Dear Parents/Guardians,

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

• Parent/teacher meetings for pupils from 3^rd to 6^th class took place yesterday evening and more are scheduled for this evening here in the school. Thank you to the parents/guardians who came yesterday and we look forward to meeting more parents/guardians today. Parent/teacher meetings for Juniors to 2^nd class will take place in January. We will send out times and dates via text early in the New Year.
• All classes have started preparing for their Christmas performance over the past few days. There is great excitement about the upcoming shows and we are looking forward to lots of fun preparing over the next few weeks.
• 4^th class had Clare Kelly from Marine Explorers in to visit the class recently. Clare works in the Galway Aquarium and she is keen to educate pupils on the wonder of marine life.  This was her second visit to 4^th class and she taught the class a lot of facts about marine life. The pupils had worked on presentations for her in pairs. They did presentations on the blob fish, the viper fish, the Orange Roughy and the Goblin fish to name a few! Some pairs made their own fish or sea creature and there was even a video presentation. Clare was very impressed with the standard of the presentations from 4^th class. Well done 4^th!!!
• All the pupils from Solas and a number from our Aoibhneas class travelled to Ennis last Monday to take part in Gymnastics class. They travelled with pupils from Special classes in St Senans and Ballycar N.S. The pupils loved the class and will attend every Monday for three more weeks.
• We are now accepting enrolments for Junior Infants for September 2024. If you have a child to enrol or you know a family that wish to enrol their child please contact the school office for an application to enrol form.
• As the days are darker and the weather is not great can we please ask that parents/guardians using the car park take due care and caution. Please enter and exit the car park slowly as it can be difficult to see small children. Please be mindful of other drivers and do not cause an obstruction. If you need to accompany your child into the school please ensure that you are not blocking someone in. the Gardai have told us it is ok to park on the road as long as you are not causing an obstruction to neighbours. Some parents are parking in the surrounding parks – please make sure that you are not blocking any neighbour from getting out of their house. We thank you for your co-operation in this matter.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear parents/Guardians,

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

• Parent/teacher meetings for pupils in 3^rd to 6^th classes will take place next Wednesday and Thursday evenings after school. The school will close a little early to all pupils on Wednesday ONLY at 2.25p.m. to facilitate the meetings. Parent/teacher meetings for Juniors to 2^nd class will take place in January. Please note that you can meet with your child’s teacher at any stage if you have a worry or concern. It is a good idea to make an appointment through the school office so that the teacher will be available to meet with you at a mutually convenient time.
• Congratulations to Dylan in 6^th class who came 3^rd place in the Clare Primary Schools Cross Country competition last Tuesday. Congratulations also to Jordan in 4^th class who came 8^th in his age group in the Clare Primary Schools Cross Country competition held in Lee’s Road. What a fantastic achievement for both boys who represented the school so well.
• It is the time of year when Christmas Annuals go on sale. Pupil may purchase an annual if they wish but there is no requirement to do so.  There are four options 1) Carnival- Juniors and Seniors, 2) Fairground- 1^st and 2^nd classes, 3) Parade – 3^rd and 4^th classes, 4) Festival 5^th and 6^th classes. The cost is €2.50. Payment can be made online or pupils can bring in the money. Payment must be made before or on next Friday 24^th November as the order must be placed then to guarantee delivery in a timely manner.
• Please see flyer attached from Wolfe Tones GAA re Fundamental Movement Skills classes for U6 boys starting next week.
• On behalf of everyone in our St. Tolas school community I would like to extend our sympathies to the family of Peggy Coyne who died earlier this week. For many years Peggy volunteered here in St Tolas and provided drama classes for the pupils. These drama classes were filled with fun and included all pupils. Peggy was a lovely, gentle lady who had a great sense of fun and related well to children of all ages. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dilís.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are keeping well and had a good mid-term break last week. Our news this week is as follows

• Our Parent/teacher meetings for 3^rd-6^th classes will take place on Wednesday 22^nd November and Thursday 23^rd November this year. The school will close to pupils on Wed 23^rd November at 2.25 pm only to facilitate the meetings. You will receive a text with times allocated today. Pupil/teacher meetings for pupils from Juniors to 2^nd class will take place in January. If you need to speak with a teacher at any stage please contact the school office and we can arrange a mutually suitable time for this to take place.
• We are looking at our attendance rates across the school at present. It is so important for your child to attend every day unless they are unwell. We thank you for your co-operation in letting the school know via a phonecall/email or on Aladdin the reasons for your child’s absence. We are very pleased that the overall attendance rates have increased from last year for the month of September and October. For September 2023 we have an overall attendance rate of 95.8% and for October the rate was 94%. This is fantastic!  Research shows that having your child attend school every day unless they are unwell leads to much improved outcomes both in the academic, social and emotional areas of learning. If you are struggling with your child’s attendance please contact the school and we will put supports in place to help you. To aid you in monitoring days missed we will send out a text if your child misses 10 days/15 days/20 days. Once again we thank you for your co-operation in ensuring your child is attending school regularly. 
• We wish our boys’ football team all the best today as they play a team from Kilrush in the Cumann na mBunscoil semi-finals. It has been difficult to get the games played in this tournament this year due to the weather. Let’s hope the game goes ahead today!
• Pupils from 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes will play football tomorrow in Wolfe Tones GAA pitch (weather permitting) as part of the Paddy Carrig tournament. We wish them well.
• Thank you to the Parents’ Association who organised a fantastic cake sale before mid-term. A total of €801.07 was raised. The AGM was held last night here in the school. The following are continuing in their roles on the Parents’ Association – Sinead Tuohy – Chairperson, Beth Hickey – Secretary, Kate Flynn – Treasurer.
• Sixth class were lucky to have two visiting authors for their third and final workshop in the Ennis Book Club Festival Series. Sarah Moore Fitzgerald was joined by local author Gráinne O’Brien who has published ‘A Limerick Fairytale’, a modern take on Cinderella which is set in Limerick. Today the class did a critical analysis of old fairytales with the authors as well as poetry writing. The class has been invited to a workshop with other schools involved in the series. It will be held in Glór (Ennis) next March. 

Kind regards, Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

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