Thursday Newsletter 4th June

Reminders:

School closure at 12pm on Friday, 14th March 2025 for staff training.
School closure on May 7th for Maths training.
If your child is feeling unwell, please keep them at home until they are feeling better.
When dropping or collecting your child early/late to/from school please ensure you close the pedestrian gate securely on your way in and out of the school.

Frása na Seachtaine:

“Slán go fóill! Slán!” ” – “Bye for now! Bye!”

Le meas

Róisín Conlon

Príomh Oide

And More!

Daniel’s JI having great fun exploring different ways to problem solve with the new maths curriculum 😊

Both 2nd classes have begun literacy power hour twice a week and are enjoying reading, writing and word work stations.

We are all really excited about Art Day 2026 and grateful to the Art Day committee, Sarah, Aisling, Sinéad, Claire & Michele for their huge time and creative efforts put into organising this. We are also looking forward to our whole school project which is a 3D model of our school and the surrounding area. Each class will get the chance to personalise their classroom by creating identifiers to symbolise their passions e.g. 1^st might make mini dream catchers, 4^th might make a mini Chello/other instrument. Perhaps you can have a chat with your kid(s) this evening to help them get their creative juices flowing and come up with colourful ideas for representing our values and dispositions.

In recognition of the cost of preparing children and young people for the return to primary school each September, Minister for Education Hildagarde Naughtan T.D. has announced funding to provide free schoolbooks, including workbooks and copybooks, for September 2026. This scheme will eliminate the cost to parents of

providing these resources. Funding is being provided directly to primary schools and special schools by the Department to implement the scheme and schools will now have responsibility for providing schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks to all children and young people at the start of the school year. All schoolbooks will remain the property of the school so that books can be reused in future years. Schoolbooks will be provided on loan to children and young people for the duration of the 2026/2027 school year and must be returned to school at the end of the school year. Parents are requested to remind their children to take care of their books and keep them in good condition during the year. It is not permitted to write on textbooks.

However, some expenses are not covered by the scheme , therefore the school willask for a payment of €30 per child towards these expenses (24hr pupil insurance photocopying, printing , art & craft supplies, software licences etc.). If you wish you can top up this amount up to a voluntary contribution of €250 per family. If you wish to make a total family payment of €250 (which includes the School Expenses payment of €30 per child) you will not have to pay for swimming lessons (2nd, 3rd and 4th classes attend swimming lessons for a 6 week term each year) and you will not have to pay for the end of year school tour. Also in so doing the school, as a registered charity, can claim back money from Revenue .

An epayment link will be sent to each family before the end of this school year. Instalment payments are accepted, and the epayment request will remain open until 31 st December 2026.

The Department of Education is now carrying out an evaluation of the scheme. Hearing directly from school staff, parents and guardians will help us understand what worked well and where improvements can be made. Your feedback will help shape how the scheme develops in the future, so it continues to support students effectively and reduces costs for families.

The Department of Education would be grateful if you could support this process by completing this parent/guardian survey:

dessurveys.education.gov.ie/surveys/Primary-Schoolbook-Scheme-202526-Parent-Survey

Please note that the deadline for survey responses is Friday, 26 June.