Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope this newsletter finds you well as we start into the month of February. Our news this week is as follows

• Congratulations to our pupils from 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes who represented St Tola’s at the Peace Proms Concert in the University of Limerick on Saturday night last. It was a wonderful experience and a huge thank you to all staff involved in preparing the pupils and those who accompanied them on Saturday night. We were immensely proud of every pupil who did a fantastic job. One of the organisers of the concert came up to me afterwards to say how wonderful our pupils were. We were all so proud of how they conducted themselves.   I hope all our pupils will take away lovely memories of this experience.
• We hope to set up a Student Council here in St Tolas in the coming weeks. Representative pupils from 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes will be elected onto the council each year. Ms Riordan will facilitate the council meetings. Last week she spoke to the pupils about the election process and we hope to hold the elections shortly. We are looking forward to having an input from our new Student Council.
• 3^rd class have been making St Brigid’s day crosses from reeds this week to honour the feast of Brigid. This ancient Irish tradition dates back over 1500 years. It’s great to see this tradition still alive after so many years.
• To raise awareness of heart problems in babies and children tomorrow is wear red day. Pupils may wear a red item of clothing if they wish e.g tshirt, scarf, top etc. We are not asking for any donation but just for us all to be aware that heart problems can affect children and babies.  
• If you wish to get a school photo of your child/children please return the form to your child’s teacher by tomorrow Friday 3^rd February. The photos will be taken next week.
• Next week on Friday 10^th February the Parent’s Association are organising a cake sale starting at 1p.m. Donations of buns/cakes will be taken on Friday morning. The theme for this cake sale will be Valentine’s day.
• St. Tolas will be closed to pupils and staff next Monday 6^th February as it is a public holiday. St Tolas will close to pupils at 12p.m. on Wednesday 15^th February to facilitate inservice training for staff.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal