croaghns.ie

June 22^nd 2018

Dear Parent/Guardian

Firstly, may I take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support and cooperation throughout the year.  Just to bring you up to date with what has been happening in our busy school over the past few months.

Religious Ceremonies

• Confirmation took place on Thursday the 3^rd of May in Croagh Church. Bishop Brendan Leahy celebrated the Mass. We would like to give a big thank you to all those who helped in any way and especially all of the class who had various jobs on the day.
• First Holy Communion Ceremony took place on Saturday May 19^th. It was a beautiful Mass.  Special thanks to James Anglim and our guest organist Sarah Dee who played at both ceremonies.
• Our Graduation Mass took place in Croagh on Wed last June 20^th. Well done to all students.

Music

• We would like to thank James Anglim for all his work over the past year. All the children from 3^rd to 6^th completed their RIAM music recorder exam on May 15^th and received honours and distinctions.
• We held our annual music recital last Wednesday. Thanks to all the family and friends that came to enjoy the children’s wonderful musical talents.

Discover Primary Science

• The school received a Discover Primary Science & Maths Award of Excellence for the work the children completed in science, technology, engineering and maths.
• Thanks to everyone who supported our Science Day in May.

Lenrec Recycling Collection

• We again had a couple of collections of old clothes/mobile phones. The money raised is given to our Green Schools committee for improvements to our school.

GAA coach

• We would like to thank Sean Dee for his role as GAA coach. Sean has very kindly given up his own time to help with training and transporting the children to all their games.

Sport

• On February 26^th Wallace and Sean Dee took a male and female team to the FAI Schools Soccer Tournament in Corbally. Both teams played very well and progressed to the next round to be held on April 12^th. Unfortunately, the boys failed to progress further in the competition but the girls won out their group and progressed to the Munster final, which was held in Tralee on May 9^th.  Again the girls played really well.  They won 3 out of their 4 matches to secure a place in the final.  Clare proved to be a tough team.  It was a very exciting game but again the opposition got a late goal to secure the win.  It was a fantastic achievement to get so far in the national competition. Well done to all the players. Thanks to Tommy Wallace and Sean Dee for all their time and effort.
• On March 14^th our boys competed in the boys indoor 5 a side hurling school league held in NCW. They won their first match against Ballingarry but unfortunately lost against Mahoonagh in the semi-final.
• On March 15^th our girls competed in the girls indoor 5 a side camogie. They won their first match against the Gaelscoil but again were unlucky not to win their semi-final against Templeglantine.
• Our girls camogie team participated in the Division 2 camogie blitz held in Mick Neville park on May 21^st. They played very well but didn’t come out the winners on the day.
• Our boys hurling team took part in the Division 2 11 a side hurling league. They played Feehnagh/Kilmeedy and Dromcollegher.  They played very well with one win.
• Coláiste na Trocaire invited us to participate in their annual hurling blitz which was held on May 30^th. The boys played very well and beat Ardagh in the final to win the Shield.
• Well done to all the boys and girls for representing their school.

Visits

Over the past term, we have had a couple of visitors to our school.

• March 5^th we welcomed our Mayor to our school. He donated a lovely oak tree to our school and planted it in the front green area close to the church.  It is growing well.
• We would like to thank the Mayor who took time out from his busy schedule to raise our 4^th Green Flag on Wednesday June 20^th. The Mayor was very generous to treat all our pupils to the ice-cream van.
• Past pupil Sarah Dee spent one week of work experience in our school as part of her TY year. She also assisted during Confirmation and Holy Communion.
• Thanks to Edward Geary who called into the school on April 13^th to speak to the children about his career in engineering.
• April 27^th we had a visit from Ms. Veronica Behan for our school religion inspection. All went very well.
• May 29^th saw our yearly visit from Maggie Murphy. Maggie covers the sensitive issues regarding the RSE program with 5^th and 6^th
• Rachel from the RSA visited the school on June 21^st to remind children about road safety.

Green Schools

• Angela, the An Taisce Green Schools Co-Ordinator visited the school on a regular basis to work with the committee. As you may already know, we have been successful if securing our 4^th green flag which covers the topic of Travel.
• Thanks to all the green-schools committee, the students and their families for helping us to achieve this flag. All the ‘Walk on Wednesday’ paid off!

School Tours

• Juniors & Seniors travelled to Stonehall Farm in Curraghchase on Wednesday June 13^th. They were given a tour of the farm, met the animals and had play time in the indoor play area.
• 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd class travelled to a cookery school in Annacotty where they baked muffins, pizza and tried their hand at icing some cupcakes. They had some playtime in Manor Fields Park in Adare on the way home.
• Students in 4^th, 5^th and 6^th travelled to Clare on June 21^st. They had a guided tour of Ardnacrusha Power Station followed by some water fun and hot food in the Lakeside Hotel in Killalloe.

Staffing

• We extend our thanks to Tommy Wallace after his year with us. We wish him well in his future teaching roles.
• We look forward to the return of Ms. Tobin after her career break while she furthered her studies.
• Miss Murphy will be taking a year out next year to become a full time student herself. So on behalf of the school community I wish her the very best as she completes her Doctorate.  While we will all miss her terribly we will be looking forward to her return.

6^th Class

• We wish all the exiting pupils from 6^th class the very best of luck next year in their new schools. Go neirí an bóthar libh Ann Marie, Billy, Faye, Keelin, Maurice, Owen and Sarah.

The staff and I would like to wish you all a very sunny, safe and enjoyable summer holidays.

             Teresa Lawlor

Click on the link below to read the Christmas newsletter.

Newsletter to parents for the Christmas holidays 2017