May Newsletter

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Dates for your Diary

• Monday 1st June – Public Holiday, school closed

• Thursday 11th June – 1st & 2nd Class Tour

• Friday 12th June – Junior Infants Tour

• Monday 15th June – Senior Infants Tour

• Tuesday 16th June – 4th, 5th and 6th Class Tour

• Tuesday 16th June – new Junior Infants visit

• Friday 19th June – School Garden Fête/Mollie’s Birthday Bash

• Monday 22nd June – End of year/Graduation Service at 12 noon

• Wednesday 24th June – School ends for the summer at 12 noon

Standardised Tests

Testing in Maths, Reading and Spelling for children from 1st to 6th class is currently underway and will be finalised in the coming weeks. Standardised tests are just one form of assessment used in primary schools. They are a snapshot of how a child performs in Maths and English on a specific day and should be interpreted with caution. As in other years, if a teacher has concerns, she will be in contact with you with advice as to how you can help your child. As usual, results of your child’s standardised tests will be communicated on your child’s summer report, to be issued in June. As with previous years, we will report on your child's Standard Score. If you have any questions when you receive your child's results, please contact your child’s class teacher.

Next Year

It’s the time of the year when our attention turns to allocating next year’s classes. To that end, if you know your child will not be returning to our school after the summer (other than 6th class pupils), please let the office know as soon as possible.

Bus Travel

We would like to make parents aware that the cost of bus transport for school activities and events has increased significantly over the last year or more. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the school to continue covering these expenses in full. In order to maintain the opportunity for pupils to attend outings, matches and events, a contribution towards transport costs will be required from the next school year, should we continue to use bus services. Alternatively, we may need to ask parents/guardians to assist with transporting children to and from events. We appreciate your understanding and ongoing support in helping us continue to provide these valuable experiences for our pupils.

Next Year's Calendar

Please find attached the school calendar for the upcoming academic year, 2026/2027. Please note that this calendar does not yet include the scheduled whole-school closure days for staff training. These will include one day in term 1 for whole staff training around the new Child Protection guidelines and up to four additional days to support the implementation of the new curriculum. The specific dates for these closures will be confirmed and shared with parents and guardians as soon as they are received from Oide. Thank you for your understanding.

First Holy Communion

Congratulations to the boys and girls from 2nd Class who received the sacrament of First Holy Communion in St. James’ Church recently. We hope you had a lovely day celebrating with your families. Our thanks to the school choir for giving of their time to attend, to Seán for accompanying the children, and to the Parents’ Association for their support with the after-party and treats. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

6th Class Graduation/End-of-Year Service

Our end-of-year service will take place on Monday 22nd June at 12 noon. You are welcome to come along and celebrate the end of the school year with us and wish our 6th Class children well as they embark on their next chapter.

Junior Infant Visit

We will hold our Junior Infant Open Day on Tuesday 16th June from 1:45pm - 2:30pm. The incoming Junior Infant class are invited to come to the school that afternoon. We will organise some games, colouring and fun for the children. The children will get to meet their new classmates and teacher, and see their classroom, while parents will get an opportunity to ask any further questions you may have. We are really looking forward to meeting our new cohort.

School Tours

• Junior Infants – Nature Hub – Friday 12th June

• Senior Infants – Nature Hub – Monday 15th June

• 1st & 2nd Class – Muckross Nature Camp – Thursday 11th June

• 2nd & 3rd Class – Tralee Wetlands – Tuesday 26th May

• 4th, 5th and 6th Class – Gap of Dunloe trip – Tuesday 16th June

School Garden Fête/Mollie’s Birthday Bash

A date for your diary; our upcoming Garden Fête, organised by our student council, which will be extra special as it coincides with Mollie’s first birthday. Join us for “Mollie’s Birthday Bash” on Friday 19th June from 1:00pm to 2:30pm. There will be a variety of garden stalls, fun activities and celebrations for everyone to enjoy. More information will follow soon – stay tuned!

Cumann na mBunscol Girls

Our girls’ football team played in the Cumann na mBunscol 6/7 Teacher Schools blitz at the end of April in Currow. We had mixed fortunes on the day, but the girls performed very well in cold and miserable conditions. They can be very proud of themselves! We lost our opening round game by a point to Currow N.S. We then beat Castlegregory N.S. comprehensively in the next game. We qualified from our group to meet Cullina N.S. in the semi-final, where we lost narrowly by a point. The girls gave it everything they could and that's all we can ever ask of them. Keep up the football girls! Well done.

Congratulations to:

• Our girls’ skills team, Caoimhe Foley, Eimee Lynch and Caoimhe O’Connor who represented the school at the Mid-Kerry Skills competition recently. The girls performed brilliantly on the day, coming home with the team award. They progressed to the county competition which was held last week in Austin Stack Park. The girls secured 3rd Place after another great performance.

• Our boys’ skills team, Adam Houlihan, Charlie Enright and Jack Moloney who represented the school at the Mid-Kerry Skills competition recently. The boys did very well on the day. Thanks to PJ Reidy, Sophia Doherty and their team of helpers for organising both days. A big thank you also to the parents who drove the children to the football field.

Time to Count

3rd Class visited the RDI Hub recently for the "wrap party" to conclude the Time to Count programme. Having thoroughly enjoyed the programme itself, the children marked the end with a tour of the facility on the Killarney Road before enjoying some yummy treats. Our sincere thanks to Cliona, our wonderful volunteers and the management of Fexco, and also to Eileen from Business in the Community Ireland for their commitment to the running of these programmes.

ISK Blitz

6th Class were invited along to the ISK blitz held recently. The children had a great day. Our thanks to the TYs along with Mícheál Ó Sé for having us.

Athletics

Well done to the children for representing the school so well at the Mid-Kerry School Sports recently in Killorglin. Those who were victorious on the day went forward to represent the district at the county races last week. Well done to you all.

Amber Flag

Congratulations and well done to our Amber Flag committee; Caoimhe Foley, Caoimhe O’Connor, Iveragh Mansell, Áine Carroll, Hayley Walker, Cian Murphy, Zack Scully, Rachel Seagrave, Kayla O’Carroll and Ivan Morris, under the guidance of Ms. Quirke, Ms. Phelan and Ms. Pigott, for their hard work in compiling and submitting our Amber Flag application earlier in the month. We received great news last week when we were awarded the 2025/2026 Amber Flag. Thank you all for working very hard all year promoting positive mental health and wellbeing at Glounaguillagh.

After-School Service

The Glounaguillagh After-School Club is up-and-running and going well, although it would benefit from increased numbers attending. If you would like more information, please contact glounaguillaghafterschool@gmail.com. The service will run during the summer holidays. See attached flyer. To access this, please contact Jade (after-school supervisor) directly on 087-4580875.

Summer Holidays

We will close for our Summer Holidays on Wednesday 24th June at 12 noon.

Kind Regards,

Sinéad Pigott

Principal