Dear Parents,

Winner of Tidy Schools in the Community Competition 2014

We are absolutely delighted to have been declared overall winner of the annual Tidy Schools in the Community Competition 2014 which is organised by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.  It is a tremendous acknowledgement of the fantastic ongoing work being done to enhance and maintain the school environs and providing the children with a wide range of experiences in environmental awareness and nature.  Many areas have been developed in the school grounds including the 40 Year Garden (Gairdín an Dá Scór),  The Ponds, Peatland Garden, Fruit Farm,       Herb Wheel, Rockery, Natural Woodland, Orchard, Butterfly Garden, Vegetable Garden, Wheat Plot and Outdoor Classroom.  We also have the five star “insect hotel”, bird boxes with camera feed and to reduce our water charges we have engaged in rain harvesting.  On Friday, June 6^th we would love to invite you all to visit the gardens from 1.00-3.00p.m. and see them at first hand.

Another accolade received last week was our Second Green Flag awarded by An Taisce for work done on Energy.  Tremendous work has been done on promoting energy awareness, conserving energy even to the point of achieving a considerable reduction in last year’s energy bill.

Neither of the above awards would have been possible without the gallant work of the Tidy Schools and Green School Committees.  We offer our sincerest thanks to Mrs. Walsh and Mrs. Mulholland who lead the projects, attend to all the paperwork and keep us on our toes, Petr our Caretaker who does so much to keep the grounds looking well and whose skills and talents have enabled us to do so much, Annamaria (who takes such an interest in all aspects of the work, gives expert advice and takes care of the gardens and also leads the Garden Club) and

Mr. Geoghegan who is always willing to take on any task big or small that needs doing).  The  Garden Club have also done great work and in one way or another, all teachers and pupils have actually been involved in the various projects undertaken over the years.  We also thank Henry and Jennifer Moore who have always been willing to help us in the community aspect of the work.

Anti-Bullying Policy

Our thanks to the many parents who returned the questionnaires and offered suggestions.  Many of these were incorporated into the document while others were already covered.  The policy was ratified at the last Board of Management meeting and is now school policy.  It is available on the school website and hard copies are available on request from the office.  There will be ongoing work in highlighting what bullying behaviour is and getting everyone involved in trying to eliminate the menace of bullying from our school.

First Communion

Congratulations to the boys in our second classes who received their First Holy Communion on Saturday.  Our thanks to Fr. Gerry for a lovely Church ceremony.  The boys were a credit to everyone and they conducted themselves so well in every aspect of the ceremony.  Special thanks to Ms. Cooney, Ms. Gavin, Valerie, Roseanne and Áine.  We also thank the Choir who gave an excellent performance on the day, together with Mr. Clancy and Ms. Ryan for all their hard work with the Choir.  The Communion Breakfast was an outstanding success and we thank the Parents’ Association for all their work in organising and running the event, the many parents who helped on the day and also the parents of boys in the 1^st and 3^rd classes who were so generous in donating cakes, buns, biscuits etc.

Arts Week

Arts Week was held last week and has become firmly embedded on the school calendar, as a week that all children (and adults) look forward to.  It is fantastic to give the children the board range of activities they experience each year as they encounter the various artists who visit us.  We acknowledge the generous sponsorship of Arts Week by the Parents’ Association without which it would not be possible to run the events.  We are also grateful to the parents for their assistance in enabling us to get the Storyteller – without whom Arts Week would not be the same.  Thanks to Mrs. Ryan for organising Arts Week and for all her work in ensuring that it runs as well and as smoothly as it does.

Santry

Dublin Primary School Athletics are underway and our athletes have done us proud so far.  We congratulate all our athletes who participate as they compete against the top athletes from all the Dublin Schools – so placings at that level are fantastic achievements.  Results from day one:-

Michael Lowey                               Gold        Hurdles                 U 14

Seán Mc Grane                              Silver      Shotput                 U14

Nathan Mc Gowan                         Gold        Highjump              U11

Seán Walsh                                   4^th          Long Jump            U12

Darragh O’Dowd                            6^th          Hurdles                 U11

David O’Dowd                                6^th          Hurdles                 U12

Cillian Flynn                                 4^th          High Jump            U14

Well done.  Our thanks to Mr. Clancy and Mrs. Fitzsimons for all their work with our athletes and all the other teachers who ran class trials.

Hurling

The Senior Hurling team had a great win in their quarter final last week.  Unfortunately, the team lost their semi-final yesterday.  The boys made great efforts but came up against a very good Raheny side.

Film Afternoon

Our playground fundraising efforts are ongoing, and as part of this, our next movie afternoon will take place tomorrow.  ‘Frozen’ will be screened after school, in the boy’s school hall, for 1^st-3^rd class boys and girls.  Tickets are available from Mrs. Behan from 8.50-9.00am at a cost of €5, and include a goody bag and a drink. Our thanks to everyone for their continued support.

Book Rental

As we approach the end of the school year we come to the issue of booklists. While the Department of Education and Skills will grant aid to certain schools, in our case they have deemed that we do not qualify as we have “reduced the cost of books for parents”.  Over the years we have tried to minimise the cost of new books as much as possible and have achieved considerable savings especially from 3^rd class up.  The value of schoolbooks available in the school to which children have access amount to the following:-

Class                                             Value of books

6^th                                                 €107.38

5^th                                                 €120.27

4^th                                                 €103.43

3^rd                                                 €91.28

2^nd                                                €25.40

1^st                                                 €20.20

Sen. Infs.                                       €15.75

Jun. Infs.                                      €13.50

The school has invested heavily in maintaining and covering many of the books.  Children who have destroyed books have replaced them and we have also undertaken a cull/replacement of books that have needed to be replaced.

In an effort to minimise the costs of books for Parents, the DES recommends that schools establish a Book Rental Scheme where an annual charge is levied for the use of the books.  Money generated is then used to purchase/ cover new textbooks as the need arises.  To date we have not charged but our book use scheme as it currently operates has been costing the school over the years.

What is proposed is that a yearly book rental charge will apply to cover core texts as follows:

Classes    3-6      €17.50

1-2      €7.50

Infants €5

The idea is that a fund is generated so that as new books come on stream the school will purchase them and in the long term reduce the cost for parents.  Books used are the property of the school and pupils who damage books will be liable to replace them.  If any parent does not wish to participate in the book scheme that is fine and we can issue a full book list if required.  Long term our aim is to provide books at a reasonable cost and everyone should benefit.

Chess

Congratulate to Jack Georgieff, Ryan O’ Connor, Brian Kenny and Eric Ushioda who were members of the school Chess team who took part in the All Ireland Chess Finals held in Limerick on Monday.  The boys came on board at the last minute as some of the original team were involved in Santry.  They finished 9^th in the All Ireland and Brian Kenny finished 12^th best individual. Well done.  Thank you to Mr. Barry who travelled with the boys and who ensures that Chess is a well-supported past-time for many of our children.

School Closures

As per the holiday schedule the school will close on Monday June 2^nd  Public Holiday) and June 3^rd  (Mid-term).

We trust that everyone has a safe and enjoyable Public holiday weekend.

Yours sincerely,

Neil Cadogan