PA NEWSLETTER June 2021

 

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We would like to take this opportunity to give you an update on the work of the parents’ association during this school year, even though this has been a difficult year the parents’ association have still been busy working away in the background. 

Calendar: The parents association organised the school calendar back in November. We got lovely weather which allowed us to take the photos safely outside. The school calendars always make a lovely keepsake. We extend a big thank you to Duarte Amancio for taking the photographs again for us this year. We raised €4,000 from this fundraiser.

Christmas fun day: We organised a Christmas fun day for the girls on December 18th. They watched the Helix Panto, ‘The sword and the stone’. The girls really enjoyed this and had a great laugh with their class during the performance! They also wore in their festive Christmas jumpers and sparkly hairbands, which put everyone in the Christmas spirit! It was a fantastic festive day!!!! 

Ice cream van: On June 4th we got an ice cream van to come and visit the school. This generated lots of excitement when the girls seen the van coming into the school. Everyone really enjoyed their delicious icy treats in the sunshine! It was a really refreshing treat after their sports days which took place earlier that week.

Feel good initiative days: We planned three “feel good days” for the last weeks of school which were, June 10th, June 17th and June 22nd.  The first “feel good day” was crazy hair day! The girls came into school with their hair in crazy hairstyles. Everyone had great fun laughing at their friends’ silly hair!! The next “feel good day” was happy hairband day. The girls wore in their favourite hairbands that made them feel really good and positive. There was a cheerful atmosphere in school! The last “feel good day” was silly socks day. The girls wore in a pair of odd, mismatched, funny socks!! These “feel good days” created excitement throughout the last few weeks of school!

Contributions: We contributed €1,500 to a new school sound system for the main hall. This is very beneficial to the school and they will get great use out of it for many years to come.

We organised sweet treats for all the girls of 3rd Class at a cost of €215. This was to celebrate their First Holy Communion which they eventually got to celebrate in October!

We contributed €400 for the transition to post primary workshop for 6th class which took place on the 2nd of June which the girls found really helpful!

We also contributed €395 to internet safety training for 4th class which, took place during the month of June and €675 for the Anti-bullying, Sticks and Stones Programme which took place last October.

We want to extend a special note of thanks to Bernadette Santiago who has been involved with the Parents association committee in various roles for many years. Thank you Bernadette you will be missed! We wish her daughter well in secondary school!

The parents’ association would like to wish all the 6th Class girls the very best of luck as they move on to secondary school.

On behalf of the parents’ association and all of the parents, a huge thank you to Cora McGorry and to all the school teachers and staff for keeping all our girls safe and healthy during this difficult year.

And as this school year draws to a close, let us as parents and guardians give ourselves a pat on the back too - we made it through months of home schooling, on-line platforms, school zoom calls, re-settling our girls back into school routines etc etc and we look forward to the 2021/22 school year whatever that may bring!!!!!

 

Parents’ Association

 

 

 

PA NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2019

 

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We would like to take this opportunity to give you an update on the work of the parents association to date during this school year. It has been a busy start to the school year for the parents association!

Cake Sale: On Friday October 18th we held our annual Halloween cake sale where spooky treats and cakes were the order of the day. It was a great success and we made a profit of €1,800 at this event. We would like to express our thanks to all the volunteers who helped make the event so successful. 

Calendar: We organised the school calendar again this year which will be distributed shortly. We hope it will take pride of place in your home/office during 2020! There are still some available to purchase in the school office. We would like to thank Duarte Amancio, our photographer for the day. The proceeds on the calendar this year amounted to €3,900 for which we are very grateful.

Jingle Belles Day: Our Jingle Belles Day is scheduled for Friday December 13th. We encourage the girls to dress up in Christmas jumpers and sparkly hairbands to get the Christmas spirit going! We are requesting a contribution of €2 for this event.

Language Classes: Language classes in Spanish and French took place in October and November for 6th class. German classes are scheduled for this week. We hope these classes will assist the girls in making their language choice for post primary. We would like to thank Manuel Lopez for providing the French and Spanish classes and Annelies Goyartes for the German class.

Knitting: Ms Byrne’s 3rd class started their knitting programme in September and are thoroughly enjoying it. We would like to thank Helen, Rachel, Mags, Frances and Helen for assisting the girls every Friday morning and sharing their skills. The programme will be enjoyed by the other 3rd classes shortly.

Library: The school library has been up and running since October and the girls are enjoying their weekly visits. A big thank you to all our library volunteers.

Anti-Bullying Training: We organised anti-bullying training on November 13th & 18th. The training was provided by Mary Crosbie of the National Parents’ Council and was extremely informative.

Good News: We have funded Basketball classes for 3rd and 4th classes in October and 5th class will enjoy these classes shortly. 4th class visited Castletown House in November for Maths week and we funded the transport for the visit.We are in the process of providing funds for the teachers’ wish list which will enable further classroom supplies and resources to be purchased. We will be funding PE classes such as gymnastics and dance which will be organised by the school in the new year. 

Finally: A new committee was elected following the AGM in October. Your new committee members are:

Sonia Bolger: Chairperson            Irene Moane: Vice Chairperson

Sharon Mooney: Treasurer           Joy O’Neill: Vice Treasurer

Liz Connor: Secretary                  Barbara Ann Leavy: Vice Secretary

Members: AnneMarie Farrell – Bernadette Santiago – Karen Kennedy

We are always seeking volunteers so if you haven’t already provided your details (email and phone number) to us you can contact us at presgirlspa@gmail.com. Our next PA meeting is due to be held on Monday December 9th at 8pm all are welcome.

As you can see it has been a busy few months!!!! Thank you again to all the wonderful volunteers and school staff who all together make our school community an enjoyable and social place. We wish everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year.

Parents’ Association Committee

 

 

PA NEWSLETTER December 2018

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We would like to give you an update on the work of the parents’ association during the last few months. 

Junior Infants Coffee Morning: We  ran a Parents Coffee morning for Junior Infants at the school on the 21st September. We would like to take this opportunity to again welcome all the new parents to the school and hope they enjoyed meeting other parents at the event.  

Basketball: The 5th and 6th Class girls have been partaking in basketball classes that have been paid for by the funds raised through the parent’s association. These classes use the Basketball Ireland grassroots development programme which puts a focus on fun and physical literacy. The PA also bought a kit for the school basketball team and were delighted to support them as the played other schools throughout Kildare.

Jingle Belles: The Parents Association also organised a dress up day where all the girls wore a festive jumper to school. This was a huge success and raised 885 Euro. 

AGM: The parents Association AGM was held on the 25th September in the school. 

All current committee members stepped down and invited persons forward for election. 

Persons were elected as follows:

Chairperson : Jonathan Arthurs

Vice Chairperson: Sonia Bolger

Secretary: Ciadhra Duignan 

Vice Secretary: Anne-marie Farrell 

Treasurer: Sharon Mooney 

Vice Treasurer: Marianne Ashe

Internet Safety: On the 17th of January there will be a talk given in the school on internet safety. All parents are encouraged to attend to get advice on how we can best make sure that our children are able to enjoy the internet in the safest possible way.  

Sponsored Walk: The sponsored walk was held along Carton Avenue on the 30th of September. The weather held up well and the Parents Association supplied water and refreshments at the end line for all the fundraisers. Thanks to Masterson’s fruit shop that donated apples for the walk.

 

Annual Halloween Cake Sale On the 19th October the annual cake sale took place and was a huge success. Students brought in all types of spooky cakes and there were some fantastic prizes in the raffle including homework passes for the lucky winner’s whole class! There was great help from the 6th class girls and the coffee dock proved very popular with parents. Some left over cakes were brought to two nursing homes in Maynooth. A total of 2770 Euro was raised which will be used to pay for Gymnastics and Shooting Stars courses.  

Puppet Theatre: Moon and Sixpence theatre came to the school on the 30th November and was very well received by both the junior and senior girls. 

School Calendar: Duarte Amancio called into the school on Friday 9th November to take photos of all the classes for the school calendar. We’d like to thank Duarte for giving these professional services that helped our fundraising.   

Teachers wish Lists The parent’s association have also contributed 2,000 Euro to teachers wish lists which covered board games, resource spending and junior and senior infants wish lists. 

Giving Thanks

Thanks to Jennifer Wulliamoz and Annelies Goyarts for providing French and German classes for the 6th Class girls. We are currently looking into Spanish classes for the 6th Class girls to give them some exposure to learning the language before they enter secondary school. 

We are also looking for Class Reps for Ms Quinn’s 2nd Class, Ms. Byrne’s 3rd, Ms Forde’s 4th, Ms Mahon’s 4th and Ms Flood’s 6th. If any parent has any interest, please email presgirlspa@gmail.com and we’ll be in contact and can discuss it further.

Our next PA meeting is due to be held on Monday January 14th at 8pm and all are welcome. Thank you again to all the wonderful volunteers, parents and school staff who together make our school community an enjoyable and social place. We’d also like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Parents’ Association

p.s. If anyone has any queries, please contact us at presgirlspa@gmail.com.