June 2017 Newsletter
UPCOMING SCHOOL CLOSING
Closing for Summer Holidays: Tuesday, June 27th at 12 noon.
School re-opening: Wednesday, August 30th at 9.20a.m
CLASS GROUPINGS 2017/2018
The sixteen class groupings and teacher for 2017/18 are as follows:
| Class 1 | Junior Infants | – | Ms. Cashman |
| Class 2 | Junior Infants | – | Mrs. O’Mahony |
| Class 3 | Senior Infants | – | Mrs. Cremin |
| Class 4 | Senior Infants | – | Ms. Doyle |
| Class 5 | First Class | – | Ms. O’Connor |
| Class 6 | First Class | – | Ms. O’Neill |
| Class 7 | Second Class | – | Ms. Downing |
| Class 8 | Second Class | – | Ms. O’Dwyer |
| Class 9 | Third Class | – | Mrs. O’Connell |
| Class 10 | Third Class | – | Ms. Laffey |
| Class 11 | Fourth Class | – | Ms. Healy |
| Class 12 | Fourth Class | – | Ms. Spillane |
| Class 13 | Fifth Class | – | Mr. O’Sullivan |
| Class 14 | Fifth Class | – | Mrs. Lucey |
| Class 15 | Sixth Class | – | Mr. Devane |
| Class 16 | Sixth Class | – | Mr. Hussey |
REPORT CARDS
Parents will shortly be receiving a Report Card giving details of their child’s progress during the school year 2016/17.
BOOK LISTS/RENTAL SCHEME
Following a lot of work and planning a comprehensive Book Rental Scheme is now operating In St John’s N.S. and a large number of books are available for rent.
Each book can be rented for €3 – €5 per year and is then returned to the school at the end of the school year in June. We encourage you to participate in this Rental Scheme as it will serve to reduce the overall back to school costs. You will receive your child /children’s Booklist for the school year 2017/18 in the coming days. Class Booklists will also be available on our website www.stjohnskenmare.ie Once you have decided on books you wish to rent please put all Book Rental Money in an envelope marked “Book Rental” and give to class teacher in September. Please include name of child and books you wish to rent. Please note lost or damaged rented books or library books will incur a fee.
ARTS / CRAFTS / INSURANCE
The school fee for Arts and Crafts and optional Insurance is included with our Book Lists and should be paid to class teacher in September.
A family fee structure is in place and charges of €20 for 1 pupil, €35 for families with 2 pupils, €50 for families with 3 pupils and €60 for families with 4 or more pupils. Please give the fee to your oldest pupils’ teacher. Regarding optional Insurance, we strongly advise you to avail of the Allianz Primary School Pupil Personal Accident Insurance for the school year 2017/18. Please read the information sheet accompanying your child’s Book List giving details of cover provided by this policy.
UNIFORM
By now all the uniform order forms are being processed and will be available for you to collect on distribution day Friday, August 25th from 12.00 noon – 5.00p.m. in the school hall. Please note shirts, trousers, skirts and pinafores are now available in the main department stores at competitive prices. Please be conscious of our Uniform Policy when purchasing school footwear during the summer period. On designated P.E. days, pupils are allowed to wear their school tracksuit and regular runners.
On all other school days, pupils are expected to wear their full school uniform with black/dark footwear. We kindly ask you to respect this policy in the interest of uniformity and an effort to minimise competitiveness in relation to coloured/ designer sports footwear. As the majority of schools operate this policy Department Stores are offering competitive prices on regular school and sports footwear.
HOSPICE SUNFLOWER DAY / NON-UNIFORM DAY
Well done to Mr. Hussey and Mr. Devane and all the sixth class pupils who fundraised for the Kerry Hospice Society in Kenmare on June 9th.
CONGRATULATIONS!!
Congratulations and best wishes to teacher Louise Downing who is getting married in July. Best of luck to Louise and Maurice!
Congratulations to SNA Alanna McCarthy on the birth of a baby boy Florence. Congratulations Alanna and Flor!
SUMMER CAMP
St. John’s N.S. Summer Camp runs from July 10th – 14th catering for pupils from 2nd – 6th class. Activities include Basketball, Badminton, Boules, Futsal Soccer, Tennis, Pitch and Putt, Rounders, Rugby, Spike ball, Table Tennis, Cycling, Orienteering, Arts and Crafts and Science Activities.
The cost is €60 per week. Reductions for families. Application forms available from the school with further information on Facebook page: St John’s Summer Camp.
ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME
Our Erasmus+ Programme entitled ‘Euro Trading, Young Entrepreneurs on the Move’ is a two year programme which began in September 2016 involving six countries – England, Germany, Poland, Greece, Spain and Ireland. In June, four of our pupils from 6th Class Jack Downing, Tom Crushell, Leah O’Donovan and Clara McElligott along with two of our teachers travelled to Poland to embark on the next stage of the Erasmus+ Project. You can find detailed reports of their experiences on our website at www.stjohnskenmare.ie
ACTIVE SCHOOL FLAG
We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded the Active School Flag for striving to achieve a ‘physically educated and physically active school community’. The flag was raised on Friday, June 16th and we would like to convey our gratitude to Tadhg Morley and Seán O’Shea from the Kerry Team also Amy Harrington and Aoife Crowley who are on the U14 Kerry Panel for their presence at the ceremony. Much hard work went into the achievement with special thanks to all our teachers, pupils and our Active School Committee Darren Allman, Adem Gul, Grace Foley, Gemma Myer, Finn Murphy and Mark O’Regan for their commitment all year. Well done all!
FOOD DUDES
Food Dudes is a Healthy Eating Programme which all classes took part in during the last term. It aims to encourage children to eat more fruit and vegetables. The children received rewards and stickers for trying new fruit and vegetables and were 
encouraged to bring fruit and vegetables in their lunch boxes as part of their daily diet. Well done to the children for trying the new foods as well as to all parents for continuing the encouragement at home!
HEALTH PROMOTING SCHOOLS
This year, St. John’s N.S. took part in a Health Promoting School’s Initiative. We committed to becoming healthier as a school as well as creating an awareness of the importance of both physical and mental health. This is a two-year process and we are very pleased to say that we have been awarded with certificates for outstanding achievement for the current year and will strive to continue the hard work next year and hopefully be awarded with our Health Promoting School’s Flag! Well done to teachers, students and the Health Promoting Committee for all their hard work in maintaining a healthy school.
DISCOVERY PRIMARY SCIENCE AND MATHS
St. John’s N.S. has been awarded the Discovery Primary Science and Maths Award of (STEM) Excellence 2017. Pupils in each class engaged in STEM activities and workshops throughout the year, which contributed to the improvement of skills including critical thinking, analyzing, estimating, measuring, fair testing and recording. This is a great achievement for our school. Congratulations to all!
WEBSITE / FACEBOOK PAGE
We hope that we have been keeping you well updated with happenings in St. John’s N.S. on our new look website and Facebook page. Keep an eye especially on our recent events section which give details of events as they happen including photos. A special word of thanks to our website coordinator, Roisín O’Sullivan for all her hard work in recording and uploading all the information and photos.
PARENTS ASSOCIATION
In order to facilitate our Parents Association initiative to collect outgrown uniforms and unwanted books suitable for school libraries, parents are being asked to drop in these items to school from 9a.m. – 10a.m. on Monday June 26th. Uniforms collected will be on sale in the school hall from 1.30p.m – 3.30p.m. on Monday June 26th. Any books donated will be given to class libraries.
TEXT-a-PARENT
We would appreciate if any new or changed numbers are forwarded to the school for ‘text-a-parent’ purposes.
Best wishes to the 45 – 6th Class girls and boys who are leaving us.
On behalf of all the Staff, I wish you all a safe, healthy and enjoyable summer.
Thank you all once again for your help and co-operation.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.
Denis Courtney,
Principal & Staff.