April Newsletter

Donard N.S.
Donard Co. Wicklow
T: 045404884 Website: www.donardnswicklow.com Upcoming Events

April Newsletter

School Fundraiser
The children are preparing for our school fundraiser at present. Each child
in the school will paint/draw a picture which will be framed and exhibited
in the hall for everyone to see. The paintings will then go on sale to raise
money which will go towards paying for the remaining balance of the B.O.M meeting and Parents
school music generation tutors (560euro). More details will follow. If any Association meeting May 1st
extra money is raised it will be used to pay for extra equipment and visiting
tutors outside the school.

Book Fair School Closed May 7th& 8th.

We would like to thank all parents who bought books at the scholastic book
fair this year. Our book fair was a huge success this year. Scholastic have
given the school 1074 euro in book vouchers to extend thanks for their First Holy Communion Saturday
profits. Thank you to all the parents involved. The online vouchers will be May 12th 2018
used to for all class libraries in the school.

Enrolment
Enrolments took place in February. If anyone would still like to enroll their
child for 2018/2019 year please contact office.

Accord
Facilitator to visit with 6th class Wednesday 11th April

GAA
School football training starts this Friday 13th at lunch time for children in
4th, 5th and 6th classes.
Cormac our GAA coach will to resume training Tuesday 17th April for every
class.

Homework Club
Homework club is continuing this term until Tuesday 1st May.

Open Night
Open night will take place on Thursday 14th June. During this night we will
hear some singing and the parents will get a chance to have a look at some
of the children’s work throughout the school.

School Closed
School closed Bank holiday Monday 7th& Tuesday 8th.

Stay Safe
Stay Safe teaching will take place this term. If any parent wishes to see the content of the course they
can visit www.staysafe.ie.

Principals favourite quotation-‘Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it’-R.Swindoll
Trócaire Boxes
Last day for Trócaire boxes to be returned is Friday 13th April.

School Self-Evaluation
At present the staff are reviewing the last evaluation of the teaching and learning of problem solving in
Maths and comprehension of English reading across the curriculum. We are now beginning the next path
of evaluation where the staff will choose another area of English which we will review and evaluate.
Over the coming weeks and months parents and children will be asked to fill out some questionnaires
which will help us gather valuable information about the teaching of English literature.

Extension
We are delighted to announce we have received some funding from the Department of
Educationtowards a classroom in the school. During this build we also intend to extend our current
school hall so that it can be used for a PE and sports. At present we do not have any indoor facility for
the teaching of Physical education as the hall is used as a classroom. As the size is not adequate for
sports we intend to upgrade the current hall into a PE hall by renovating extending the length. The
department funds will not cover these costs. The school is currently in the process of seeking planning
for an extension.

Our parents associations arecurrently looking at options of how we can reach our goal of starting new
hall renovations and extension as well as our classroom build. Currently they are organizing a
sponsored walk of the Three Glen Challenge -Glen of Imaal, Glenmlaure and Glendalough on the August
bank holiday Sunday 5th and Monday 6th. As hill walking is very popular in this community many hill
walkers from outside our community have signed up to the walk already! The walk is open to all of our
school community. Walkers would have to be sponsored for the walk. There are two options – option 1-
170euro including overnight stay, evening meal and breakfast or option 2 - € 135 for walk and evening
meal. Bus will be provided to bring anyone not staying back to Donard. Places are limited for people
who want to stay.€100 will go to the Parents association for funding for school (ie, hall renovation and
extension, furniture, school equipment needed for extension).
Our Parents association and school community have completed exceptional work for the school this year
and we are very grateful for their invaluable work and dedication. Over the past year (2017/2018) the
parents association have raised the following monies from their fundraisers and voluntary contributions:
3330euro towards ipad charging trolley, 7 ipads, 7 keyboard, 6 euro towards every child’s school tour ,
ACCORD facilitator for 6th class, 6th class photographs, IrishPM readers for whole school, school music
(500euro), Science equipment for whole school.

School financial account information

Our school account has received Donations from the tractor run(440euro) and drama society ( 500) this
year. We also held our annual Christmas Fundraiser in December which raised 1769euro. The money
raised has assisted with the following costings.
1)Learning support equipment and games
2)Music generation
3)PRIM ED maths problem solving cards (towards SSE initiative of maths)
4)Magnetic boards in infant room and magnetic letters
5)Engineering polydrons and shape polydrons for junior and middle classes
6)Subsidizing bus costs for Peace Proms (senior classes), cinema trip (junior classes) and theatre trip
(middle classes), carol service in Ballymore.
7) Funds have also been used to subsidize any shortfall for swimming, athletics and football buses.
8) Office equipment (e.g new laminator, shredder, school envelopes and stamps)
9)Fees for I-pad apps for school ipads.
10) Wood turning workshop for whole school
11) Music workshop for middle and senior classes.
12) Teacher resources – Eddie Jennings assessment booklets and maths teacher resources.

Principals favourite quotation-‘Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it’-R.Swindoll
Thank you to all involved who have helped and are helping create great things in our school
community.

Principals favourite quotation-‘Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it’-R.Swindoll