Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are keeping well as we approach the end of our first full week back at school. Our news is as follows

• Last school year we consulted parents, pupils and staff around benefits and concerns of technology in pupils’ lives. We had fantastic parent engagement on this with many parents completing an online survey and a good turn out at a consultation meeting held here in the school. We have put together a document with advice and guidance on recommended best practise in different areas of technology use along with resources that may be useful to you. The thinking behind this document is that if we all in the school community agree to some ground rules it makes it easier for our pupils. We are sending out a hard copy today in your child’s bag of our Agree to Agree Internet and Technology User Agreement. We have also included a page for parents and child to sign if they wish to try it out and this can be returned to the school. This is an entirely voluntary code. Please take the time to discuss this with your child and as a family and decide what will work best for you in your family situation. I would like to thank all parents, pupils and staff who have contributed to this document. We all want to keep our pupils safe as they navigate the online world. I have attached a letter from the Minister for Education in relation to smartphones that was received by all schools recently.
• If you know your child is going to be absent for a number of days we would ask that you turn off their hot lunch order for those days to avoid waste. Please note we still operate a healthy eating policy and all snacks and drinks must adhere to this policy. We are also a nut free school as a number of pupils have severe nut allergies and we would ask that you check your child’s snack items to ensure they are nut free. we thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
• Our school days starts at 9a.m. sharp each morning. The doors are not open until 8.45a.m. and pupils will be supervised from that time. Some teachers arrive before this time and use this time to organise and prep for the day ahead. We have assigned doors for each class to ensure safe and orderly entrance and egress of the building. Juniors and Seniors use the side gate beside their classrooms, 1^st use the side door at the front of the building, 2^nd use the back gate, 3^rd and 4^th use the door beside the 4^th class room while 5^th and 6^th have their own entrance at the front of the building. Juniors will finish at 12p.m. up to and including Wednesday 11^th September. From Thursday 12^th September Juniors will finish at 1.40p.m.
• Swimming lessons start next week for 5^th and 6^th classes only in Shannon Leisure Centre. 5^th will start on Wed 11^th September and 6^th on Thursday 12^th September.  They will run for 6 weeks and cost €30. We have to ask that you pay for all lessons as the Leisure Centre charges us for the total number of pupils booked. You can make this payment via the Aladdin link or send in the money to the office.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome back to school as we begin a brand new school year. We hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing summer. Our news this week is as follows

• We welcome our new Junior Infant pupils and new pupils who have joined some of our classes up the school. Our new Juniors will be in school from 9a.m. to 12p.m. up to and including Wednesday 11^th September. For all our new pupils we hope that your time in St Tolas will be enjoyable and that you learn lots and make great friends too.
• Our staff allocation is as follows. Please note that the staff have changed the way we are addressed and all teachers are now known as Muinteoir (teacher in Irish) Name

• Thank you to the family of AnneMarie Joyce who made a generous donation to the school in her memory. We sincerely thank them for their generosity at such a difficult time and the donation will be used to benefit the pupils.
• Our hot lunches are back for all classes apart from Junior Infants since yesterday.  A letter and activation code will be sent home today with the Juniors who need to be set up before 12th September. Can we remind you to make sure to send in the lunchbag lunchbox with your child every day so they can bring home any leftover lunch in order for you to check if they have eaten it or not. Please note that lunches cannot be reheated again at home. Your child will still need to bring a drink preferably water) and a healthy snack for breaktime. We are a nut free school due to having a number of pupils with severe allergies. Please check all snacks to ensure they are nut free. We thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
• Can you please make sure that all uniform jumpers/tops are labelled with your child’s name. If the weather is warm many pupils take off the jumpers and they can get mislaid if there are no names on them. Pupils are expected to wear the grey school uniform or hoodie/plain navy tracksuit pants every day.
• Please see health update information for primary pupils sent by the HSE attached to this email for your information.
• Congratulations to Ms Lisa Hackett and her partner Seamus on the safe arrival of their brand new baby daughter yesterday. We wish them every blessing at this special time.

Kind regards, Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

It is hard to believe that we are at the end of another school year. Our news for our final week is as follows

• 4^th class went on their school tour to Nevsail in Kilkee on Monday last. They had a great day and got to take part in surfing and kayaking activities. Thank you to the Coady Coleman family who paid for the activities for the pupils in memory of Dylan.  This is such a lovely gesture and one that would have been Dylan approved. It is greatly appreciated.
• On Tuesday pupils from 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes took part in the Johnny Cregan Memorial hurling competition in Wolfe Tones GAA.  We fielded three teams and competed against primary schools from Shannon. Two of our teams made it through to the Shield and Plate finals which took place last night in Wolfe Tones. Even though neither of our teams won their matches last night they played so well and with such determination and positive attitude. We are so proud of them. Thank you to Ms Hehir for organising and to Mr. Tyrrell for bringing then to the competition. Thank you to Ms Hackett who was the coach at the finals and to Ms Hansbury and Stephanie who came along to assist.
• 6^th class graduation took place yesterday here in the halla. Thank you to the many parents and grandparents who came along to support our 6^th class pupils. Thank you to all 6^th class parents for your support to the school in the years your child has been with us. We know our 6^th class pupils have a bright future ahead of them and we wish them every blessing in their secondary education and beyond.
• Our Quizbrain final takes place today. Well done to Chloe, Romy, Ruby and Soham from 6^th class and Liam and Tommy from 5^th class who have qualified for the final. We wish them well.
• Our last Cruinniu of 2024 takes place tomorrow at 11a.m. We will be wishing Ms Edel Halliday every blessing as she embarks on her next chapter in retirement. We will celebrate Edel’s dedication and commitment to St Tolas in her time here. We will miss her but hopefully she will return to visit us.
• St Tola’s closes for the summer holidays at 12p.m. tomorrow Friday 21^st June. The Board of Management Report to the School Community for the school year 23/24 will be on our website in the coming days. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our pupils, parents and staff members for working together throughout the school year. I especially would like to thank every staff member for their commitment and dedication to our pupils and for working so hard all year long.  I wish everyone in our school community a safe, relaxing and enjoyable summer. St Tolas will re-open to pupils on Wednesday 28^th Aug at 9a.m. for the new school year.

Kind regards, Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope you are keeping well on our second last week of the current school year. Our news this week is as follows

• Our school reports will be sent to parents/guardians today via Aladdin. If any parent would like a hard copy of the report please contact the office and we will print it for you. If you wish to speak to your child’s teacher in relation to the report please contact the school office and we will organise a time that is convenient for the teacher to speak with you.
• Our Sport for All Day took place yesterday and thankfully the weather played ball too!! Our pupils had a great day with a variety of activities in the morning from musical hoops, fun races, parachute games, rounders, obstacle relay, tug of war, basketball drills and dance/yoga. It was lovely to have the whole school come along after lunch to cheer everybody on in the running races. Thank you to the parents and grandparents who came along and supported all the athletes.  It was fantastic to see everyone taking part and having fun. Thank you to all the staff who organised and ran the day with such efficiency and such good humour. I think everyone was tired going home yesterday – both pupils and staff alike.
• Our class allocation for the school year 24/25 means we will have 10 mainstream teachers. This means we will have two First Classes and two Second classes next year. We have a number of teaching vacancies and these will be filled during the summer. Teachers have been allocated as follows

• Congratulations to 5^th class who completed the Blue Star Programme for 23/24. This programme teaches pupils all about the European Union. We have been awarded our certificate for participation in the programme this year.
• 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd classes went to Bunratty Folk park and Fossetts Circus on Tuesday last. They had a fantastic day and saw some amazing acts in the circus. 4^th class are off to Nevsail in Kilkee on Monday next. We hope the weather improves for them.
• Our 6^th class graduation ceremony will take place next Wednesday at 10a.m. We extend a warm invitation to parents/guardians and family members of 6^th class pupils and hope you can join us for this celebration.
• Ms Edel Halliday has made the decision to retire from teaching. She has worked as a teacher in St Tolas since 2007. We will be marking this occasion with a speclal Cruinniu next Friday 21^st June as it will be Edel’s last day with us. If any parent/guardian would like to join us for this celebration you are more than welcome. We will be giving Edel a great send off and wishing her well in this next chapter. We are so grateful to Edel for her dedicated service, kindness, musical and dramatic talents and wisdom she has shared with us in her time teaching in St. Tolas. She will be greatly missed.

Kind regards,

Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald, School Principal

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