September 2017 Newsletter
NEWSLETTER – September 2017
Welcome back to St. John’s N.S. Bunscoil Eoin Naofa to pupils and teachers.
A special welcome to the girls and boys in the two Junior Infants classes as well as all new pupils to other classes who are joining our school for the first time. We look forward to working with you all.
Upcoming Closings;
Monday, October 30th to Friday, November 3th – Mid-Term Break
A full list of closures for the coming school year was distributed prior to the school holidays. Holiday list available to download from our website.
School opening/closing times:
School opening hours 9.20a.m – 3.00p.m.
Junior Infant children finish at 2.00 p.m.
from Monday, September 11th.
Senior Infant children finish at 2.00p.m.
All others finish at 3.00p.m.
Please note that the B.O.M. does not provide supervision for children outside of these hours in particular for children who may be left at school before the official starting time and after closing time in the evening. Parents of infant children are reminded that prompt collection of children at 2.00p.m. is expected.
If your child is being collected for an appointment it is necessary that a note is sent to class teacher. A ‘sign in, sign out’ system at the school office is now in operation if you wish to take your child during school hours for a necessary appointment, please note that only persons named on the Enrolment Form can collect your child. Any changes to these arrangements must be made known to the school office in writing.
New Staff:
Congratulations to newly appointed permanent teachers Roisín O’Sullivan, Ronan Hussey, Aideen O’Leary and Gráinne Browne and also Marie Harrington and Deirdre McCarthy who are full-time Special Needs Assistants. Wishing you all the best of luck in the future.
Retirement:
We want to wish all the best and a long and healthy retirement to teacher, Evelyn Curtis, who is retiring on September 21st. Evelyn has worked in Kenmare, firstly in St. Clare’s Girls N.S. from 2002 to 2012 and with us here in St. John’s N.S. up to the present day. Prior to this Evelyn worked in St. Frances Special School in Beaufort and St. Philips N.S., Mountview, Clonsilla, Dublin. Evelyn’s talents and gifts as a teacher both in Special Education and Mainstream Class setting will be hugely missed. We owe her a debt of gratitude for all her hard work, her caring attitude towards each individual pupil and her wonderful team spirit.
Enjoy your retirement Evelyn!
Assembly/ Traffic Management:
All classes now assemble in the junior yard at the back of the school. Pupils will assemble in the hall on wet mornings and enter the school through the main back door. Exit of pupils will always be through the main front door at 3 p.m.
Parents of infant pupils have been made aware of arrangements which are in place for collection of infant pupils at 2 p.m.
Please note that a set down only system is in place at opening and closing times. We note particularly that there is
congestion when parents park and accompany their children to the school yard. We are asking you to be conscious of all other drivers and pedestrians when setting down or reversing from car parking spaces. On wet days in particular we are asking you to be patient when there is a higher volume of traffic and to co-operate with signals given by traffic supervisors. We are asking you also to be conscious of bus parking at school opening and closing times.
Please note that parents are not permitted to use staff car park for set down and collection purposes. In the interest of all our health and safety we are asking you to co-operate in this regard.
School Uniform:
We are delighted to see so many of our pupils wearing their full new uniform including crested jumper, blue shirt/ grey skirt or trousers and black shoes. We are also delighted to see the majority of pupils wearing regular runners with school tracksuits on P.E. days. Class teachers have informed their classes regarding the allocated P.E. days when the pupils will wear their tracksuit. On all other days, full school uniform should be worn.
Insurance:
You are requested to return all optional Personal Accident Insurance forms with remittance before Friday, September 15th. Application forms were distributed to all families in June.
Art/Craft & Photocopying:
A contribution of €20 per child (€35 for families of two €50 for families of three and €60 for families of four or more pupils) is requested to cover art/craft and photocopying costs for the coming year. Please forward to class teacher if you have not already done so.
Book Rental:
All classes can now rent a large number of books under our Book Rental Scheme. We have invested a huge amount of finance, time and energy into the covering, labelling and stamping of these books that have now been distributed to all classes. Please give book rental fee to class teacher if you have not done so already.
We kindly ask you to periodically check that each child is taking care of rented books and that they are returned to the school in good condition in June 2018.
We anticipate your help and support in this regard so that our rental scheme can expand and last long into the future.
Healthy Lunches:
We are asking you to take the time to read our healthy lunch policy on school website. We recommend that pupils should bring a sandwich, a non-fizzy drink and a piece of fruit. Crisps are of course strictly forbidden.
In line with our Green School principles of reduce, reuse and recycle, we are asking pupils to bring reusable drinks 
and lunch containers and to place organic waste in the bins provided. All other wrappings and paper should be put in lunch boxes and brought home.
In as far as possible, we are encouraging all pupils to bring their full lunch with them in the morning. In such a large building delivery of lunches to pupils during the school day is not practical.
To encourage healthy lunches we have designated Monday, October 2nd to Friday, October 6th as Healthy Eating Week. During that week we will teach the pupils at all levels about healthy diet and composition of healthy lunches.
For more information on healthy eating check out www.safefood.eu.
Communication with Parents:
Parent/Teacher meetings will be scheduled during the school year. We will give you plenty notice regarding the time and date of these meetings. Outside of this when you wish to meet a teacher an appointment system is in place.
Please take the time to read all correspondence from the school. The school may need to communicate urgent messages to parents/guardians by text to their mobile phones.
It has been brought to our attention that many parents have changed mobile numbers and may also have changed address. Please notify school of any such changes. Kindly fill in details at the front of Homework Journal.
Attendance:
We were delighted with the number of children who achieved full attendance during the last school year and encourage all pupils to aspire to this goal. We understand that pupils will fall ill from time to time and this is of course understandable. Outside of this, pupils should be at school and be on time.
Pupils who are constantly late will be asked to address the reason for being late. Very often, the reasons are no fault of the child so parents / guardians of these pupils will be contacted and asked to address the issue.
Absences of more than 20 days in the school year must by law be reported to the Educational Welfare officer (Túsla) Parents/ guardians should give a note to the class teacher when pupils are returning from any absence. Absence notes are available to complete in pupils journals for pupils from 1st to 6th Classes. Pupils in Junior and Senior infants will be given these notes to complete where necessary.
Consent Forms:
Parents / guardians are kindly asked to take the time to read our School Policies on the school website and complete the Consent Form in the pupil’s journal. Pupils in Junior Infants should have completed this Consent Form in June. If you have not done so please complete and give to class teacher.
Consent Forms will be distributed to pupils in Senior Infants in the coming days.
Finally, we look forward to a successful school year and hope that with your support we can deliver a safe, happy and enjoyable learning experience for all pupils.
Mise le meas, 
Denis Courtney,
Principal and Staff.