Dear Parents/Guardians,

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

• We will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow in St Tolas with Lá Glas. Pupils may wear green tomorrow if they wish to mark our national holiday. Please be mindful that the weather is cold and wet so ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather too. At Cruinniu tomorrow we will have lots of performances of songs and poems as Gaeilge. Classes have been busy preparing over the past few weeks.We will also have a Tráth na gCeist for pupils from 3^rd to 6^th classes tomorrow morning. Go n-eirí an t-ádh le gach dalta . (Best of luck to all pupils)
• Pupils from 5^th class represented our school yesterday in a Tráth na gCeist (Quiz) as Gaeilge for primary schools organised by Wolfe Tones GAA. We had several teams entered and all did very well. Well done 5^th class.
• Last Friday evening our football team took part in the final of the Paddy Carrig memorial Tournament and they won the cup competition against St Conaire’s. Thank you to Ms Hehir for coaching the team. Well done to all involved.
• Our annual bookfair is taking place today (Thurs) and tomorrow Friday in the school hall. You may purchase books for your child at the following times 1.40p.m.-2.15p.m. Junior and Senior Infants and 2.40p.m.-3.15p.m. for 1^st to 6^th class pupils. Please note that transactions will be cash only. Depending on how many books we sell the school will get free books for our school libraries.
• Pupils from 3^rd and 4^th classes are taking part in an Indoor hurling competition today in Cratloe. We wish them all the best. Thank you to Ms Hehir, Ms Connolly and Michelle who are accompanying the pupils to the competition.
• St Tolas is taking part in a project called Agree to Agree organised through Clare Education Centre. The purpose of the project is to come to a school wide agreement around the use of internet enabled devices by pupils and to support parents in implementing this. The first step of the project is to survey pupils, staff and parents in relation to digital wellbeing. I have gone into 5^th and 6^th classes so far to carry out pupil surveys. I would like to thank the pupils for their co-operation. It has been very interesting. I will carry out the survey with 3^rd and 4^th class pupils in the coming days. We would love if we could have a parent focus group to look at benefits and challenges for parents around the online world. If you would have an hour to spare next week and would like to be involved please contact the school office.
• Please see flyer attached from Shannon Athletics club.
• St Tolas is closed on Monday next 18^th March as it is our national holiday. St Tolas will close next Friday 22^nd March at 12p.m. for our Easter break. The school will re-open on Monday 8^th April for Term 3 of the current school year.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal