Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are keeping well this week as we come up to our mid-term break. Our news this week is as follows

• Thank you to the Parents’ Association who organised a cake sale here in the school yesterday. Thank you to all the parents and pupils who supported the cake sale by baking delicious buns and cakes and by purchasing same. A big thank you to the Student Council who helped out in the morning by collecting all the baked goods and labelling tins and containers. Thank you also to 6^th class who did a terrific job in helping out with the cake sale.
• Our boys’ football team have gone to Lee’s Rd. today to play in the Cumann na mBunscoil competition. This trip was cancelled twice before this due to the bad weather. We wish them well today and thankfully they get to play their games today.
• 3^rd and 4^th classes are taking part in a hurling blitz in Wolfe Tones GAA club this morning also. It appears the rain will hold off and they will get to enjoy a few games today. We wish them well.
• Congratulations to Mike O’ Brien and Gillian Kirwan who were elected as the parent nominees on the Board of Management. This new Board will come into operation on 1^st December 2023 and the term of office is four years. Congratulations also to Mr. Gary Tyrrell who was elected as the teacher nominee on the new Board of Management.
• The Parents’ Association will hold their AGM on Wednesday 8^th November at 7.30p.m. here in the school. All are welcome to attend.
• As tomorrow is the last day before mid-term break pupils may dress up if they wish in their Halloween costumes. Please makes sure that your child can manage their costume and that they can go to the bathroom and play safely. We are aware that some families do not celebrate Halloween and if your child does not wish to dress up that is not a problem. They can just wear their uniform as usual.
• St. Tolas will close to pupils and staff tomorrow Friday at 2.40p.m. for mid-term break. The school will re-open on Monday 6^th November at 9a.m. We wish all pupils, parents/guardians and staff a safe, relaxing and enjoyable mid-term break.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are well despite the bad weather we have had this week. Our news is as follows

• As per letter emailed last Monday 9^th October to all families a meeting will take place tonight Thursday 19^th October at 7.30p.m. here in the school to elect two parent nominees to the new Board of Management. Nominations will be accepted at the meeting for one mother nominee and one father nominee. You may nominate yourself. All nominations must be seconded. If there are more than one nominee for either position a ballot will be held at the meeting to determine who will be elected. The term of the next Board of Management will run from 1^st December 2023 to 30^th November 2027. Parent nominees must step down from the Board once their child/children have all left the school.
• We have been celebrating Maths week this week here in St Tolas with lots of maths related fun and games.
• 4^th class really enjoyed engaging with maths games this week. In small groups they played 6 different games working on different topics including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They particularly enjoyed multiplication bingo and battle ship, learning how big of a part that maths plays in all of our lives. 
• Seniors made numbers out of playdoh. They learned all about ten frames. They played snakes and ladders. They also played a maths game every day on the interactive whiteboard.
• Second class have had lots of fun playing various maths games and solving maths riddles. They have also been using their maths eyes all week, discovering lots of maths in their everyday environments and today they took part in a mini maths quiz with lots of other schools through Maths week tv!
• For maths week this week 1^st class played some dice games in pairs and small groups to practice our addition and subtraction. One game also involved some strategic problem solving and decision making as the children had to decide whether to add or subtract their two numbers depending on where they wanted to put their cube to be the first to get 3 in a row. They also had a lot of fun counting forwards and backwards, with playdoh to music!
• 3^rd Class participated in a live Izak 9 Maths Extravaganza last week and on today the 19^th will participate in an online Maths quiz. They used their Maths eyes as part of homework to find various Maths concepts in the environment and posted these on Seesaw. They had great fun solving problems together based on these! They also started each morning with Number of the Day activities as well as some card games involving Maths.  

• 5^th class have been focussing on tables this week playing tables games. They used the laptops to play maths games. They also used maths in art creating pictures with concentric circles. They have also been using lots of mathematical language while problem solving.
• Juniors have been busy playing lots of maths games this week. They have also put on their ‘maths goggles’ and looked at home for maths such as numbers, shapes and patterns around the house and shared photos of what they found with Ms Corry on Seesaw. 
• The Parents’ Association have organised a cake sale to take place next Wednesday 25^th October here in the school starting at 1p.m. Donations of cakes and buns would be gratefully accepted on Wednesday morning.
• Shannon Athletic Club would like to invite anyone interested in getting involved in Coaching, volunteering and preserving the future of the club to an open meeting in the Oakwood Hotel, Shannon, on Monday evening October 23rd at 8.00pm. The meeting will discuss the club’s current position with a view to forming a new committee, and will seek to engage coaches and volunteers to ensure the future of the club in Shannon. For further details contact Josephine on 086 3994698

• School will be closed from Monday 30^th October to Friday 3^rd November for midterm break.  School reopens at 9am on Monday 6^th November.  Wishing you all a lovely midterm break.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald

Dear Parents/Guardians,

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

• As per letter emailed last Monday 9^th October to all families a meeting will take place next Thursday evening at 7.30p.m. here in the school to elect two parent nominees to the new Board of Management. Nominations will be accepted at the meeting for one mother nominee and one father nominee. You may nominate yourself. All nominations must be seconded. If there are more than one nominee for either position a ballot will be held at the meeting to determine who will be elected. The term of the next Board of Management will run from 1^st December 2023 to 30^th November 2027. Parent nominees must step down from the Board once their child/children have all left the school.
• 6^th class are off on a workshop today to Shannon Wetlands.  The pupils have joined forces with the Shannon Town Community Wetlands Group. Together they set out to conduct research on native trees and hedgerows, natural regeneration, the food web and the role of the wetlands in fighting climate change. The pupils will get an opportunity to go pond dipping to see some of the amazing creatures and plants living there. Wellies are the order of the day!!!
• Well done to our Girls’ football team who participated in a number of football games last Monday in Wolfe Tones GAA pitch. The girls put up a great show by winning one match and narrowly losing out in two others. We were so proud of their sporting attitude and the way every player gave their best. Thank you to Ms Hehir and Ms. Clancy for coaching the girls and for bringing them to the games.
• Please see flyer attached re a workshop on Cool Halloween Food being run by Shannon Library. Some of our pupils may be interested in attending.
• As the weather has unfortunately become wet and cold please make sure that your child is bringing a coat to school. We will be going out at breaktimes if the weather is dry and a coat may be needed.
• Well done to 1^st class who completed lovely artwork using autumn leaves. This work is displayed in the hall.
• Student Council elections were held last Friday. Pupils from 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes elected two nominees from each class. Congratulations to Luka and Lucy from 6^th class, Dara and Shirley from 5^th class and Jordan and Emily from 4^th class. Their term of office will run up to mid term in Term 2. We wish the new student council all the best for the coming term. Congratulations to all the pupils who stood for election and who gave a speech to their classmates. We are so proud of you for putting yourselves forward.

Kind regards, Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are keeping well. it is hard to believe that we are in the first week of October already. Our news this week is as follows

• Thank you to Damien O’ Rourke from Cuppa Tea TV who donated a xylophone to our school band this week. Damien visited the school yesterday to present the xylophone to us and it will be used. Our school band meet every Thursday at lunchtime and we have over 30 pupils participating. At the moment the pupils are concentrating on the tin whistle but we have some fiddles, a concertina, clarinets, ukele and now a xylophone.   The band will be learning to read music before Christmas. We look forward to some lovely performances. Thank you to Ms Hansbury and Ms Flynn who teach the band every week.
• Our Student Council elections will take place this Friday morning. Pupils from 4^th to 6^th classes can be nominated to stand for election with two pupils chosen to represent their class from each class grouping. Those who are nominated for election have to prepare a speech for their class as to why they should be elected to represent their class. Last year’s Student Council made some great suggestions such as painting goals in the astro turf and buying chess sets for rainy days. The Student Council also helped out with school events such as the book fair. The current term will run from October until February. Best of luck to all who have put themselves forward for election.
• The Parents’ Association had their first meeting of the current school year last Monday evening. It was great to see some new parents attending. We look forward to events organised by the PA throughout the year.
• 5^th and 6^th classes are going to Shannon library tomorrow for an author talk. Local author Alex Dunne will host a workshop for the pupils. It should be enjoyable for them.
• We wish our girls’ football team all the best as they take part in Cumann na mBunscoil competition next Monday here in Shannon.  C’mon the girls!!
• We wish our caretaker Kevin O’ Connor a speedy recovery as he had surgery earlier this week. He will be off for a few months while he recuperates. We have a new caretaker (also called Kevin!!!) filling in for him while he is off.
• We extend our sincere sympathies to Clare Fitzsimons and her family on the recent death of her uncle John Fitzsimons. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílís.

Kind regards, Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal