Parent Association report
The PA have sent in a report on their activities from Nov 2022 to Nov 2023...
The Parent Association held its AGM last week with a fantastic turnout and many new parents volunteering to join the group. The committee has agreed to continue for another year, with the welcome addition of Noreen Daly as Vice Chairperson.
During the meeting we reviewed the association's activities over 2022/2023 and look forward to continuing to support the school in any manner we can in the year ahead.
We thank Mr. Browne, Fiona and all the school teachers and staff who are always so supportive of our work and welcome us into the school at every event.
We now have a total of 35 volunteers in our PA volunteer group including committee members listed below:
Chairperson: Lily Henry
Vice Chairperson: Noreen Daly
Secretaries: Heather O'Malley and Sarah Webb
Treasurers: Fiona Kelly and Niamh Lally
Committee Members: Aisling O'Malley, Áine Farrell, Michelle Moran, Nina Girling, Sarah McNulty and Sharon Conway
If any parent would like to join our group, please send a text to 086 8867601.
Below is a brief summary of the work undertaken since the AGM last year...
On December 15th we arranged for Santa to visit the school with presents for each classroom and chocolate lollies for the kids. We had asked the teachers in advance what games or books they would like for their class and Santa generously delivered!
The committee had several meetings in December to arrange the raffle at the Christmas concert which was held over two days in the school hall. We approached all local businesses and asked for donations. We had a huge response from the community, businesses, parents and school staff and had 39 prizes to raffle in total. Lots of parents volunteered to sell tickets at the door over the two days and an amazing total of €1,686 was raised. Thank you again to all involved!
In January the PA was kindly invited to attend the school to welcome Special Education Minister Josepha Madigan. Two members attended.
At the Open Evening in February we provided tea and coffee to welcome parents who were visiting the school to enrol their children in the next school year.
Pancake Tuesday - always a lovely morning to spend in the school. Several parents volunteered to cook and serve pancakes for 240+ pupils and staff. We sent a call out to parents beforehand and received stacks of pancakes and batter to cook.
We had a busy month in June:
We provided refreshments to parents of incoming Junior Infants in the school hall.
We organised a retirement gift for a special SNA and her retirement lunch organised by the school was attended by 2 members.
We provided drinks and fruit to very thirsty pupils at the pitch on both Sports days.
We gave a graduation gift of €10 per pupil in 6th class for their school tour lunch for which we received a lovely thank you letter from the pupils.
We provided tea and coffee to parents at the 6th class graduation in the school hall.
Uniform Exchange: After the success of last year’s exchange we again collected used uniform donations from parents and made them available to all parents at various times throughout the summer. Thank you to all who donated!
Fundraising. We have committed €2,000 to the school from funds raised over the past year to be used for playground style markings in the school yard. At the beginning of the school year our Credit Union balance was just above this amount so we decided to do a bucket collection fundraiser. Lots of parents volunteered to help and generously gave up an hour of their time on Saturday, Oct 7th. €1,925 was raised and lodged into our CU account. This enables us to continue our work for the rest of this year, help Santa with his gifts, provide materials for Halloween craft day and give 6th class pupils a graduation gift at the end of the year.
On October 13th we were invited to the “Day of Celebration” event in the school to open the new extension and see the school’s 10th Green Flag proudly being raised. Two members attended.
Similar to the uniform exchange we collected donated Halloween costumes and had an open evening and morning for families to choose an outfit for their child.
We organised our second Halloween craft day, a full day in the school hall with simple activities for each class and a decorated bun for all! This was a very enjoyable day and thank you to the many parents who volunteered to help.
We are looking forward to the rest of the school year, already planning a Santa visit and hopefully a night out for parents in the coming months.
Thanks again to all for your support.
The Parent Association.
