Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you had a lovely Easter break and we look forward to a busy final term in this school year. Our news is as follows

• Congratulations to Mr. Quinn and his wife Deirdre on the birth of their baby boy Freddie. We send every good wish to them on this happy occasion. We are delighted for them.

• 5^th class started cycle training yesterday. This will run for the next 6 weeks. This cost to the pupils is €5 with the rest of the costs sponsored by Clare County Council and An Taisce. Pupils will learn about road safety, cycle skills and looking after your bike.
• Confirmation will take place on Wednesday next at 11a.m. for pupils in 6^th We wish the pupils and their families all the best on this special occasion in their child’s life.
• Thank you to all the families who bought books at our recent bookfair. A total of €2050 was raised and we expect to receive a significant quantity of new books for our class libraries as a result of this. We are expecting the ordered books to arrive very soon and as soon as we have them they will be distributed to the pupils.
• Swimming lessons started today for pupils in 2nd, 3^rd and 4^th The lessons will run for eight weeks in total.
• If you have a Trocaire box at home since Lent they may be returned to the school tomorrow when Fr. Arnie will collect them and send them away. Thank you to those who have already returned their box.
• A cake sale will take place tomorrow here in the school at 1p.m. to raise funds for 6^th class who are travelling to Mullingar soon to take part in the All Ireland Finals of Feile Dramaíochta. We thank you for your support.
• Best of luck to our girls’ basketball team who compete in the semi-finals of the Marian Keane competition on Monday next. We wish them all the best.
• Tolas now has a school twitter account. You can follow us by searching St. Tolas NS or @StTolasNS We hope to keep this regularly updated with school news and events.
• In line with recent changes to Child Protection Procedures the school has published its Child Safeguarding Statement and Risk Assessment on the school website. They may be accessed by visiting www.tolasns.com, clicking on the Parents tab and then clicking on policies. These documents are also displayed in the school entrance lobby. I would like to thank all staff members and members of the Board of Management and Parents’ Association for their contribution to these important documents for the school.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, Principal