Scoil an Chroí Ró Naofa Íosa
Summer Newsletter - June 2018 Issue no. 104
.
Our staff choir were crowned
Our staff choir were crowned
Workplace Choir
‘Workplace Choirof theYear
of the Year 2018,
2018’. Boys’ Soccer team celebrating their
recent Dublin West League triumph.
‘Clothes Around the World’ Display,
Intercultural Week 2018.
Members of the Book Club visited Smock Alley
for an audience with the author Eoin Colfer. Children participating in a bodhrán
workshop as part of Music Week.
Freshly hatched chicks,
Ms. Daly’s 1st Class.
Children enjoyed a performance of ‘Secret Sports Day 2018.
Garden’ as part of Music and Drama week.
‘Milo the Robot’ - 5th Class
Lego WeDo 2.0 Project. ‘D.C.U. Sustainability Project
Finalists of our recent lunchtime 5th Class.
hurling league.
A Message from Mr. Lyons
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As we approach the end of June it is time to reflect on our school year in Scoil an Chroí Ró Naofa Íosa. It has been another
incredibly busy year in our school which has had numerous positive highlights, some of which are detailed in this newsletter.
However, two particularly sad events occurred in our school community this year. In November 2017 the first principal of our
school, Mr. John Lynch, passed away after a short illness. Mr. Lynch was principal of our school when it opened its doors with
two classes and two teachers in 1983 and he lead the school as it developed and grew to 32 classes with 50 teachers when he
retired in 2008. Mr. Lynch’s legacy will always be remembered in our community and the John Lynch Memorial Award will be
presented to a 6th class pupil each year who shows strength of character, determination and positivity as Mr. Lynch did
throughout his time here in Huntstown.
In May we received the devastating news that one of our first class students, Kacper Kacprzak, had passed away in an aviation
accident. Kacper’s passing has had a profound effect on students and staff alike and we greatly miss Kacper’s positive energy
and enthusiasm in our school. The light that has shone through has been the incredible way that school staff have rallied
together to support the pupils and each other since this tragic event. Thank you to our chaplain Fr. George Begley and the
National Educational Psychologists Service team who also helped to support pupils and staff. I ask you to continue to monitor
your children, especially those most affected by this tragedy, and to provide them with the ongoing support that they need.
We fondly remember John and Kacper and keep them in our thoughts and prayers.
Following on from Ms. Dearbhla O’Driscoll’s appointment as principal of Belgrove Infant Girls School at Christmas, I now offer
my heartiest congratulations to Mr. Séamus Sullivan on his appointment as principal of Scoil Bhríde Buachaillí in
Blanchardstown village! Mr. Sullivan joined our staff in September 1996. He has been an outstanding teacher and has
involved himself in school life to an incredible degree since then. In addition to training the school’s Gaelic football teams for
a number of years, Mr. Sullivan has trained our school soccer teams for the past 22 years. He has won multiple titles over the
years with his teams and it is very fitting indeed that Mr. Sullivan coached our school boys’ soccer team to both the Dublin
West Cup and Dublin West League titles in his final year in the school! Mr. Sullivan is known as being an accomplished actor
and singer outside of school and he has always willingly given of his time to share these talents with our pupils. He has been
centrally involved in the production of each of our school’s five musicals in Draíocht and took on the role of director for the
incredible productions of Bugsy Malone, Oliver and Back to the 80’s! Our loss here in Huntstown is most certainly Scoil
Bhríde’s gain and I have no doubt that Mr. Sullivan will be a fantastic principal in his new school in Blanchardstown. The Board
of Management and the entire school community would like to congratulate Mr. Sullivan on his appointment and offer him
our best wishes for the future. I would also like to convey my congratulations to Mr. Colm O’Callaghan who has been
appointed to an Assistant Principal position in our school.
Next year will see some exciting ICT developments in the school. Mr. Shelly has organised the purchase of 16 Chromebook
laptops and Mr. Hanley is leading an ICT project that will include the purchase of 16 iPads for the new school year. We look
forward to integrating these new devices in to classroom lessons.
The Parents’ Association have had an incredibly busy year and they have outlined their activities in this newsletter. I would
like to thank them for the sterling work that they do on behalf of our school community. I would also like to thank parent Ms.
Ciara Jones for her continuing incredible fundraising efforts for our school. I would like to thank all of you for supporting these
fundraising efforts that are crucial to the ongoing success and appropriate resourcing of our school.
I would like to thank the Board of Management, Deputy Principal Mr. Harty, our teachers, our SNAs, Marie and Tina in the
kitchen, our cleaning staff, our lollipop ladies Vera and Terri, our secretary Carmel, our caretaker Michael and our Parents’
Association for all the work they have done to ensure that our children receive the highest quality education and care in our
school.
Finally, I would like to wish a fond farewell to our sixth class children who finish their journey in Scoil an Chroí Ró Naofa Íosa
this year. We will miss you, we are proud of your achievements in our school and all that you brought to our school
community. I hope you leave our school with some very fond memories and wish you every success for the future.
Go n-éirí an bóthar libh. Kieran Lyons, Principal.
Parents’ Association 2017/2018
As the year draws to a close we would like to begin by saying thank you to every one of you for the support you have
given us over the last school year.
We began last August by beginning the year with a cup of tea for the new Junior Infants parents just to let them settle
in as their little darlings started their first day in our school. We held our first meeting of the year on the following
Monday and welcomed 3 new members: Julie Burke, Lynda McFarland and Pamela Power. We also had a former
member of the Parents Association, Orla Devine, re-join.
We got stuck straight in and began preparing to provide the Pupil Personal Accident Insurance for all the children who
wished to avail of this service. Continuing through September and October we collected the insurance money and
purchased the insurance on your behalf.
For November and December we decided we would run a Bumper Christmas Raffle to raise funds rather than seek
Voluntary Contributions this year. Thank you to all of you who donated prizes, bought tickets and sold tickets. It was a
huge success, so once more thank you so much. It was a lot of hard work by everyone that made it so successful.
We also ran our annual Class Christmas Card Service which once again was a huge success.
In January Grandparents Day took place and we provided tea & coffees during the concert the children put on for their
grandparents. We also provided goodie bags for the children who attended the Rainbows Programme after school
each week for 10 weeks and a lovely pizza day on the final day.
The annual school Book Fair took place in March and we helped by manning the cash desk and running the overall fair
under the guidance of Ms Mullany.
April and May were Confirmation and Communion months and we provided receptions for both days which included
sandwiches, cakes teas and coffees.
May and June have been taken up with running the Book Rental Scheme and work will continue into July as we order
books and cover them so that they are ready for the children coming back to school in September. As a brief outline
this scheme entails collecting the fees, buying and covering new books, taking all existing books from classrooms and
checking their condition before deciding if they will continue in the scheme or if they will be replaced, we then
distribute all the old and new books into the classrooms ready to go for the children in the new school year. We are
always looking for volunteers to give us a hand so please feel free to get in touch.
We also provided a reception for the new Junior Infants parents on their open evening and 6th class children each
received a goodie bag on their graduation night. On Sat 30th June we are also supervising the 6th Class disco in the
community centre so that’ll be another good night. We are also providing the Uniform POP Up Shop in July (dates to
be confirmed shortly).
The success of the Christmas raffle in particular and the funds in excess of €10,000 raised allowed us to make
significant investments in resources for the benefit of all children in the school. €6,000 was spent on new PE
equipment, €2,500 was spent on music week activities and replacing instruments in the instrument boxes for music
lessons at all class levels, €1,000 was spent on Lego sets which will be utilised in STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Maths) activities and €1,000 was spent on replenishing the ‘wet-day activity’ boxes that the Student
Council have organised for each classroom. Thank you again for your support of our fundraising activities.
Finally, we are saying goodbye to our longest serving member, Paula Doyle, this year. We would like to thank her for all
her years of service and wish her the best of luck with whatever her new project may be. We would also like to thank
all the staff, Mr Lyons, Mr Harty, Mrs Shanahan and Mr. Kestell for all their help throughout the year with everything
we are doing. And to you reading this please consider joining our team; we are always looking for new members with
new ideas. We will be around on the first day of school for a cuppa in the atrium if you fancy a chat too. We can be
contacted at any time on our Facebook account Sacred Heart of Jesus N.S. Huntstown-Parents Association or
sacredheart.parentsassoc@gmail.com
Once again thank you for all your support.
Sinead Joyce
Chairperson Parents’ Association
Awards Ceremony
The school year was completed with an awards ceremony for 6th class students on Wednesday 27th June.
All children were commended for their special contribution to the school over the past eight years.
The following awards were also made :
ACADEMIC AWARDS
Literary Student of the Year – Niamh Haslam Gaeilgoir na Bliana– Ines Miranda
Mathematicians of the Year – Scott Fowler, David Voican Scientist of the Year – Shayne Barandino
Artist of the Year – Nicole Binas Musician of the Year – Ella Grehan
Innovator of the Year – Leo Galvin Gradam na Scoile – Shane Moore
Mr. Lynch Award – Elle Cullen
SPORTS AWARDS
Athlete of the Year – Rahela Paun Hurler of the Year – Reece Molloy
Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year – Shaun Doyle Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year – Emily Brady
Girls’ Gaelic Footballer of the Year – Ella Grehan Boys’ Snr Gaelic Footballer of the Yr – Conor Kestell
Boys’ Jnr. Gaelic Footballer of the Yr – Adam Brennan Sportsperson of the Year 2018 – Conor Kestell
Well done to all and best wishes to our 6th class students as they embark on a new journey through secondary school!
School Calendar 2018/2019
School will reopen for the new school year on Thurs 30th August 2018
October Mid-Term Break: Mon 29th October to Fri 2nd November 2018 inclusive
Christmas Break: Mon 24th December 2018 to Fri 4th January 2019 inclusive
February Mid-term Break: Thurs 21st and Fri 22nd February 2019
Please Note: There will be a one day
th th closure to facilitate Language in-service
St. Patrick’s Holiday: Fri 15 to Tues 19 March 2019 training for teachers during the 2018/
2019 academic year. The date for
Easter Break: Mon 15th to Fri 26th April 2019 inclusive in-service training will be communicated
to parents when it has been finalised.
May Public Holiday: Mon 6th May 2019
June Mid-Term Break: Fri 31st May to Tues 4th June 2019 inclusive
School will close for the summer holidays at 12 noon on Fri 28th June 2019.
Please Note: If changes are required to be made to the Easter break as part of contingency arrangements to make
up for lost time due to unforeseen school closures the school may remain open up to and including Wed 17th April 2019.
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