Scoil na hEaglaise
Eglish National School
“Work together, do our best, repect each other”
“Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege,
than the raising of the next generation.”
-C. Everet Koop, M.D.
NEWSLETTER Christmas 2016
Dear Parents / Guardians
Here is an update on what’s been happening in Eglish NS since September.
Board of Management: I am delighted to announce our new Board of Management: Chairperson: Rónán Mullen, Secretary: Siobhán Fitzgerald, Patron’s Rep: Fr. Kevin Reynolds, Staff Rep: Carmel Moore, Parent Nominees: Oyun Gankhuyag and Willie Martin, Community Reps: Carmel Gately and Seamus Ryan. I would like to thank Goretti Newell for all her help and support for the school as our Single Manager in 2015-2016.
Changemaker school: In September, we were formally presented with our ‘Changemaker’ plaque. We are one of currently, only twelve “Changemaker Schools” in Ireland. This is a new programme to identify, support and connect innovative schools around the world and support them in inspiring other schools to empower students to be changemakers. We look forward to working closely with some of the other Irish Changemaker schools and visiting them in 2017.For further information, check out www.ireland.ashoka.org/changemaker-schools.
Deepest condolensces: We were saddened to learn of the deaths of Patricia Ward and Lily Cosgrove in September and Teresa Hennelly in November. We’d like to express our sincere sympathy to the Ward, Cosgrove, Hennelly and Mockler families. ‘Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha’
Credit Union Art Competition: Congratulations to Katie Ward (Senior Infants) and Chloe Martin (5th Class) who both won prizes in the Ballinasloe Credit Union Art Competition. Well Done to all who took part.
Earth Day: Inspired by an idea one of our students had, we held an ‘Earth Day’ in September to raise money for victims of the earthquake in Amatrice, Italy. During our visit to Faenza, Italy in October we presented the €150 that we raised to the Principal of our partner school who thanked us most sincerely. The Mayor of Faenza also thanked us and confirmed that our donation would go towards the rebuilding of the school in Amatrice. Well Done and thank you to all. We are all Changemakers!!
Erasmus Plus: We had our fourth Mobility trip of our current Erasmus Plus Project to our partner school in Faenza, Italy in October. 6 students, 1 parent and 2 teachers travelled. It was a wonderful cultural and educational trip where our students had the opportunity to work collaboratively with children from our other partner countries: Finland, Spain, Italy, UK, Poland, Romania. Our next mobility trip will be to Finland at the end of January 2017. Many thanks to Mrs. Mulry for the on-going huge amount of work she is doing in coordinating this project.
Food Dudes and Healthy Schools Promotion Committee: The ‘Food Dudes’ in our school in October and November really helped re-ignite our students’ interest in fruit and vegetables. Well done to our Healthy School’s Promotion Committee, led by Ms. Devine for their fantastic work on updating the Healthy Lunches Policy and many thanks to parents for your ongoing cooperation.
Go Games: Our Middle Room and Senior Room students have had outings to Fohenagh and Ahascragh where they have taken part in Go-Games with neighbouring schools.
Vegetable Soup: We made our traditional vegetable soup on November 18th. This year, the soup was made almost entirely with vegetables from our polytunnel, grown by the students. It was delicious!! Thank you also to the students who made the Brown Bread.
Fundraising: Our Annual Díolacháin on December 16th was, once again, a great success. Apart from the individual profits students made from their innovative ideas, €95 was raised for the school. €360 was collected at our Carol Singing in TESCOS on Monday 19th of December.
‘Make-a-Wish’ Foundation donation: We raised €95 from the raffle at our Christmas Talent Show for the ‘Make-a-Wish’ charity. One of our teachers, Miss Colohan volunteers with ‘Make-a Wish’, an Irish charity that grants the wishes of children aged between 3 and 17 years living with life-threatening medical conditions.
On-line Presence: Keeping up with the times, Eglish NS now has a Facebook page, Twitter (https://twitter.com/EglishNs) and Instagram (http://www.imagala.com/tag/eglishns) account as well as our wonderful website (www.eglishns.com) which is updated regularly. Please ‘like’ and follow our pages and don’t hesitate to share our good news and updates with family, friends and especially past pupils and parents. The tremendous work that goes on in our school is something that we should all, collectively, be proud of.
Contact Details: It is parents’ responsibility to ensure that the school has up-to-date contact details for you. If you change address or phone number, you must let us know.
WhatsApp Group for Parents: It has been suggested that parents may wish to set up a WhatsApp group to share information and ideas. Listen out for more information on this in the NEW Year.
Please be reminded, your child’s happiness and all-round educational development is our priority here in Eglish School. If you have any concerns in relation to this, please do not hesitate to let us know. To ensure that these concerns can be dealt with efficiently and in a dignified manner, please follow the steps as outlined in the Complaints Procedure Policy, a copy of which was sent home in September.
Many thanks for your support and ongoing cooperation. Wishing you a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas.
‘Le gach dea-ghuí’
Siobhán Fitzgerald, M.Ed. (Principal)