Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are enjoying the fine Spring weather this week. Our news is as follows

• Best of luck to our boys’ and girls’ soccer teams who are travelling to Lee’s Road today to take part in the schools FAI soccer tournament. They have been busy training over the past few weeks at lunchtimes and we hope they do well today and enjoy the competition. Thank you to Muinteoir Gary and Muinteoir Amanda for organising and training and Muinteoir Lorraine and Muinteoir Alanna for accompanying the teams today.
• Well done to our boys basketball team who took part in the Marion Keane competition on Tuesday. They played well but luck was not with them this time and did not qualify for the next round. Thank you to Dean Flynn and Cliodhna Mulcahy from Shannon Jets who gave up their time to coach the boys with the assistance of Múinteoir Clare over the past few months.
• Can you please make sure that your child has a drink in school every day in a reusable bottle.  Water or dilute fruit juice is best. Pupils can get very thirsty during the day particularly as the weather improves. We appreciate your co-operation in this matter.
• 6^th class pupils making Confirmation this year will have their Ceremony of Light next Wednesday in Mary Immaculate Church at 7p.m. We wish them well on this step of the journey towards Confirmation on 2^nd May.
• We had a wonderful Cruinniú (assembly) last Friday to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge. All classes performed a song or poem for the rest of the school and we finished with the whole school doing a dance to An Dreoilín. It was a great celebration of our language and song. Well done everyone.
• Thank you to all who supported our bookfair last week. The orders were sent in on Tuesday and we expect to take delivery of outstanding books shortly. We are thrilled that the school has earned €1281 in free books from Scholastic and this total will be used to add to our AR library and class libraries.
•  Just to let you know that we will be carrying out standardised testing in 1^st to 6^th classes in reading and Maths in early May this year. We hope that all pupils will be present for these tests.
• The staff are currently working on updating our Anti Bullying policy and will be attending training on Friday 4^th April. To facilitate the training the school will close to pupils at 12p.m. on that day. You might want to mark this in your diary.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are keeping well this week as we see the signs of Spring beginning to appear. Our news this week is as follows

• Well done to all the pupils who attended Peace Proms in UL last Saturday night. A big thank you to Muinteoir Alanna, Muinteoir Noreen and Muinteoir Orla for preparing the pupils over the past few months as they knew their songs and moves so well. Thank you to Clare, Alanna, Orla, Kate, Mary and Sinead who accompanied the pupils on the night to the concert. It was a fantastic experience and we were all so proud of how well the pupils performed. We hope that the families who were in the audience enjoyed the show.
• Yesterday pupils from 2^nd to 6^th classes went to Mass in Mary Immaculate Church to celebrate Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. Thank you to Fr. Tom for his lovely words of welcome.
• We have been celebrating World Book day today with all classes taking part in D.E.A.R time – Drop Everything And Read! Why not try doing this at home too? It just takes 10 minutes out of your day and can really foster a love of reading.
• We are also celebrating Friendship Week this week with some fantastic events happening in every class. Juniors are going on a buddy walk tomorrow with their friends in 6^th class. Seniors have been drawing pictures of their friends being kind, 1^st class are making friendship chains and bracelets where they are writing positive comments about their friends on the links, 2^nd class had a buddy walk to Mass yesterday where they paired up with someone they might not play with very often and they have also drawn pictures of things that go together, 3^rd class made fortune tellers with positive comments to play with each other and they have made a compliment box too, 4^th class are making a Friendship Collaborative Colouring Collage ( I can’t wait to see it in the hall) and 5^th class drew handprints with positive comments about their classmates. Well done everyone on this terrific work. We always remember that the most important rule in St Tolas is BE KIND!
• As part of Friendship Week tomorrow is Crazy Hair Day. Pupils can wear their most out there hairstyle if they wish. We are asking for a donation of €2 which will go to Rare Ireland. This organisation supports families who have a family member with a rare illness or condition.
• 6^th class have been invited to attend a Confirmation Retreat by Shannon Parish next Tuesday 11^th March. This will take place in Mount St Joseph Abbey in Roscrea. The pupils will go on a Camino walk through the woods in the morning, attend Midday prayer with the monks and get a guided tour of the Abbey and then will be treated to a hot lunch before travelling back to Shannon. The parish is covering the cost of the retreat for the pupils and we are asking for €10 which will go towards the cost of the bus. We hope they have a lovely day.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Happy New year and welcome back to school for our second term this academic year. Our news this week is as follows

• Our week has been dominated by the weather as you are aware. Thank you for your understanding and co-operation this week as we have tried to ensure the safety of all who use our school when making decisions about opening and closing. At times like this it so important that we can contact everyone quickly as weather events can be unpredictable so if you have changed your mobile phone number or did not get text alerts this week please contact the office at 061 362894 and we will ensure that we have the most up-to-date information for you. I would also like to thank our caretaker Kevin who did sterling work all week but particularly on Monday when he cleared pathways of snow to allow safe access to the building. I would also like to thank Clare County Council who gritted the car park and the back entrance to the school for us on Tuesday.
• Our boys and girls’ basketball teams started training this week in preparation for the Marion Keane memorial tournament. This will take place in February and we wish our teams well.
• Our pupils in 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes have restarted practising for the Peace Proms concert which will take place in the University of Limerick Sports Arena in March. There was a beautiful sound from the gorgeous singing here on Tuesday last and we are really looking forward to the concert.
• The Department of Education have informed us that all staff must attend in-service training in the new Primary Maths Curriculum. This will take place on Friday 31^st January so the school will be closed to pupils on that day. You might want to mark that date down in your diary.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are keeping well as we begin a new month. Our news this week is as follows

• The A.G.M of the Parents’ Association will take place here in the school on Monday evening at 7.30p.m. If your child is enrolled in the school you are automatically a member of the Parents’ Association. There are only a few meetings in the year. If you would like to find out more information or get involved come along to the AGM. All are welcome.
• Last Monday Seniors and 5^th class went on a nature walk together to spot the signs of Autumn. Seniors had made binoculars in Art to help them spot the colours of the leaves, acorns, seeds and birds. 5^th class were a big help with the Senior Infants and also made lots of observations on the changing season. It is lovely to get outside and learn outdoors once in a while.
• Last Monday Garda Suzanne Clear visited both 1^st classes and both 2^nd classes. She talked to the pupils about the ways Gardai can help and protect them. The pupils got to try on her Garda hat and hi vis vest too! There were lots of great questions from the pupils about the role of the Gardai.
• Next Monday members of Shannon Gardai will visit 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes to talk to the pupils about Halloween safety. We are looking forward to this visit.
• Gaelic football training started this week at lunchtimes for boys and girls from 5^th and 6^th classes in preparation for the Cumann na mBunscoil football competition which will commence in the coming weeks. Thank you to the staff involved who are giving up their lunchtimes to train the pupils. Best of luck to all involved in the coming competitions.
• Next Monday staff from St Caimin’s Community School will visit 6^th class to talk about their school and invite our pupils to their Open Night. On 14^th October staff from St. Patrick’s Comprehensive School will visit 6^th class also. Both schools will distribute their prospectus to the pupils in 6^th class ahead of the Open nights.
• On Thursday the 24^th of October, St Tolas infamous Halloween Quiz will make it’s come back.  Tables are €20, 4 people per table with a minimum of one adult.  There will be spot prizes and a tuck shop on the night.  If anyone has spot prizes they would like to donate or wish to book a table please contact Múinteoir Fíona through the office.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are keeping well this week despite the change in weather. Our news is as follows

• We had a lovely Mass today in Mary Immaculate Church to celebrate the start of the current school year. Thank you to all the pupils who did jobs and represented the school so well. Thank you to the choir who enhanced our Mass with their beautiful singing and music and thank you to all the pupils and staff who attended and celebrated together.  I would also like to thank the choir led by Muinteoir Alanna and Múinteoir Kate for giving up their lunchtimes over the past few days to practise for our Mass today.
• Well done to all our pupils, and staff who went to Lee’s Road yesterday for the East Clare Schools Cross Country competition. It must have been one of the worst weather conditions ever but great credit must go to every pupil who went. They did not let the weather affect them and all performed so well. We are very proud of them.
• Last Tuesday we started some rugby coaching for every class with coach Liam from Munster Rugby. The pupils learnt some fun drills and games and played out on the astro turf. This coaching will run for the next few weeks.
• As the weather has taken a turn for the worst this week can we ask that each pupil brings a coat to school. We will go out to play any day that is dry even if it is a little cold. It is good for pupils to get plenty of fresh air if possible during the school day.
• Our school was awarded a participation certificate by Clare Education Centre for our Agree to Agree project last night. 10 schools in County Clare took part in this initiative and a further number of schools have signed up for this year. I would encourage every family to read through our guidance document and to decide what you can do as a family to ensure that your child is safe online on any device. If it makes it any easier for you as a family we have a document to sign called Be Safe. If anyone would like another copy of our guidance document or our form to sign please contact the office and we are happy to give another one to you.
• Today is SNA appreciation day. We are so fortunate in St Tolas to have an amazing group of SNAs who always go above and beyond to support not only the pupils assigned to them but very often lend support to the class as a whole they are working in. We know we are lucky to have an amazing SNA team in our school and today is a day that we say thank you for all that you do.  

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal