Dear Parents/guardians,

We hope you are well and that the lovely weather continues into the weekend. We need it at this stage! Our news this week is as follows

• It has been brought to my attention that a number of drivers are parking in front of the railings at the pedestrian crossing in the evening at home time when picking up from school or blocking the entrance into the car park. I would ask that you refrain from this as pupils have to step onto the road to see if a car is coming as their view is blocked. Some cars travel quite fast on the road and may not see a pupil in time. If you cannot get into the car park please park on the road at a different location making sure you are not causing an obstruction. We all want every pupil to be safe coming and going from school and request your co-operation in this matter.
• 4^th class are our tree experts here in the school having done a lot of work on learning all about amazing trees. On Monday last they got to go out on a nature walk identifying some of the trees and plants in the locality. They completed lovely pictures on some of their observations and on the importance of biodiversity. These were collected by Shannon Tidy Towns committee yesterday and will be displayed locally.
• We have adapted our annual Quizbrain of St. Tola’s competition for Covid times. Yesterday pupils from 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes took part in Round 1 of the quiz via zoom Thanks to Ms Kelleher who prepared the questions for this round. Round 2 will take place on Friday with rounds 3 and 4 next week.  After the four rounds the top 20 highest scores will go through to two semi-final rounds and from that the top 5 highest scores will take part in the final. Best of luck to all involved. It’s great we get to do it this year even if it is on Zoom!
• If you wish to order photos of your child taken recently please return the order forms with the amount by tomorrow Friday 28^th May to your child’s teacher.
• Both 5^th and 6^th classes did a virtual tour of Croke park recently. They got to see all parts of the stadium and learn a little about the history of Croke Park.
• St. Tolas is closed next Friday 4^th May and Monday 7^th May for the bank holiday weekend. St. Tola’s will re-open on Tuesday 8^th May at 9a.m. let’s hope the weather improves for the long weekend.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, Principal