Dear Parents,

Welcome to the first newsletter of the current school year. It has been a very

busy summer and a very busy first term in Scoil Bhríde. As I’m sure you have

noticed, the improvements to the school grounds and buildings have continued.

The Car Park has been extended, the Entrance Gate has been widened and all

the classrooms now have new flooring. A huge amount of work has been under-

taken to develop the school grounds under the guidance of the Green School

Committee. The school surrounds have been painted and will receive a final coat

in the Spring so we now have a community building and grounds to be very

proud of. We thank all who have worked so hard on this development project. A

thank you is also due to all parents who have kept strictly to our ‘No smoking’

policy and for keeping our grounds a healthy and clean ‘Smoke Free Zone’.

The term has also seen the visit of President Mary McAleese to the school and

what a historic occasion it was! Ms. McGrath’s work to draw all aspects of the

day together needs to be commended. It was a fantastic climax to our Jubilee

Celebrations. The stories, photographs and video are currently being uploaded

to our website and any parents who have videos or photographs, please contact

the office, as we wish to gather all possible documentation to record the day for

future generations.

Children in the school have also been involved in many other activities and pro-

grammes during the term such as: Art workshops with visiting artists (4th

class), performance of a play at the Aquarium to open Science Week (5th class),

performance at the Halleuiah concert, visits to Baboro events at the Town Hall,

swimming in Leisureland, woodwork, cooking, Sports for Success, Homework

club and French Club. Thank you to everybody involved in organising our extra-

curricular activities – they are very important to the life of the school and to the

broader education of our children.

Thank you to all the parents who attended our recent parent-teacher meetings

here in school. They were very successful and vital to our ‘Parents-in-

Partnership’ policy. Being involved as much as possible in your child’s education

is an indicator of success at school, so keep up the good work.

The School Calendar for the remainder of the year is included in this newsletter.

Lastly, if you have news that is relevant to school life i.e. success for yourself or

your child, stories of local interest, community events etc. or you would like to

write an article for the newsletter or for our website, we would love to hear

about it and you can give photos, articles etc to Marie our Secretary, in an en-

velop marked ‘School Newsletter’.

Regards,

ISSUE 11

Principal’s Letter

November 2006

Christmas

Annuals are

now available

in the office.

President’s Visit 2

Parents’ Council 3

Parents’ Courses 3

Noticeboard 4

School Calendar 4

Inside this issue:

The West side Story Scoil Bhríde Newsletter

Scoil Bhríde

Shantalla

Galway

Tel/Fax. (091) 525052

Email. Sns.ias@eircom.net

PAGE 2 THE WEST S IDE STORY ISSUE 11

News Report by Ryan Ward – 4th class

The President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, arrived in Scoil Bhride

on the 20th of October 2006. She was welcomed by Mr. Keane

and Sr. Dorothy and the infants. The school band played excel-

lently for the President. Then she was presented with a sunflower.

She met first class. Ms. Hanrahan, Mr. Strain and the school chefs

made scones for her. Ms. Mulgannon and Aleshia gave her a

bunch of flowers. She made a long speech in the hall. Some peo-

ple talked on RTE radio about her visit: Connor Murphy, Uasan

Alnumhi, David Ahearne, Rebecca O‘Reilly and Ryan Ward.

President’s Visit to Scoil Bhríde 20th October 2006l

Lots more photographs can be viewed in the photo gallery of our school website: www.scoilbhride.blogspot.com

Communication

To improve home/school communication

with Parents ,we would like to text /

email parents with school information,

calendar dates etc. as notes home in the

schoolbags often don’t arrive! Many of

our parents contact phone numbers and

some addresses are still not correct.

Your current mobile phone number is

essential for this project to work but also

for emergencies regarding your child.

A note will be sent home to all parents

to collect all up-to-date information

shortly. Please make sure it is returned

to the school or you will miss out on im-

portant information from the school.

Courses for Parents

Computer Classes – Every Tuesday evening 7pm – 9pm in Scoil Bhride Computer Lab

Christmas Flower Arranging Workshop December -Places limited.

Movement & Relaxation Classes Every Wednesday Scoil Bhride

Basic Literacy & Numeracy classes are arranged on an individual basis. If you would like to

improve your reading/writing/maths skills please phone Anne on 086 1905530.

Please see Parents’ Room Noticeboard for further details.

Parents in Partnership

PAGE 3 THE WEST S IDE STORY ISSUE 11

Parents’ Council

The AGM of the Parent’s Association was held on

Tuesday evening the 6th of October. A new Parents’

Council was elected as follows:

Chairperson : Martina O’Connor

Secretaries: Kathy Nevin /Joanne Moran

Treasurer: Shiela Lynch

Members: Patricia O’Regan, Princess Foloruncho,

Audrey Feeney, Mary sherlock, Dorothy Clune, Andre

Baatjes and Cathy Gill.

The Council’s work this year is focusing on fundraising, new band uniforms and involving parents in the life

of the school. We are still looking for Parents to give one hour of their time to help with the Library, the

Green School Committee and hearing readers in school. Please contact the school on 091 525052 or Home

School Liaison on 086 1905530 if you can help.

Parents Patrica O’Regan and Sashkia Perchova enjoying our Art

Workshop with local Artist Lol Hardiman on 17th November.

Thanks to the Parents Council who organised a very suc-

cessful cake sale on 26th November.

Noticeboard

Ms. Moran and Second class getting into the Halloween spirit.

December : 8th – Friday : Church Holiday : School closed.

18th – Monday : Christmas Pageant : 7.30pm at Sacred Heart Church

22nd – Friday : School closes at 12pm for Christmas Holidays.

January : 8th -Reopening

15th – School Closed for Planning Day

24th – School closes at 1.30 for staff meeting

February: 19th – 23rd School Closed for mid-term break.

March: 8th – School closes at 12pm for staff meeting.

19th – Bank Holiday

30th – School closes at 12pm for Easter Holidays.

April : 16th – Reopening – start of summer term.

May: 7th – School Closed for Bank Holiday

15th – School closes at 12pm for staff meeting

June: 4th – School Closed for Bank Holiday

18th – School closes at 1.30pm for staff meeting

29th – Last day of term.

Halleuiah Concert Last Sunday our 5th & 6th classes and

their teachers went to the Point Theatre

in Dublin to sing at the annual Halleuiah

concert. They gave an excellent perfor-

mance accompanied by the Halleuiah

Choir and other artists. It was a wonder-

ful opportunity for our pupils to perform

on the stage to a large audience at

the Point and we were very proud of

them. Well done to everyone involved

in preparing the children for the event

and Congratulations to the children

who behaved so well on the coaches,

at rehersals and during the concert. It

was a very long and tiring day but the

children rose to the occasion (as al-

ways) and made it a day to remember.

School Calendar