Parent Teacher Association

We held our first meeting of the year in school on Tuesday 12th November. Thank you to those who came along. We look forward to a busy year helping and supporting our children and our school. Here is a quick summary of what we talked about at our meeting.

If you weren't able to attend this meeting but would like more information about what we chatted about, please let us know. We hope to see you at the next meeting 😊

Tori Mahon (Chairperson)

Laura McMurray (Vice-Chairperson)

(Data protection -This newsletter has been written with help from school staff and forwarded from the school email address).

This year's 'Go Crazy for Christmas' Day will be held on Friday 13th December. The cost of this year's festivities will be covered by fundraising money from the Tractor Fun Day held in May. Parents may be asked to send in donations of drink and crackers. Help might be needed on Friday 13th December if anyone is free to come into school. Please let us know.

The Carol Service will be held in Drumholm Parish Church on Tuesday 17th December at 7 p.m.

The PTA hopes to organise a fundraising clothes collection in January or February 2025. If you are having a tidy up or clear out before Christmas, please keep this in mind. More details will be sent home shortly.

We talked about the possibility of some parents volunteering to help with gardening in school. The ground around the polytunnel has become very overgrown so we talked about how it might be cleared. If anyone is interested in helping with gardening or has ideas about how to clear the overgrown area, please let us know.

The PTA would like to thank the ladies of Hilltown LOL for organising last week's quiz. It was very well attended. We also thank everyone who raised money by buying/selling quiz sheets. An update on the total of money raised for school will be sent out by school.

Mrs Somerville talked about the new Primary Maths Curriculum and things that had changed from the previous Maths Curriculum.

Mrs Somerville explained that the Department of Education has published new Anti-bullying procedures (Bí Cineálta) for schools. School will close for a day later in the year so staff can receive training on this. Parents will be asked for their thoughts on bullying later in the year.

We talked about the impact of mobile phones on children and whether parents might like some support in dealing with Internet Safety issues. A further meeting may be held to talk about a mobile phone agreement among parents. If you would be interested in attending a meeting about this, please let me know by clicking below.

We talked about the existing school lunches and the advantages/disadvantages of hot meals. Before a decision is made about changing, parents may be asked their thoughts on this. We have added a quick poll just for a quick overview of parental opinion. School will send out a more detailed survey if the Board of Management wants to discuss a change.

A fundraising Bingo event may be organised next year.

Thank you for all your efforts with helping raise money for school. Some of the things your fundraising money is/will be helping with:

• bus costs for the school tours and trips
• summer fun events
• new outdoor toys/equipment
• P.E. equipment
• additional laptops/tablets
• teaching materials
• Christmas events

All parents are members of our Parent Teacher Assosciation. Your help, support and interest is always welcome and appreciated.