November 2017 Newsletter

Dear Parent/Guardian,
I want to bring the following items to your attention in this November Newsletter:

School News and Achievements

Football winners: Our Boys Gaelic Football teams won the Division 4 Primary Schools Finals in Cusack
Park. This was a fantastic achievement for the school and the boys will receive their medals in the near
future. Thanks to all the teachers involved for training the team, Mr. Garry, Mr. Healy, Mr. Crehan, Ms
de Barra & Mr. Griffin.
Confirmation Enrolment: Well done to the boys and girls in 6th class who had their Confirmation
enrolment ceremony recently and we wish them well with their ongoing preparations for their
Confirmation day.
Maths week took place form October 17th to 20th in our school. The children and their teachers took part
in many maths activities including maths trails and online educational maths games.
Sport: We are very lucky to have leading Clare GAA Coach Peter Casey coming into us every
Wednesday coaching hurling and camogie. Classes from senior infants to 6th are really enjoying it and
learning loads from Peters excellent coaching.

Newly Elected Parents Association

At a very well attended meeting recently the following are the officers elected: Chairperson - Jackie Maxwell,
Secretary Natalia Gilligan, Joint Treasurers - Leanne Dinan & Sinad Franks, Committee - Rosemary
Wilkes, Anthony Fitzpatrick, Shauna Toomey, Sinad Fawl, Brd Mulqueen, Carol OCallaghan, Jamila El Qous,
Siobhn OConnell, Joe OConnell, Risn Clune & Chantelle Keane.
Great discussion took place at the meeting and there are some great ideas for the year ahead in our new school!
We encourage as many parents as possible to help with school events.
At the meeting a special thanks was paid to outgoing Secretary Brd Mulqueen for the great work she has done
over many years. Best wishes to our new committee and thank you to Ms. OConnor who works very closely
with our Parents Association.

Fundraising for our new school

Clothes Collection: We are holding our annual clothes collection fundraiser. If you are now doing a clear out
now and throwing out old clothes or know of anybody throwing out old clothes before Christmas we will accept
them here at school. There will also be a collection after Christmas. Thank you.

Split the Pot: This draw continues to be a fantastic success and congratulations to all our winners. The Jackpot is
nearly always around 400 with the winner receiving up to 200 or more each week. The draw will be on every
Thursday and for 2 a week everyone has a chance to win half the pot taken in each week if your name is pulled
out of the hat. If youre not in you cant win!

Bag Packing Dunnes: This very important fundraiser is taking place again on Tuesday December 19th stating at
10.00 a.m. until 10.00 p.m. If you are available to do a slot please let Ms. OConnor know as soon as possible on
087-6461836. Thank you.

Attendance and arriving at school on time

So far for the month of November we have had an average attendance of 93%.
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.
Some children have missed a lot of days already. The Educational Welfare Officer checks our attendance
regularly and may have to call to parents whose children have missed a lot of time from school. School
attendance has a huge effect on how well children progress at school.

There has been a great improvement in children coming to school on time and lets keep this up. It is very
important that children are on time every morning for school. If your child is late they are missing out on school
time and interrupting the class.

Stay Safe Lessons

Scoil Chrost R has a responsibility to cover the Stay Safe section of the Social, Personal and Health Education
(S.P.H.E.) strand of the Curriculum. This content will be taught after Christmas in all classes from Junior Infants
to 6th Class. The Stay Safe programme itself is a personal safety skills programme designed for use with primary
school children. The programme seeks to enhance childrens self-protective skills by participation in lessons on
safe and unsafe situations, bullying, inappropriate touch, secrets, telling and stranger danger.
If you have any questions, please speak with your childs teacher.

HSCL News
Create your own Storybook has begun with some Junior & Senior infant parents taking part. The
storybooks are looking very impressive so far & we look forward to seeing and reading the finished
product.
We will be starting some Christmas Craft workshops in December so please keep an eye on our
Facebook Page and the Parents Noticeboard inside the front door for further info.
If you have any queries in relation to courses please do not hesitate to contact me, 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 @criostri
Also you can see our Facebook page for parents, Scoil Chrost R HSCL Activities

Important Dates for your Diary

Friday December 15th: School Band & Choir playing and singing in Tesco Hallway from 12.00am to
Please come and support.
Monday December 18th: Christmas performance (Juniors, Seniors & 1st).
Tuesday December 19th: Bag packing fundraiser in Dunnes Stores from 10.00am to 10.00pm. If
available to do a slot please let Ms. OConnor know as soon as possible on 087-6461836.
Friday Dec 22nd: School closes at 12.00 for Christmas holidays.
Monday January 8th 2018: School reopens after the Christmas holidays.

Thanks for your continued support and best wishes for December in what will be our final
Christmas together in the old Scoil Chrost R.
Yours sincerely

Gearid Roughan
Principal