December Newsletter

St Mary’s Open Night

St Mary’s Open Night, for prospective parents of Playgroup, Nursery and Primary 1 children, will take place on Thursday 15^th December 2016 from 6.30pm to 8.00pm. Our Autism Specific Class and Junior Learning Support Class will also be open on the evening. Application forms are available to download from the school and Education Authority, Southern Region websites or may be collected from the school office. 

Fit To Dance

Thank you to everyone for the amazing support towards our “Fit to Help” fundraiser and Down GAA raffle. A total of £2,985 was raised for school funds over the past number of weeks.

Congratulations to Jonah Matthews in Mrs Downey’s class and Caoimhe O'Rourke in Mrs Murphy’s P4 class on winning the main prizes in the Fit to Help draw.

Thank you to Mr McGrane for organising the event to raise much needed funds for our school in times of continued education cuts. Well done to all the children!!

Anti-Bullying Poster Competition

Congratulations to all the winners of our Anti-Bullying Poster competition. Thanks you to our PTA for funding the winning prizes and judging the overall winners.

Afterschool Club

Please note children attending the Afterschool Club must be booked in advance via the school office or directly through Afterschool Club. A space cannot be guaranteed for children not booked to attend.

St Patrick’s Craft Fair

St Patrick’s PTA is hosting a Craft Fair on Sunday 4^th December, 12.00pm to 4.00pm. All are welcome to attend.

St Patrick’s Book Fair

Scholastic Book Fair will be at St Patrick's during the week beginning Monday  5^th December and ending on Friday the 9^th.  All books are half price. 

Parents are invited to attend on Tuesday 6^th December from 2.45pm – 4 pm to browse through the books  with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Banbridge Arts Festival

Well done to all our children who entered the Banbridge Arts Festival. Over 100 children from St Mary’s participated in the festival this year with over 50 children receiving a certificate, medal or trophy. Thank you. Please see the school website for photographs.

Shoe Box Appeal

Thank you for the generous support for the 2016 Shoe Box Appeal.  177 shoeboxes were returned to the school for Road to Hope Shoe Box Appeal. These have all been collected and are already on their way to help the disadvantaged people in Eastern Europe. Our thanks to Teresa Mulvaney for organising the Shoebox Appeal.  

Time 4 Me

The Barnardo’s Time 4 Me Counselling Service will begin in January.

Time 4 Me managers will carry out a staff induction and initial referral session immediately after the Christmas break. The service will become fully operational by mid-January and will be available each week until the end of the school year. Further information will be made available to parents in January.

School PTA

The next meeting of our PTA will take place on Tuesday 6^th December from 7.30pm in the school. All are welcome to attend.

Santa Sunday comes to St Mary’s on Sunday 10^th December, 2pm to 4pm. There will be a variety of entertainment and refreshments available.

Christmas Dates

The P1 and P3 Christmas Assembly will take place on Tuesday 20^th December at 10.00am and at 1.00pm. Children may go home after the 1.00pm show.

The P2 Nativity Performance will take place on Tuesday 20^th December at 10.00am and separately at 7.00pm.

Performances will take place in St Patrick’s main assembly hall. Please use the main entrance to St Patrick’s College. There will be a small charge of £2 on the door with donations going to NSPCC. Thank you to St Patrick’s for helping to facilitate our Christmas performances.

Please note P5 to P7 Friday Clubs will finish on Friday 2^nd December. Clubs will restart on Friday 13^th January. 

Parking 

Please continue to use St Therese’s car park to avoid congestion on the Scarva Road. There is limited parking in St Patrick’s car park. The drop off arrangements are working well and we would encourage parents to either park in St Therese’s car park, if you wish to escort your child to the school playground,  or use the supervised drop off points in St Patrick’s car park. Clann na Banna car park is designated for staff parking only during the school day. It becomes very congested by 8.30am and parents parking there are putting children accessing the car park at risk. Please use the drop off arrangements.

School Certificates

Congratulations to Connor Hussey, Dumi Fratescu, Kate Smith, Beth Johnston, Shania Wolska, Ruairi Kennedy, Nicole Lavery, Danny Burns, Jay O’Neill, Isabelle Rea, Callum Penny, Cora Malone, Kaylagh Bernes, Eireann Wolfe, Lee Thomas-Smyth, Miamh Lynch, Sean McCreedy, Kayleigh, Brian Fitzpatrick, Clodagh Lynch, Noah Lennon, Rory Comer, Savina Dicheva, Conor Hutchinson, Jack Conlon, Chloe King, Cameron Richardson, Caitlin Grimes, Caelon Fitzpatrick, Pierce White, Ashton Winters, Joseph McCreesh, Josh Peniero and Ludia Newbert on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday, 27^th October and Friday, 11^th November.

School Menu

Please check the school website for the monthly school menu.