Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are well as we move through October. Our news this week is as follows

Our fundraising Witches Walk will take place next week. We will decide what day on Monday after looking at the weather forecast. Pupils may dress up in their Halloween costumes if they wish. We will do a walk around Shannon. Donations can be made on this link  https://gofund.me/ce5b7936  for our gofundme page. Thank you to the many families and individuals who made a donation already. All funds raised will go towards equipping our sensory room in our Aoibhneas class.

• This week we are celebrating Maths week with every class learning maths games and having a focus on mental maths. Tomorrow we have a maths games demonstration day. All classes will send representatives to the hall throughout the day to man their maths game station. Every pupil will get an opportunitity to present their class game at some point in the day. Each class has an allocated time to come to the hall to see the games from all other classes and to get a chance to play them. It promises to be a fun day and we are all looking forward to it!
• Our parent/teacher meetings will take place towards the end of January with the date to be confirmed closer to the time. Teachers are happy to meet with parents/guardians before then or at any time if you have a worry or a concern. Please make an appointment through the school office so that the teacher is available to meet with you.
• For pupils in 6^th class making their Confirmation there is a preparation Mass this Sunday at 11a.m. in Mary Immaculate Church. The parish policy is that pupils wear their school uniform to these Masses.
• On Tuesday last our boys’ football team took part in the Cumann na MBunscoil competition in Ruan. They played very well but were up against some stiff competition and did not go through this time. However, on Tuesday evening two teams represented St Tola’s in the Paddy Carrig memorial competition and one of our teams won the cup! Both teams played brilliantly and we are so proud of them. Thank you to Ms Hehir who organised this competition.
• 4^th and 5^th classes visited the library yesterday to take part in a workshop with Niall De Búrca – traditional storyteller. He told a great story called Fiddle Dee Dee and the pupils really enjoyed it.
• The Parents’ Association would like to invite any interested parents to join their committee. A few parents contacted the office last week to join and we thank them for that.  The invitation is still open to other parents. If you would like to get involved contact the school office by phone or email office@tolasns.com and Tracey will pass on your details to the committee. The meetings are informal and there are not a lot throughout the year.
• St. Tolas will close next Friday 28^th Oct at the usual time 1.40p.m. for Infants and 2.40p.m. for all other classes. We will be closed for mid term break all week starting 31^st October. St. Tolas will re-open at 9a.m. for all pupils on Monday 7^th November.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are well. Our news this week is as follows

• Our Parents’ Association would like to invite any interested parents to join. The Parents’ Association are a brilliant resource in the school. They help organise many events, help out with fundraising and are consulted in relation to certain school policies also. This is a great way to capture the parent voice. There are only a few meetings during the year and they are quite informal. It is a lovely way to get to know other parents in the school.  If you would like to join or are interested in finding out more please email the office at office@tolasns.com or phone and your details will be passed along to the committee.
• Well done to the boys and girls who took part in the Paddy Carrig Memorial football competition in Wolfe Tones GAA club last Tuesday. Four teams from St Tolas represented the school so well. They played teams from the other primary schools in Shannon and gave a great account of themselves. Thank you to our staff who trained and accompanied the pupils to the competition.
• We wish our Girls’ Football team all the best today as they are taking part in the Cumann na mBunscoil competition in Wolfe Tones GAA club today. We hope they have a very enjoyable day and have good fun.
• We will be organising a fundraising Witches Walk to take place the week of 24^th October. The date will be confirmed closer to the time taking the weather forecast into account. Pupils can dress up in their Halloween costumes and we will go for a walk around Shannon. Instead of sponsor cards we will send out a gofundme link shortly and we ask that you share this with family and friends. All funds raised will go towards kitting out our sensory room.
• Please see information leaflet attached about a coding event taking place on Saturday 22^nd October that your child may be interested in attending virtually.
• We are busy in every class with Maths week activities taking place this week and next week. 5^th class have set up a game called noggle in the hall and were playing it with me yesterday.6^th class are going to play it today.  I understand we will also have a game called Algeboggle. There is maths related art taking place, maths games and even maths related spellings! Today 5^th class are taking part in a live zoom event where they will use our IZAK9 maths resource. Next week our maths activities will culminate with every class demonstrating a maths game/activity for other classes in the hall. It promises to be a fun day and we are all looking forward to it.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal