Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you had an opportunity to enjoy the good weather earlier this week and hopefully it will return again soon! Our news this week is as follows

• Well done to pupils in 6^th class who had their Ceremony of Light as part of preparation for Confirmation last night in Mary Immaculate Church along with pupils from St. Senans and St. Johns. Thank you also to the pupils in 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th classes who sang in the choir and played in the band. It was a lovely ceremony.
• 2^nd class pupils have been busy this week preparing for First Communion on Saturday at 11a.m. in Mary Immaculate Church.  Pupils from 3^rd to 6^th classes will be helping out with the choir and the band. We are looking forward to the ceremony on Saturday and hopefully the weather will be kind to us. Thank you to the Parents’ Association and 3^rd class parents who are helping out with a little celebration for the pupils in 2^nd class here in the school after the ceremony. It is greatly appreciated.
• Well done to pupils in 4^th and 5^th class who have achieved their Principal’s Award for Table facts in Maths over the past few weeks. I have been very impressed with the level of tables knowledge and the speed of recall. It has been lovely to meet the pupils on an individual basis too and reward them for their hard work and dedication to learning their tables over the past few months. If pupils know their tables facts at this stage it is a great help to lessen the load in maths for the coming years. I look forward to testing the rest of the pupils on their tables in the coming weeks.
• We are delighted that all the pupils in St Tolas are now receiving a hot lunch each day. This service started on Tuesday. Don’t forget to download the app form the LunchBag if you have not already done so. Each pupil received a unique code last Friday. In order to activate your child’s account please input the code into the app and make your selection. Please note your order must be made 36 hours in advance of day of eating and cannot be changed after that. It is also important to save your selection so that it goes through to the LunchBag company. Please keep an eye on what your child is eating so that you can order food they like. It is also important that your child brings their lunch box in every day so that we can send home their container and you can have a chat about what they got and what they would like to order next week.
• Pupils will still need a snack for small break and a drink every day. The snack must be a healthy snack in line with our Healthy Eating Policy.
• The school photos will be taken next Thursday. If you have ordered photos earlier in the year they will now be taken on Thursday next.
• As we had lovely weather this week we would like to remind parents/guardians that pupils are required to wear their school uniform every day.  Pupils should have a blue/white polo shirt. You may wish your child to wear shorts. We have allowed GAA shorts in the past but ask that these would be an acceptable length for school. if you wish to purchase navy tracksuit type shorts they are available in Dunnes Stores or other shops. Please note that leggings/bicycle shorts are not permitted.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal