Swimming for 3Rd and 6Th Class

Scoil Bhríde

Nurney, Co. Kildare

Telephone: (045) 526767

6thDecember 2017

Dear Parents/Guardians

Swimming for 3rd and 6th class!!

Swimming classes for 3rd and 6th class began on Wednesday November 22nd. The children will go for 8 weeks. 8 lessons cost €50. This can be paid by cash, cheque or online using the payment access link sent to you on your mobile device.

IMPORTANT NOTICE – SCHOOL CLOSURE

The school has been directed by the Department of Education to close for one day on Thursday January 11th 2018 to hold a compulsory training day for teachers in the new Primary Language Curriculum.

Parent Teacher Meetings – same timetable as before

For those who have not yet had a Parent Teacher meeting. School closes early at 2.45pm on both December 5th and 6thBus told. This is your chance to discuss your child’s learning progress in their current school year with their class teacher. Please be mindful that meetings are scheduled at 10 minute intervals. Should you have any other concerns/issues which merit discussion please make an appointment so that this can be facilitated. Thank you.

GAA football training and the legacy of Edel Delaney

One of Ms. Delaney’s last acts as sports co-coordinator in our school was to organize and secure with our local fantastic Nurney GAA Club the services of Athy and Kildare footballing sensation and GAA All-Star Nominee Kevin Feeley to train all the pupils in our school in GAA football and lead our school teams for the next 3 years. This training began just before Ms. Delaney’s sad passing and is currently in full swing. We are greatly appreciative of all the crew in Nurney GAA Club for offering our school this wonderful opportunity. We are most grateful to Kevin himself for giving of his time and talent to aid the developmental well being of all our pupils and lastly we are most grateful to have had Ms. Delaney, a Kildare footballing legend herself, in our ranks. She has left behind an incredible sporting legacy in our school that will live on for many years to come.

School Christmas Concert 19th December 2017 Cancelled

In light of the sad events regarding Ms.Delaney which have unfolded over the last 3 weeks, school staff, with the support of the Board of Management, has decided as a mark of respect, to cancel the School Christmas Concert scheduled for December 19th.A more appropriate school event, a thanksgiving mass, dedicated to Ms. Delaney, is being planned instead for December 19th at 12.45pm in Nurney Church. All are welcome to attend.The sudden and sad loss of our teaching colleague, Ms. Delaney, has been a very painful experience for us all. This has been a tragic loss to our school family as Edel was like a sister to us all. However as a school we are endeavoring to do our best. On a personal note I wish to compliment my staff for the professionalism and personal emotional strength they have shown over the last three weeks in being able to keep the school operational in the most tragic of circumstances. I have used the term ‘teaching through tears’ on a regular basis to describe to others how my team has kept on going despite the heavy emotional strain we all have bore over the last three weeks. My team is emotionally and physically exhausted as would any family who has suffered such a tragic loss. We say a big thank you to everyone for their kindness, support and goodwill as we continue to grieve during what has been and still is an unbelievably emotional and painful time for our entire school family. God Bless you all and your families and thank God for our blessings.

Food Parcels

At this time of year we like to think of others less fortunate. Last year we organised a food collection for Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP) for Christmas. Your generosity was greatly appreciated. We are organising a food collection again this year. Thanks to Ms. Butler, Julie and senior infants for all of their help in organising this very worthy collection this year.

Christmas Cards

As in other years if children want to send a Christmas card to another pupil, they may post one in the Santa Post Box which is located outside the school library door. The cards will be delivered later in class. Please make sure that the full name and class is written on the envelope otherwise it cannot be delivered.

Sacred Space, School Christmas Tree and School Crib

Many thanks to Adam and his team for decorating this year’s School Christmas Tree and School Crib! Super job children! Well done! We are bound to uphold a caring, tolerant and Christian ethos in our school. Here the children learn to respect themselves and each other, discover right from wrong and learn valuable social skills which they will need for the rest of their lives. All children are children of God. I am delighted to announce that as part of that process again this year we are grateful to Mary Hyland and Peggy Brennan for designing and creating a beautiful Christmas themed sacred spacein our school where the children and teachers can come to reflect and pray and work out how to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

We hope you can visit it before the Christmas Holidays!

Election of Parent Nominees to the Board of Management

The current term of the BOM will expire on 30/11/2019 and a new BOM takes up office on 1/12/2019. Two parents of children enrolled in the school (one being a mother and the other a father) have been elected by the general body of parents of children enrolled in the school. A massive thank you to all parents who put themselves forward for election.We wish to congratulate Gavin Burke and Catherine Owens who have been formally elected.

Carols by Candlelight

The annual communityChristmascelebration "Carols By Candlelight" is on again in Kildangan Church onDecember 10that 7pm.Tickets are available from the school reception;
Entrance tickets are €5 and raffle tickets are 3 for €5.

Updated School Policies

The following School policies have been updated by the schools Board of Management and are currently available to view on our school website: “Drama” “Time Spent on Each Subject” “SNA” “Code of Behaviour” “Restorative Justice” “Supervision”

School County Debating Competition

Congratulations to the debating team pupils from both Ms.Behan and Ms.O’Mahony’s classes who performed so well against Castledermot last Friday. Huge thanks to both teachers for taking on the extra work of organising the team and preparing them so well! Many thanks to all the families for helping with practice at home!

Dates for your diary

School closes early at 2.45pm for Parent/Teacher meetings on both the 5th and 6th of December
Next Parent Association meeting is 12/12//2017 @ 7.30pm
Communion for 2nd class Scoil Bhríde will be April 21st 2018 @ 11am Nurney Church. This date has been given to us by the Parish.
6th class Confirmation – May 17th 2018

Wednesday Note and school information also available

Thank you for your co-operation with the above.

______

Vinny Thorpe – Principal

(Doctoral Student) M.Ed (SL), MA.Comp.Mus, H.Dip.Prim.Ed, H.Dip.Mus.Tech, P.Grad.Dip.Ed.St(SEN), B.Mus.Ed(H.Dip.Ed), Dip.Mus.Ed, T.Dip.ICT