June 21st 2019
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
- First Holy Communion Ceremony took place on Saturday May 18th. It was a beautiful Mass. Special thanks to Mr. Anglim who played at the ceremony along with the students who made up the choir.
- Our Graduation Mass took place in Kilfinny on Wednesday last June 20th. Well done to all students.
Music
- We would like to thank Mr. Anglim for all his work over the past year. All the children from 3rd to 6th completed their RIAM music recorder exam on May 15th and received honours and distinctions.
- We held our annual music recital last Wednesday June 19th. Unfortunately, the rain arrived before all the performances were over and we all had to dash into the school. Thanks to all the family and friends that came to enjoy the children’s wonderful musical talents.
NCBI Recycling Collection
- We had one clothing collection. We were delighted to receive a cheque for €212. The money raised is given to our Green Schools committee for improvements to our school.
GAA coach
- We would like to thank Mr. Lordan for his role as GAA coach. He has very kindly given up his own time to help with training and transporting the children to all their games.
Sport
- Active Flag
We continued with our laps. We ran to Huddersfield FC, Brighton FC and Croke Park. Each lap of the basketball court measured 79 m. Each child ran over 100 laps for each destination.
All classes were involved in the Skool-a-Hoop competition. All pupils were skipping, hoola hooping and got fit for our Easter Fun Day. The winner in First class skipped 71 rotations and in 6th class the winner skipped 258 rotations. All pupils excelled with skipping. There was a vast improvement. The Hoola Hoop winners did not let the hoop touch the ground for minutes at a time. The Active Flag continues in Term 3 and for next school year 2019/2020.
- Hurling
We had a coach, Mr. O`Dea for 3 weeks in February, this was provided by the GAA. It a huge success and the pupils enjoyed his visits.
Mr. Lordan, our coach, started with us in March coming on Thursdays. He is teaching the students the vital skills of hurling. We would like to thank our local GAA for this wonderful service. We hope to resume this scheme in the new school year.
- Soccer
The boys and girls took part in the FAI schools competition, which took place in Seanchoill in Corbally. Both teams represented the school very well. They enjoyed their day out. We were delighted when our girls became Limerick Champions and qualified for the Munster Finals.
The Munster Finals were played on May 30th again in Seanchoill in Corbally. The girls played fantastic soccer and were beaten in the final with a late goal from the opposition. The girls are a credit to our school and even though they were disappointed, they were proud of their achievements to get so far in the competition. Well done girls.
- Indoor Hurling/Camogie
- Students from 3rd, 4th and 5th class played in the hurling blitz in NCW. The boys played very well but were beaten by a very strong Mahoonagh outfit. The girls played Templeglantine but were unlucky not to progress out of their group.
- Colaiste na Trocaire invited us to participate in their annual hurling blitz which was held on May 28th.
- Well done to all the boys and girls for representing their school in all sporting outings.
Visits
- In late February, past pupil Tara spent one week on work experience in our school as part of her TY year.
- We were all thrilled to have the inspirational Joy Neville visit our school on February 11th.
- On March 1st we had a visit from Mr. Brick who spoke to the students in 5th & 6th class about internet safety. Brick also spoke to students in 2nd class to 4th class about the MoMo app. This was very beneficial for both students and staff.
- March 6th, we had the HSE Dr. in the building to carry out the Junior vaccinations.
- May 10th we had our annual visit from Ms. M. Murphy who covers the sensitive issues of the RSE program with students from 5th and 6th
School Tours
- The school tours were very enjoyable this year.
- Juniors, Seniors and 1st travelled by bus to Dreamland Indoor Fun Centre in Limerick on Wednesday June 12th.The children enjoyed some varied play and lunch. On our way home we also stopped off at the Adare Playground for some more fun play.
- 2nd to 6th class travelled to Active Kingdom in Tralee on June 11th. They had a fantastic day of fun, games and activities. 5th and 6th class were able to cover the fee with their profits from their JEP project.
- All the students were very well behaved on both dates and were a pleasure to take out of the school.
Staffing
- We are delighted to have Mr. Wallace stay with us for another year as Miss Murphy extends her career break to continue her studies.
- Miss O’Sullivan will be returning in August after her maternity leave. We wish to sincerely thank Miss Dillon for her wonderful contribution to our staff and we wish her well in her future career.
- Due to departmental allocations, we are sadly losing our SNA Ms. Condon. We thank her for all her contribution to our school and wish her well in her future career.
Croagh N.S. School Improvement Plan: Literacy
- During the school year 2018 to 2019, the staff evaluated English reading fluency within the different classes. This was assessed, using a wide variety of appropriate measures. The staff with the help of a facilitator discussed the outcomes, and strategies were put in place to implement, monitor and improve our targets.
Thank You
- We wish to extend our sincere thanks for all the parents and friends who supported our Junior Entrepreneur Project. The students did all the work themselves from choosing the material, editing the booklet and finally selling it. We have 7 that remain unsold- well done to all who helped and supported. A special thanks to Ms. Power in the office for her invaluable advice and support.
- Thank you to the staff of Rathkeale & District Credit Union for their continued support to our school and out student saving programme.
- Once again, we would like to thank Domhnall of O’Gairbhi’s Book Shop in Rathkeale for offering our parents the facility of purchasing items from the booklists for the forthcoming year.
6th Class
- We wish all the exiting pupils from 6th class the very best of luck next year in their new schools.
Go neirí an bóthar libh, Brian, Declan, Donna, Laura, Maeve, Sarah. Shalom and Patrick.
The staff and I would like to wish you all a very sunny, safe
and enjoyable summer holidays.
Mrs. Lawlor