October Newsletter

7th Oct 2016

PTA AGM

Congratulations to the following committee members who were proposed and re-elected at 2016 Annual General Meeting of our PTA

Chairperson – Fran McEvoy

Vice Chairperson – Caroline Robinson

Treasurer – Louise Simpson

Secretary – Denise Simpson

Almost £10,000 was raised during the 2015/16 academic year for our children and school. This is greatly appreciated by all the children, parents, staff and Board of Governors.

Our PTA has also had success with two grant applications. £1,000 was received from The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland. This will be used towards the purchase of resources and refreshments for literacy, numeracy and ICT sessions for parents and children. It will also support the needs of Polish parents and pupils at the Cross Cultural Polish Academy which operates from our school on Saturday mornings. A £3,500 grant from the Halifax Foundation was awarded to our PTA to help subsidise the costs of employing a Barnardo’s Counsellor to work within the school. It will also help fund the ParentingNI Children’s Positive Behaviour programme which will run next term.

The support of an active PTA is vital to school, our children and teachers especially in an environment of ever decreasing education budgets. Please support your child’s school join our PTA. Our next meeting will take place on Tuesday 11^th October.

The next Coffee Morning will take place in the Parish Centre on Monday 10^th October, 9am to 10am, in aid of Action Cancer.

School Fund

In previous years we have asked parents to make a donation to our school fund to help pay for school resources, playground equipment and school improvements. This year will to be a very another expensive year for the school once we move into our new school building. We actively encourage parents to make a contribution of £20 per child or £30 per family to our School Fund. This can be paid weekly, monthly or as one payment by using the payment slip overleaf. Many thanks in advance.

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.

Football Tournament

Congratulations to the St Mary's A and B teams who participated in EVO 7-a-side competition at Cheney Park on Thursday 29^th September. All the boys played fantastically well. Well done to Ryse Berry, Cathair Ruddy, Ryan Henry and Shay Wilson who all had an excellent tournament.

Good luck in the next round of games on Thursday 13 October at Cheney at park from 9.30am.

Pokemon Cards

Children are no longer permitted to bring Pokemon Cards to school. This follows a number of unfortunate incidents involving the cards and disruption caused in class.

FASD Awareness Day Raffle

Thank you for the tremendous support for the Feotal Alcohol Syndrome Awareness Raffle. £200 was raised from the raffle. A presentation will take in November when representatives of the FASD Trust will be visiting Northern Ireland.

Parent Information

An Information Evening to provide parents with advice on childcare entitlements including; Childcare Vouchers, Child Tax Credits, Working Tax Credits etc. will be will take place on Tuesday 18^th October from 7.30pm in the school. The information session will be hosted by a representative from employersforchildcare.

Cross Country

Good luck to our Cross Country Team who will take part in the first race of the season next Wednesday 5^th October at Lurgan Park.

First Penance

First Penance for our P4 children will take place on Thursday 20^th October at 6.30pm in the Church of St Therese. Children should be seated by 6.20pm.

Shoe Box Appeal

The 2016 ‘Road to Hope’ Shoe Box Appeal is now open. Please return shoeboxes to St Mary’s or St Patrick’s school office by Friday 28^th October.

School Certificates

Congratulations to Jude Robinson, Eireann Wolfe, Riley Cull, Ryan Mulgrew, Matthew McKevitt, Mateusz Rak, Eimear Simpson, and Cathair Ruddy on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 23^rd September.

Congratulations to Latoya Kelly, Leo McFadden, Jonathan Burke, Katie Devlin, Roan Sweeney, Lily McConnell, Jessica Mulgrew, Calvin Shead, Cara Burns, Amy Glendinning, Shayne Fitzpatrick, Oran Doherty, Julia Juchno, Sophie Glendinning, Mychaela McEvoy, Eoin Eakins, Emer Smyth, Adam McCann, Sally Convery, Anne Davis and Lucia Olarte-Wade on being awarded a class certificate for good work and excellent behaviour during the week ending Friday 30^th September.

School Menu

Please check the school website for the monthly school menu which is updated at the beginning of each month.

Please return to your child’s class teacher or directly to the school office.

Child(ren)’s name(s) ………………………………………… Class/es …………………..

I enclose £20.00/£30.00 contribution the St Mary’s Primary School Fund.

Date …………………. Parent/Carer’s Signature