Dear parents/Guardians,

Its hard to believe we are at the end of Term 2 in the current school year. Our news this week is as follows

• Our Parents’ Association has organised an Easter Egg raffle for each class which will take place tomorrow. Tickets cost €2 for one and three for €5. Best of luck to everyone. The Parents’ Association have also organised a small treat for every pupil which will be given out before hometime tomorrow. We thank them for this.
• The Ceremony of Light for 6^th class pupils making Confirmation this year takes place tonight in Mary Immaculate Church at 7p.m. Pupils must wear their school uniform as per Shannon Parish Policy. The pupils have been advised to be in their seats by 6.45p.m. so that they are ready for the ceremony to begin at 7p.m. The pupils have worked really hard to prepare for tonight’s ceremony and we wish them all the best.
• 5^th class have organised an Easter egg hunt for Seniors where they will have to solve the puzzles to find the clues. Seniors have really enjoyed taking part in this hunt this morning.  Well done 5^th class on your fantastic organisational skills.
• Swimming lessons will start after Easter for 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th classes in Shannon Leisure centre. The lessons will be on Tuesday mornings for eight weeks. Swimming is part of the Physical Education curriculum and all pupils should attend unless there are medical reasons that they cannot. The school will require this in writing for our records.  The swimming will cost €4 per lesson and can be paid via Aladdin, in the office or directly to the teacher. 
• We would like to wish Ms Maeve Clancy every good wish as she will be getting married over the Easter holidays. We would like to wish both Maeve and Brian well on their wedding day and hope they have many years of health and happiness together.
• St Tolas will close to all pupils and staff for the Easter break tomorrow Friday 31^st March at 12p.m. I would like to wish all pupils and staff a relaxing and enjoyable break and hopefully we will see some lovely weather. St Tolas will re-open on Monday 17^th April at 9a.m. Enjoy the Easter eggs!!!

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

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

• We wish our boys’ soccer team all the best as they take part in the FAI 5’s competition tomorrow in Lee’s Road. Thank you to Mr Tyrrell who has given the team extra coaching this week before school.  We know our boys will do St Tola’s proud.
• The Ceremony of Light will take place next Thursday 30^th March at 7p.m.  in Mary Immaculate Church for the pupils in 6^th class making Confirmation this year. We wish all the pupils engaged in this all the best for this step on their journey to Confirmation.
• There is a First Communion preparation Mass for pupils in 2^nd class this Sunday in Mary Immaculate Church at 11a.m. We are looking forward to the First Communion ceremony which will take place on 29^th April.
• Here in St Tolas we welcome the new government initiative to fund the cost of schoolbooks for every pupil in primary school. Please see attached information for parents/guardians.
• Thank you to Ms Hansbury and Ms Flynn who have started a school band for pupils from 3^rd to 6^th classes. The band meet for rehearsals on Thursdays at lunchtime. We have tin whistles, keyboards, ukele, violin and harmonica currently being played in the band. We have received donations of two clarinets, a saxophone, a drum kit, concertina, guitar and keyboard and we hope that some of the pupils will take up these instruments.
• Well done to 4^th class who recently completed the Junior Achievement programme with volunteer Ciara Halliday. The pupils had to come up with a business idea in groups and present it to the rest of the class. They designed group posters to explain their ideas. There were Friends cafes with doggy daycare, a cookbook, DJs shop selling amazing gadgets such as floating shoes, Chocolate Wonders where you can make your own chocolate and World Sports.  I was very impressed with the level of detail and thought that had gone into their ideas and we certainly have some budding entrepreneurs in 4^th class. Well done everyone!
• The Parents’ Association have organised an Easter egg raffle. Tickets cost €2 for one or 3 for €5. There is a prize of an Easter egg for each class. The draw will take place next Friday 31^st March.
• We are almost at the end of Term 2 in the current school year. St. Tolas will close to pupils and staff next Friday 31^st March at 12p.m. The school will re-open on Monday 17^th April at 9a.m.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are keeping well and looking forward to St. Patrick’s Day. Our news this week is as follows

• Last Friday 6^th class were invited for a visit to Atlantic Air AirVenture Centre here in Shannon as part of Engineer’s week. The pupils had talks and demonstrations from a number of experts. They learnt some Flight Theory and all about different parts of the plane including the engine! They also learnt about flight safety and lifejackets on a plane. They found out about drones and what they can do for us. Did you know that drones are used for tasks that are dull, dangerous or dirty? The pupils got to try their hand at Morse Code and they learnt a little about electricity also. They also got to have a turn in a flight simulator. We are very grateful to Atlantic Air Adventure for giving this experience to our 6^th class pupils. 
• We have been celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge again this week. On Tuesday all the pupils in the school went out to the yard to sing Beidh Aonach Amárach and have a little dance to it. Yesterday pupils from 1^st-6^th class to0ok part in a (table quiz)Tráth na GCeist. The teams were made up of all the different class levels and there were 60 questions. Congratulations to all for your participation.
• We are having our Cruinniu Gaelach today also. Last week Seniors, 2^nd, 4^th and 5^th classes performed their song/poem as Gaeilge for us. Today we will have performances from Juniors, 1^st, 3^rd and 6^th classes. We are looking forward to it.
• Our Girls’ soccer team represented the school in the FAI 5’s competition in Tulla on Monday last. Thank you to Ms Vaughan and Ms Hackett who accompanied them. The girls performed really well and we are very proud of them. Well done to all involved.
• Wolfe Tones GAA have restarted training for boys and girls. Please see details on flyer attached. They are also organising an Easter Camp for boys and girls and there is a flyer attached for this also.
• Our Parents’ Association have organised a Green Day/ Lá Glas today to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Thank you to all who have supported this.
• St Tolas is closed tomorrow for pupils and staff as we celebrate our National Holiday of St. Patrick’s Day. We are open again on Monday next at 9a.m. Beannachtaí na Féile Padraig daoibh go léir!

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

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

• We have updated our Mobile Phone and Electronic Device policy following consultation with staff, pupils and Board of Management here in St. Tolas. Please see a copy of the updated policy attached. If you wish to have a hard copy please contact the school office and we can provide one for you.  Following on from this we recognise that a small number of pupils may need to bring their phone to school with them so they can be contacted after school. If this is the case and you require your child to bring a phone to school you will need to inform the school in writing that you are allowing your child to bring a phone to school. The phone will need to be handed up to your child’s class teacher while in school. It will be stored in a secure location and your child can have it back at home time. As before if you need to contact your child during the school day please contact the school office and we are happy to pass on any message. Similarly, if a child needs to contact a parent/guardian during the day this contact will be made through the school office. We thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
• Our newly elected Student Council met for the first time last Friday.  The student members had some fantastic ideas for improving the school for everyone. One of their requests was if we could paint a goalpost on the astro turf fence for lunchtime games. Our caretaker Kevin has started work on this request already. We are also going to purchase some chess sets for 5^th class to trial out playing chess on wet days when we have to have breaks inside. I look forward to working with the Student Council in the months ahead.
• Today we are celebrating World Book Day. At 10a.m. we had D.E.A.R time – drop everything and read. Our senior pupils are going to visit the junior classes today to read and discuss a book with a younger pupil. Many classes will complete book reviews today also and there will be prizes for the best reviews.
• From next Monday we will be celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge. Pupils are learning a song/poem as gaeilge to perform for the school at our weekly Cruinniu (assembly). There will be an award for the Gaeilgeoir Na Seachtain for the next two weeks. All classes are also learning a dance to the Irish song Beidh Aonach Amárach.
• We had a visit from Joe Searson today in 2^nd and 6^th class to meet the children making First Communion and Confirmation. Joe works for the diocese of Killaloe advising and supporting schools around Religious Education. He complimented the pupils and the teachers on all the work they have put in so far this year.
• Can you please ensure that your child has sufficient drinks for the school day (preferably water). Some pupils are complaining of being thirsty and not having enough to drink and a few pupils are not bringing drinks at all. We thank you for your co-operation in this matter.

Kind regards, Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal