September Newsletter
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Welcome/Staffing:
Welcome back to all the children of Glounaguillagh National School. We extend a very special welcome to our 23 new Junior Infants. The children completed their first full day today and are all settling in very well to life in Glounaguillagh. At present, our total enrolment is 144 students.
We welcome Ms. Ann O’Shea & Ms. Fiona Cooney who join us covering Ms. O’Sullivan and Ms. Tyther’s Maternity Leaves. Ms. Caitríona McCarthy will continue to job-share with Mrs. Fiona Doyle for the coming school year. We also welcome Ms. Niamh Dalton, Ms. Noreen Breen & Ms. Cliona Moynihan (Noreen & Cliona job-share) who will visit the school one day per week as part of our Special Education team.
Congratulations to Ms. Norma Tyther and her family on the recent birth of her baby girl. We also wish Ms. O’Sullivan and her husband the very best with their expected arrival.
Finally, Ms. Ciara O’Brien is completing her school placement with us this term while Isabella Doherty will call every Friday on TY Work Experience. We are delighted to have Ciara & Isabella, our past pupils, back with us.
Dates for your diary:
Please find attached a school calendar for the year 2022/2023. Updated to include a closure on the 8th December and, as a result, a new June finish date.
Contacting the School:
If you have a query, the office may be contacted via telephone 0669769402 or by email glounaguillaghns@gmail.com. A reminder that the office is not manned during class time. You can leave a voicemail or email us with your query and your child’s class teacher will respond as soon as possible.
The school will continue to use Aladdin to send whole-school text messages to inform parents of any important information/events. If you have changed your mobile number recently, please contact the office to update your number. We may, on occasion, need to contact you via phone-call during the day. Therefore, it is vital that we have up-to-date mobile numbers and emergency contact numbers.
We will continue to send a monthly email update via Aladdin. If you need to change your email address for any reason, please email the school office.
We ask that all visitors to the school make an appointment prior to their arrival. Please respect this.
The “drop-off box” will continue to be left outside during the school day for any forgotten items, i.e., lunch boxes, books, etc. If possible, please email/leave a voicemail to inform us that an item is in the drop-off box.
Uniforms:
Please ensure that children wear the agreed uniform i.e., navy and white. Ensure that jumpers are clearly labelled otherwise it is impossible to determine ownership. PE for Junior and Senior Infants will be on a Thursday. PE day for the remainder of the school will be on Fridays – on PE day, pupils wear their plain navy tracksuit and runners. As the weather is unpredictable, make sure your child brings a waterproof jacket (with a hood) to school each day.
Absence Notes:
While certain absences are unavoidable, such as when a child is sick, it is important to remember that the school must inform the statutory Educational Welfare Services of the Child and Family Agency if your child has missed 20 days or more in the school year. Following an absence, please complete an absence explanation note. All families have been provided with a booklet of these. If you need a replacement booklet, please let us know. The absence notes at the back of the Homework Journal (1st – 6th Class) can also be used.
Lunches and Allergies:
We remind parents that fizzy drinks, chocolate bars, chocolate spread, biscuits, sweets, lollipops, crisps and chewing gum are not permitted in lunchboxes. Due to allergies, we ask that nuts or products containing nuts are not included in lunchboxes either. Furthermore, we ask that eggs are not included in lunches in Junior Infants.
Book Bills:
Bills for your children’s books will be distributed early next week. As always, we will endeavour to keep these as low as possible. The cost of your child's pupil personal accident insurance cover as well as a contribution to cover art and craft materials and photocopying costs for the coming year will be included in your book bill. We will continue to use the Aladdin system for online school payments.
Parking:
The safety of the children around drop-off and pick up times is always on our minds. We would ask parents to be please be mindful on approach to the school and to park responsibly when dropping your children to, and collecting from, school. Please do not park behind the staff cars. Pull in to the carparking spaces properly or use the other side of the road to park. Finally, we ask parents not to stop their cars in the immediate vicinity of the gates and allow children to hop out of cars. If your child is dropped to school by another family member, please pass this information on and ask them to behave responsibly in the area surrounding the school.
Confirmation:
Congratulations to the Class of 2022 who received the Sacrament of Confirmation on Friday last. We thank Bishop Ray, Fr. Kevin, Pat Coffey, Mrs. Galvin, Mary Ralston, Catherine McGrath, Edel Moriarty, Mike Dowd & Margaret Naughton for the lovely ceremony. We wish the students all the very best in secondary school.
Arts (Sport, Music & Art):
Football will get up-and-running again this month with Cumann na mBunscol getting underway. We will compete in the 6 – 8 Teacher category. We were delighted to welcome PJ back and Pat will also continue to visit weekly this year.
Clay with Kelly: Senior Infants are completing 6 weeks of clay with Kelly McGrath. We are really enjoying Kelly’s visits and are loving showing our creative sides.
Seán Treacy will continue to visit weekly for the coming year. He will work with Mrs. Fleming’s & Mrs. Galvin’s classes as well as whole school sessions around Christmas time.
Congratulations:
Congratulations to;
Megan & Donnacha Quigg (5th Class) who took part in the Community Games Cross Country Running event over the week. Best of Luck to Megan who has qualified for the Munsters.
Amy Mangan who has travelled to Poland this week to compete in karate.
Alannah Foley who finished her 68th round of chemotherapy on Friday last. What a superstar! We wish Alannah all the very best going forward.
Build Update:
We were granted planning permission for our new extension in August. We have now gone back to the Department for permission to go to tender. It’s a slow process but will be worth it in the end!
Website:
We remind you all to check the school website www.glounaguillaghns.ie regularly for updates and all the latest information.
Regards,
Sinéad Pigott
Principal
