Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are keeping well this week as we head into our final month of the current school year. Our news this week is as follows

• We have lots of new pupils in the school today as the mobile farm is here with puppies, goats, donkeys, chickens and even a wandering pig! There was great excitement this morning as the pupils arrived to school and saw all the animals. The grown ups were excited too!!! The mobile farm is here for the day and every class will get a time to go out and interact with the animals.  The pig even tried to come into the office this morning!!
• Our 6^th class graduation will take place on Wednesday 19^th June at 10a.m. Please note the change of time. We are looking forward to this important day for our 6^th class pupils.
• 6^th class went to Bay Sports in Athlone yesterday on their school tour. They had a great day and got to do lots of water activities. 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd classes are off to Bunratty Folk Park and the circus on their school tour next Tuesday 11^th June. They are looking forward to a great day out.
• If you know your child is going to be absent on a planned absence (e.g. holidays) we ask that you go into the LunchBag app and pause their food otherwise it will be wasted. We appreciate your co-operation in this matter.
• Next Wednesday 12^th June we are planning our Sports Day (fingers crossed the weather will be dry!!!). Parents/Guardians are welcome to come in at 1p.m. to watch our class races at the Greenstore side of the school. Each pupil has been assigned a colour for the day and they need to wear a tshirt in the assigned colours. The colours are red, blue, yellow, white or green. Pupils can earn points for their colour team throughout the day and at the end of the day we tot up all points to find our colour team winners. We are looking forward to a great day. it is a good idea to send extra drinks in with your child that day (preferably water) as they will be running around a lot and will need extra hydration. It is also a good idea to make sure they have sunscreen and/or a hat.
• We held our junior infant Induction for parents last night and it was lovely to meet our new parents and some of our current parents too. We still have a few places available in Junior Infants for this coming school year. If you know any family looking for a place for their child in Junior Infants in the coming year please ask them to contact the school office.
• There will be an Aran Knits Pop Up shop held in the school hall on Saturday from 11a.m. to 3p.m. There will be a fabulous selection of pure aran wool throws, cushions, jumpers, dresses, hats and scarves for sale. It will be cash only as there are no card facilities available. All are welcome.  Why not call in and purchase a treat for yourself or a gift for a loved one. All proceeds for the sale of items will be donated to the school. We are extremely grateful to the aran knitters for choosing us as their beneficiary.
• St. Tolas will be closed to pupils and staff tomorrow Friday 7^th June as the school will be used as a polling station for the European and local elections. The school will re-open at 9a.m. on Monday 10^th June.

Kind regards, Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal