February 2017 Newsletter

Dear Parent/Guardian,
I want to bring the following items to your attention in this February Newsletter:
School News and Achievements
The Food Dudes programme took place in 1st and 2nd class and was coordinated by Ms. Horgan. For 16
days fruit and vegetables were delivered to the children school and hopefully the children found new fruit
and vegetables that they now like.
Sport: The annual school soccer league for the senior classes organised by Mr. Griffin, Mr. Crehan and
Ms. White is taking place in Cloughleigh All Weather pitch. Children from 5th & 6th are currently taking
part in a 6 week Sports Hall Athletics coaching programme with the Clare Sports Partnership. It is totally
inclusive, encourages children to get fit and promotes friendship whilst having lots of fun.
Safer internet day took place on February 7th. Local Community Garda Albert Hardiman gave a talk to the
pupils in 5th & 6th class on internet safety. The key message was that children must be supervised when
online and that children under the age of 13 years should not be on Facebook, Snap Chat or Instagram. For
more information on internet safety for parents visit www.internetsafety.ie or www.webwise.ie
Confirmation will take place in here in the school on Friday March 3rd at 3.00pm. We wish the
Confirmation children well in their preparations for this sacrament.
Catholic Schools Week was celebrated in the school. Ms. Behan and Fr. Tom coordinated the events for
the children and each class attended mass in the oratory for one day during the week.
Intel Mini Scientist National Finals: Four pupils from 6th class represented our school and Co. Clare at
the Intel Mini Scientist National Finals in the Helix Theatre at DCU Dublin. While they werent the overall
winners they did themselves very proud on the day and it was a great achievement for Simon, Chrystal,
Courtney, Teresa and Mr. Garry to qualify for the national final.
School Yard Games: Ms. White has organised a committee of children from the senior classes to organise
playground games on our Infant school yard. The infant children are really enjoying paying these games
and well done to the senior class children who are showing great leadership in organising the games daily.

Enrolment for Junior Infants 2017

If you have a child or know of a child, who would like a place in our school in September 2017, please contact the
school for an application form as soon as possible.

Split the Pot and Clothes Collection Fundraiser

There was a great response again this year to our clothes collection the money raised will be going towards our
new school fund. Thank you for all your donations of old clothes.
There has been a fantastic response to our weekly Split the Pot draw run by our Parents Association. The winners
so far have been Margaret Ryan 232 (mother of Jaydon 4th class), Aidan Keane 262 (past pupil), Dympna
Dinan 228 (mother of Padraig 6th) and Mikayla Clohessy 282 (5th class). Each week we also give out a second
prize of 20 to a pupil. The draw will take place every Thursday and good luck!

Flag Day Fundraiser

The Parents Association are having a Flag Day Fundraiser in Ennis on Saturday February 25th. This is a very
important fundraiser for our new school building which will be starting soon. Children are allowed to help with the
collection if they are with their parents and they will receive homework off vouchers. If you can give 2 hrs of your
time on this day contact Brd 0879947503 or Ms. OConnor here at school 0876461836. Please see leaflet
attached.

Attendance
Since we returned to school on the 31st of August, we have had an excellent average attendance of 94.2%. This is a
very good figure for the whole school. Please make every effort to have your child at school each day and all
absences must be explained with a note or medical cert to the class teacher or to Ms. Sheehan our Pupil Support
worker. If you ever have to collect your child early from school you must sign them out at the secretarys office.
BUMBLEance Charity
BUMBLEance, The Children's National Ambulance Service ran a charity recycling campaign in our school which
was organised by our Secretary Pamela with the help of Fr. Tom. A huge amount of reusable and unwanted smart
phones, dvd's, Cds, games consoles, digital cameras, ipads, ipods etc were donated to the school. Well done to
everyone who helped out with this very worthwhile fundraiser for BUMBLEance. You can read about the great
work this charity does on their website BUMBLEance.com

HSCL News
Homework-Help is a new 6 week course beginning on March 1st. The course will provide you with useful
tips for helping your child with Maths & Irish homework. Please feel free to contact Ms OConnor if you
would like any more information.
Maths for Fun finishes in 2nd class this week. Thank you to all the parents who made themselves available
to come in and have some fun with their child in the classroom!
Please keep a close eye on our Facebook Page Scoil Chrost R HSCL Activities for updates on all that is
happening in relation to parents in our school.
Ms OConnor is our Home School Community Liaison Coordinator and she is only too happy to help &
support you in any way she can. Contact Ms.OConnor on 087-6461836.

School Website
You can keep up to date with school news on our excellent website criostri.weebly.com
You can follow us on our Twitter page twitter.com/criostri or @criostri
Also you can see our new Facebook page for parents, Scoil Chrost R HSCL Activities

Important Dates for your Diary

Friday February 17th: School closes for mid-term break.
Monday February 27th: School reopens after mid-term break.
Friday March 3rd: School closes at 1.00pm for Confirmation ceremony at 3.00pm.

Thanks for your continued support and I hope you have a nice midterm break next week.

Yours sincerely

Gearid Roughan
Principal