Dear Parents/Guardians,

We have come to the end of what has been a most unusual school year for all of us. Our news for the last time this school year is

• Congratulations to our 6^th Class pupils who have officially left St Tolas and are looking ahead to great adventures in secondary school. This class made history this week as we held the first ever virtual graduation. All the staff were so delighted that every 6th pupil was able to attend and it was a very special occasion in the life of the school. The pupils handled this event in a dignified and mature way and we were so proud of each and every one of you! Thank you to all our 6^th class pupils who sent in their video of their memories of St Tolas and also the advice they would give their Junior Infant selves. There were a lot of words of wisdom in these videos.  Thank you to Ms Kelleher for co-ordinating the graduation and Mr. Quinn who spent hours putting the video together. It can be viewed on the school website at www.tolasns.com We wish all our 6^th class pupils every good wish as they take the next step in their education journey.
• Thank you to all the pupils in St Tolas who have been amazing in the past few weeks while the school has been closed. We have loved seeing your pictures and work that you have sent in. Again please check out the school website where there have been lots of updated pictures including some from Active Schools Week last week!
• Well done to Juniors, Seniors, 1^st and 2^nd classes who took part in Zoom link ups last Friday and yesterday. It was wonderful to see so many of you. You look so well and many of you have grown. It was great to hear all your news.  We heard that lots of pupils can now cycle without stabilisers, many lost teeth or have wobbly teeth and everyone can’t wait to see their friends again. We can’t wait to see you either!!
• We will be busy in the summer as we will be carrying out renovations to the senior yard, drainage work and associated groundworks. We are very excited to see this project finally start and it will make a great difference to the space we will have available for the pupils to use.
• We are planning for a full return to school on 31^st Aug as per school calendar. We are still waiting on guidance from the Department of Education on how this will happen. Once we have clarity on this we will be in touch with you to let you know.
• We are still finalising booklists and stationary for all classes. As usual the school will buy all books and we will ask you to pay by the middle of September.  The booklists for your info will be emailed out soon. Also we will be setting up an online payment facility for books before we return to school in August.
• I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to all the staff of St Tolas who have worked so hard during the past year and especially during the school closure. It has been a challenging and stressful time for all and the staff have been dedicated, innovative and professional as they have worked hard in providing support to our pupils. I would also like to thank all parents/guardians and families for your support throughout the past year. It is very important that both families and staff get a chance to recharge the batteries and get a good rest before we return to school.

Slán agus beannacht

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, Principal