November 2011

Newsletter 2.

1.  Parent/Teacher Meetings:

 Parent/Teacher Meetings for this year will be held after school on Wed Nov 23rd and on Wed Nov 30th. Parent/Teacher meetings for Junior and Senior infants will be held in early Feb.  You should have received your date/time for meetings on Wed.
If you would like to speak to any teacher about any issue concerning your child, please contact the office to make an appointment.

2.  Christmas 'Sing a long'
On Tues Dec 13th the pupils of Scoil Eoin will entertain you with some Christmas Carols/songs in St.Mary's Church @ 7.00pm.

 3.  Vanbrugh Quartet:
Pupils of fifth & sixth classes were treated to an hour of music by the wonderful R.T.E. Vanbrugh Quartet recently.  This was a wonderful experience and opportunity for the pupils and for the school.

4.  Book Fair:
Scholastic Book Fair, organised by the Parents Assoc, will hold a book fair in Scoil Eoin on Wed next 3.00-6.00pm and on Thurs 7.00-8.00pm.  This is a wonderful way of getting children excited about books and reading, and with an extensive range of brillant books for all ages, there is something for every child.  60% value of all sales can be used to purchase books for the school library, or sets of novels for different classes.

5.  Sciath na Scol Finals:
Sciath na Scol Finals on Tues next, Nov 22nd.  Scoil Eoin (boys) Vs Kilmurray @ 11.00am.
Scoil Eoin (Girls) Vs Gael Scoil Mayfield @ 12 noon.
Venue: Pairc ui Rinn.  Supporters Bus (3rd-6thclass) leaving Scoil Eoin @ .10.00am (€5 for bus, €2 entry)
Green Day for all pupils on Monday - tracksuit with Green and/or white tops.
Best of luck
A special thank you to all teachers who are involved with these teams.

6.  South East Football Blitz:

Both sixth class boys and girls teams participated in thes competitions.  Even though we didn't win, both teams played some excellent football and enjoyed their day out in Brinny.

 7.  Third Class Indoor Football Competitons:
These competitions are fixed for: Boys-Monday Nov 21st in Riverstick
Girls-Monday, Nov 28th in Riverstick.
The finals of these competitions will be held on Mon Dec 5th. Best of luck to all involved.

8.  Green School News:
At the moment we are in the process of applying for our third green flag for the theme of water conservation which hopefully will be awarded to us next year.  We have reduced the amount of water we use in the school by doing the following:

-  Taps have been fitted with push - tops to avoid the possiblity of being left running or dripping.

-  Cisterns have been fitted with water replacement systems so less water is used for each flush.

-  A water butt has been purchased and we now harvest rainwater which we use to water plants and wash out milk cartons.

-  Any leaks have been located and fixed. 

-  Children have been involved in lots of activities such as experiments with water, visitis to waterworks,surveys on water use, art etc.

-Recently we ran a competition to select a code for our water theme.  Niamh Hales came up with the winning code:

'Be a Water Saver Do The world a favour'

Well done Niamh and we'll all try to live by your code!
Of course we are still working hard on our previous two themes of litter and wast and Energy conservation.  We hope you all join with us in trying to make the world a better place for everyone.

 9.  Shoe Box Appeal:

A special 'Thank you' to all who sent in Christmas shoebox gifts.  Over 150 boxes were collected.  They are now on their way to give joy and happiness to some child on Christmss morning.

 10.  Parish Assembly Logo:

The Innishannon/Knockavilla Parish Council are running a competition to design a logo for its newsletter, headed paper...  There are three sections in the competitions:
2nd-class and under
3rd & 4th class
5th & 6th class

Prizes will be awared for each section.  Enteries to be completed on an A4 sheet.  Closing date: Dec 16th. All entries to Scoil Eoin.  It would be lovely if your child's logo was picked for the parish.

11.  New Board of Management

The process of selecting the new board of management is ongoing.  Your parents representatives on the new board are: Paul Callanan and Fiona Manning.  When the full board is in place I will inform you of its members.  Thank you to all who were prepared to go forward for election, and thankd you to all who took the time to be involved in the election process.

 12.  Confirmation/Communion details:

-Ceremony of Light (Confirmtion) December 7th @ 7.00pm mass(Eve of Feast of Immaculate Conception)

-  Confirmation Date - April 18th

-  First Holy Communion Date - Sat May 19th.

 13.  Seven Brides for Seven Brothers:
Pupils of sixth class have been invited by Colaistra na Toirbhirte Transition Year studends to view their musical (free of charge) on Tues Nov 29th beginning @ 10.30am.

14.  Transition Year Students:

We are delighted to be able to facilitate four transition year students - Coláiste na Toirbhirte - with their work experience programme during the two weeks leading up to Christmas.

15.  Teaching Practice:

We welcome Darereca O'Mahony and Mary Anne Hawkes to Scoil Eoin - both students of Mary Immaculate Teacher Training College.  They are currently undertaking a five week teaching practice block. We wish them both the best in their work experience and indeed in their future teaching career.

16.  Scoil Eoin Psychologist:

Scoil Eoin has been assigned the services of a school psychologist  - Ciaragh O'Brien - for 6 days per year.  Within this time frame she can carry out up to three educational/psychological assessments (a reduction of three from the old system).

17.  Tin Whistle:

We welcome Conal Ó Gráda to Scoil Eoin.  He is our new tin whistle teacher for the year.  Pupils are/should be practicing daily, both at home and at school.  We look forward to hearing them play at our Christmas 'Sing-a-long'.

18.  Swimming:

Pupils of second class have now nearly completed their 10 week swimming lesson course.  It is great to see the progress being made by the pupils over the ten weeks.  The swimming instructors at Leisureworld were excellent - everybody improved and enjoyed themselves.  A special thank you to everybody involved in funding this very worthwhile swimming module.

19.  Text-a-parent:

You text-a-parent service is up and running.  I think it is working very well.  Texts will be sent, as is necessary.  Your Parents Association also have access to this service.

20.  Dissolving Boundaries:

Scoil Eoin is, again this year, involved in this project with our partner school - St.Patrick's from Legamaddy, Co.Down.  We are starting again this year with a new group of students - 3rd class.  This is an I.T. based project.  Children have made initial contact with the pupils of Co.Down via e-mail.  We hope to video conference later in the week.  Both schools will be involved in joint projects during the year.            

21.  School Garden:

Our school garden produced some fine vegetables this year.  We had some onions, carrots, turnips, lettuces and peas.  The children enjoyed a fine soup recently.

Next Newsletter in February 2012.