September 2017 Newsletter

Dear Parent/Guardian,
Firstly I want to extend a very warm welcome to you all for the year ahead in Scoil Chrost R. A very special
welcome to our new children and families who have joined the school. I will be writing to you every month to keep
you informed of school events.

Our New School and Fundraising

As you are aware our new school started in July and the project is well underway. We expect to move in during
Spring 2018. These are changing times for Scoil Chrost and its very exciting for everyone involved with the
school. This state of the art brand new school is richly deserved by the pupils, staff and parents of Scoil Chrost R.
The school has to raise much needed funds to pay for extra facilities and play areas which we hope to have in our
new school. An important fundraiser coming up is:
The Rock Run & Walk will take place on this Thursday evening September 21st starting at 6.30 p.m. It
promises to be a fun evening and a healthy activity for everyone to enjoy. The 5k route will take place around the
Ennis West and Lahinch Road area. The run/walk will start from the rock in our school yard.
There is a registration form attached here and if you are taking part please return the form with the entry fee to the
class teacher before Thursday. Any children taking part must be accompanied by an Adult and I am hoping that
many of the families in the school will take part.

Parking
Kitty Killeen is our school lollipop lady. All children and parents must use the school crossing at the main gate of the
school.
Cars are not allowed to park where the traffic bollards/cones are or in front of the blue railings
at the school gate as Kitty Killeen must have space in order to allow the children cross safely.
Cars are also not allowed to park in front of the Building Site Entrance as this must be kept clear
at all times.
Because of the building work taking place on Cloughleigh Road, parking will be a problem for
the next number of months. Parents can use the car park at the end of the road and walk their
children the short distance to the school.
Please respect the rights of the local residents. Do not park across driveways or in any area that
might cause an obstruction.
Thanks for your cooperation.

Labelling Uniforms and Tracksuits

As all uniforms and tracksuits are the same, we would ask you to ensure that your childs name is clearly marked on
jackets, jumpers and tracksuits. They can become mixed up very easily.

Text Messages
Texts will be used to send messages, reminders etc. to you. It vitally important to have this up-to-date number in case
of an emergency. If you change your number please let the school secretary know.

Attendance
Regular attendance is very important for your childrens learning. Last year we had an excellent average attendance
in the school of 94%. Students who are absent for 20 school days must, by law, be reported to the Education
Welfare Officer. Each term we will present prizes for children with full attendance.

School Uniform
Our school uniform is very important and it is special to our school. All children must wear their full uniform
including the tie every day at school except the days that they have PE. You can get ties from the secretary. The
children wear their full school tracksuit on PE days. Inside the tracksuit the children must wear the light blue polo
shirt. We want the children of Scoil Chrost R to be well presented at school and it is very important that they wear
their full clean uniform every day. Thanks for your support on this matter.
School Calendar and Closures 2017/18
Please see the school calendar and holiday dates for this year attached to this newsletter.

School Lunches
This year again we are providing a FREE LUNCH and something to eat at break time for all children. This is great
news and the lunches provided are a very high quality.
There will be no need for you to give your children food coming to school now and children do not need to buy any
food in the shop.

School Sport
Lots of sports including Gaelic football, hurling, camogie, basketball and soccer will be available after school. At the
moment Gaelic football for boys and girls is on after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays. We encourage as many
children as possible to take part in school sport and this will also help their overall physical health. Many thanks to
our teachers who give of their free time to coach the children sports after school each evening.

HSCL News
September has been a very busy month for the Parents of Scoil Chrost R. We have launched some very exciting
Adult classes taking place here at school.
Our Cookery classes began this week and our participants are looking forward to learning some nice new
recipes to try out at home as well as gaining QQI qualification on completion of the course.
Our Beginners Computer & English classes are also beginning this week. So if any of you would like to join
our class on Fridays from 9:15-12:15 please contact Ms OConnor.
We love to see parents coming into help us in the classrooms at Scoil Chrost R, therefore we are very
excited to begin Fun Science in 3rd class on Monday September 18th for 3 weeks. During Fun Science
parents come in to do some fun and easy science experiments with the children. The first part of the morning
is spent preparing the experiments in our Parents Room & after this parents go into 3rd class and do the
experiments with the children. If you have a child in 3rd class and would like to get involved please feel free
to contact me on 087-6461836. It promises to be great fun!!
Fun Science will move to 5th class for 3 weeks beginning Monday October 9th so parents of 5th class
children we look forward to seeing you then!
Gymboree in Junior Infants has just begun & parents are having great fun coming in and enjoying some
songs, rhymes & dance with the children in Junior Infants. Thank you to all those parents who joined us for
the classes this week we look forward to seeing more of you over the coming weeks.
New adult classes will constantly be on offer here at Scoil Chrost R so keep your eyes open for a class that may
suit you. If there is some new skill that you would like to learn or class you would like here in Scoil Chrost R
please tell me about it! Remember everybody is welcome to our classes free of charge, and we love seeing you in
the school. For further info please do not hesitate to call me.
Ms OConnor 087-6461836.

School Website
You can keep up to date with school news on our excellent website criostri.weebly.com
You can follow us on our Twitter page @criostri
Also you can see our new Facebook page for parents, Scoil Chrost R HSCL Activities

I hope you have a great year in Scoil Chrost R and every good wish for 2017/18.
Yours sincerely,
Gearid Roughan, Principal