Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are keeping well as we head towards Spring hopefully! Our news this week is as follows

• Well done to the boys and girls in Second class who made their First Confession last night. We were all very proud of them. They have worked hard over the past few weeks to get ready for this sacrament. We are now looking forward to their First Communion day on 30^th April.
• Last Tuesday was St. Brigid’s day. Some classes made St. Brigid’s Day crosses to keep this centuries old tradition in Ireland alive. These crosses are made out of rushes and can be quite tricky to make!  Thank you to 3^rd class who gave me a St. Brigid’s cross for my office.
• 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes are currently taking part in an Accelerated Reading Challenge. Each class has their own target to meet and the class who gets there first will get a little treat. There is super reading going on and we even have a few “millionaire“ readers who have read over a million words since the start of the year!  Each time a pupil completes a book they take an online comprehension quiz on the book and the AR system gives them their word count too! Keep up the good work!
• Just to let you know that Covid is still circulating widely in the community. If your child has any symptoms of Covid please keep them at home and contact your GP for advice. If there are confirmed cases in your child’s class we will send out an email with details of how to apply for free antigen tests. These tests will be delivered to your home quite quickly.
• St. Tola’s is a nut free school. We have several pupils in different classes who have been diagnosed with a severe nut allergy and even a minute amount can trigger a severe allergic reaction. Please check food labels as there can be traces of nuts in many products including chocolate spread. We thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
• St. Tola’s will close on Thursday 24^th and Friday 25^th Feb for mid-term break. The school will re-open to pupils and staff on Monday 28^th February.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, Principal