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Rathmichael Parish National School – December 2009

Dear Parents,
Please take time to visit our website, www.rathmichaelschool.com which is constantly being updated with items of interest and school events etc, thanks to Mrs Crammond.

Diary Dates:
Art and Wine:
As advised the Art and Wine evening will be held on Wednesday 9th December. This is the first P.T.A. function of the year for the new Committee and we would appreciate if as many parents as possible could attend. The children have been working hard on their art work and it promises to be an evening full of colour and variety. This adults only night is a wonderful opportunity for new parents to meet and for our more established parents to catch up with each other. There will be an admission charge of €4 which will include your first glass of wine/soft drink. As part of school fund raising, the art work may be purchased after the evening at €2 each (this may be donated on the night or brought in by children to the Class Teacher – a sticker will be placed on all purchased art). There will also be a raffle (tickets available to purchase on the night) and cookbooks will be available to buy (€10 per copy, €25 for three copies).
Cake Sale:
6th Class are holding a Cake Sale on Friday 11th December to raise funds for the                 victims of the recent flooding around the country. Please give your child money to             bring into school on Friday morning to buy cakes for this very worthwhile cause.
Clothesline:
We have once again been contacted by this company,which has specialized in                 collecting second hand clothing, bedding and shoes for the past 10 years. The                 company will pay the school 45cent per kilo collected and the clothing etc will be                 sent to charities serving Eastern European countries. Clothesline collection bags have          been sent home today with your child and all filled bags will be collected on Friday             11th December - a truck from the company will be parked in school from early on, on         that morning and all bags should be brought directly to the truck, not into the school building. Clothesline will accept Ladies', Men's and Children's clothing and shoes all in          wearable condition and will also take bedding, curtains, belts and handbags. We would appreciate if you would support this charity and at the same time raise funds for the school by taking and filling bags. Many thanks in advance for your support.

Carol Service
Arrangements:
December in Rathmichael Church for 1 – 6 Classes. Please go directly to Church for 9.00 a.m. If you are not in a position to attend the Service, please ensure that your child has a lift back to school rather than walking, as the Traffic Warden will have left.
Members of Rathmichael School choir are requested to be at the Church at                     8.30 a.m. please for Choir Practice. Please note that brothers and sisters of                 choir members may not be left at the Church/in Church grounds at this time as there will be no supervision for them. Roll call will be at approximately 10.00 a.m.Teachers will advise re school bags.

Infant Play:
16th December. Infants to come to school at the normal time. The play will                     commence at 12.00 noon and parents, grandparents etc should be in place by                 11.55 a.m. latest please. Anyone wishing to take photos or video the play                     should position themselves to the side. The infant classes may go home after the play.
Please note that there will be no Walking Buses on Wednesday 16th.

End of Term:
School finishes at 12.30 p.m. on Tuesday 22nd December. Infants will be let out at 12.25 p.m. to avoid the rush. Please ensure that your child is collected on time.
Spring Term:
Spring Term will commence on Wednesday 7th January for a half-day, closing at 12.30 p.m.
Games:
Games will commence from Monday 11th January. A note will go home on Thursday 7th January.
Swimming:
Swimming will commence on Friday 15th January for 2nd and 5th Classes only.              Notes will go out shortly.
Milk: Milk will commence from Monday 11th January. A note will go home on                 Thursday 7th January.

The Pandemic H1N1 (Swine Flu)
We have been advised by the HSE that vaccinations of primary school children will be carried out in schools. We have not received a date for this – it will be sometime in the NewYear. As soon as we have confirmation of a date we will advise you. In the meantime if you had planned to have your child vaccinated yourself then you should proceed with this.

Myasthenia Gravis, “the Rag Doll Illness”
We raised €340 for Myasthenia Gravis on our Bulb Planting Day. Many thanks for your generosity.

Mobile Phones
Our new whiteboard will be coming soon and will be located in 5th Class. Please keep sending in your old mobile phones as these are valuable to us – we can avail of many resources through this recycling. Thank you so very much for all your efforts to date. WELL DONE.

Tesco Tokens
Thanks to all your efforts in bringing in tokens, Tesco's have given us a number of resource items for our school. These include: unihoc goals, a cricket set, balance boards, skipping ropes, a mini trampoline, balls, a rainstick, a percussion set, a giant peg board, a DVD burner and a digital camcorder. These will be available for all the classes to enjoy using.

Second Hand Uniforms
These are located in the Crawford Concourse and are available to purchase at a cost of €4 each. Anyone who wishes to donate items of uniform may add them to the items that are already there – please ensure that these are clean and in good condition.

Driving into School
Please remember when turning into the school grounds, particularly in the morning, if the Traffic Warden is in the centre of the road crossing children over, do not turn into the school but wait until the Warden has crossed back over to the path. The reason for this is that our pupils coming from the Seaview direction may cross at the traffic lights and come across the gate to get into school (I would recommend that these children cross at the second of the pedestrian lights and cross over with the Warden). Also St. Anne's pupils from the same direction use the Traffic Warden to cross over the road to get to St. Anne's. Vigilance is always needed when turning into the school – always be on the lookout for children crossing in front of the gates.

Thank you for your co-operation with the new Set Down area and no parking zone. Drivers stopping at the Set Down area need to be aware of children crossing over from parked cars and all cars need to be cautious when moving away from the Set Down area or from parking areas. There are still large numbers of parents driving in who do not have children in Junior or Senior Infants, or small children in the car and this is adding to traffic volumes. If you do not fall into this category please park the car outside and walk in.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year from all the staff.

Caroline Senior,Principal, 7th December 2009

Read Mrs. Senior's Report to the PTA AGM here