Year on a date yet to be determined .We are delighted that Curious Minds was able to facilitate this and that our school could continue to support our parents and pupils before and after school.
Our Board of Management 2023-2027
Our last Board of Management ended its term of office yesterday, the 30th of November . Mrs.Maidie O Leary (Community Representative) and Mr.Jim O Sullivan (Parent Representative) have stepped down from that Board of Management.
We are very grateful to both Maidie and Jim for their friendship, support and time and we thank them both for the interest and commitment they showed in our school.
Our new Board of Management will begin its term of office today , the 1st of December.
Our new Board of Management is;
Chairperson Mary Margaret Casey
Secretary Áine Murphy
Teacher’s Representative Anita Murphy
Community Representative Mark Drummond
Community Representative Margaret Casey
Patron’s Representative Fr.Liam O Brien
Mother’s Representative Ms.Shirley O Sullivan
Father’s Representative Mr.Kieran Casey
We wish our new BOM every success and we thank them in advance for their continued friendship and support.
Our American Student,Ciera Babb
In keeping with the long tradition of the visiting USA students to our school we invited Ciera to join us for Term 1 this year. Ciera, who hails from Colorado has been a lovely addition to our school.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears 8.12.2023
All pupils from Junior Infants to Third Class will travel to the Carnegie Arts Centre in Kenmare to see the pantomime “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”.
A Visit to Santa 18.12.2023
On the 18th of December the pupils in both the Rainbow and Sunshine Classrooms will travel to the Brooklane Hotel, Kenmare to visit Santa and enjoy some hot chocolate.
The Rainbow and Sunshine Classroom News
The pupils in the Rainbow and Sunshine classrooms are busy getting ready for their performance in Seó na Nollag. They also completed a beautiful canvas on local inspiration which can be seen on our Facebook page.
Seó na Nollag 19.12.2023
Our Seó na Nollag will take place in the Community Centre on the 19th of December next at 11am.
There will be no school food on that day .We thank you in advance for your co-operation in this matter.
Team Hope Shoebox Appeal,2023
21 beautifully wrapped shoeboxes were prepared by our pupils and sent to 21 recipients across Europe as part of the Team Hope initiative. Thank you everyone!
Senior Room News.
It has been a busy term in the Senior Room in St. Michael’s NS .They
*Completed a STEPS Young Engineering Project for Engineering Week.
*Enjoyed a virtual meeting with Engineer ,Keadi Adams .
*Celebrated Healthy Eating Week with a healthy eating seminar on healthy eating and food choices curtesy of the Listowel Food Fair and Tralee Education Centre.
*Were fascinated by renowned surgeon ,Professor.Aoife Lowery who spoke to them for 30 minutes about her day to day world and all new advancements in Medicine.
*Took part in many hands on Science experiments for Science Week.
*Finished our collaborative class book “When I Grow Up”
*And are now preparing for our Seó na Nollag!
Parent/Teacher Meetings
Parent/Teacher Meetings are an important part of our school calendar. Our parent/ teacher meetings took place on Monday the 21st and Tuesday the 22nd of November last.Thank you to everyone for attending and engaging with these most important meetings.
Art Canvas 27.9.2023
Every class in our school will create a canvas on the theme of” Local Inspiration” this term. These canvases will be displayed in the Carnegie Arts Centre in January,2024.
6. MS Readathon,October/November, 2023
Every class from 1st class onwards will take part in the MS Readathon. The MS Readathon gives us all the opportunity to read and take pleasure in reading while raising funds for MS Ireland.
Kerry County Mobile Library
We are very grateful to Kerry County Mobile Library for stopping in our carpark once a fortnight .This gives all our pupils’ time to view the large selection of books and select with the help of the supervising adult suitable reading material.
Míle Buíochas to Maria and her team!
As Christmas approaches we would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to all our parents, neighbours and friends who help make our school the special place that it is .We send you our best wishes for a happy and peaceful Christmas with good health ,prosperity and happiness in 2024.
Guimíd Nollag Shona agus Athbhliain faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise daoibh go léir!!
Mise le Meas,
Áine Murphy (Principal and Staff)