Our Lady of Good Counsel Ferrybank
Return to School – August 2023
Dear Parents/Guardians,
I hope you are all well and that you had a lovely summer. Like every year, the time to return to school is
fast approaching. As you already know, school will reopen tomorrow morning, Thursday, August 31st. I
would like to inform you of some changes and important points to note on your daughter’s return to
school.
Opening Times and Drop Off
The school day here in Good Counsel starts at 9.10 am – classes start at this time. The school gates will
open at 9.00am for the coming year which is ten minutes earlier than last year. It is your duty to bring
your child to the school gate whether you travel by car or walk. You are welcome to drive into the drop offarea outside the school gate. It is requested that you do not block the lanes of traffic in order to keep
traffic moving.
It is vital that your child’s arrives to school and is collected on time so please do your very best to ensure
this occurs daily.
Parents are not permitted to enter the yard in the mornings – please bring your daughter to the
gate and she can go to her class area in the yard of her own accord.
Your daughter is welcome to enter the yard at this time and play until the bell goes. The yards will be
appropriately supervised from 9.00 am. Please note that there will be no supervision before this time and
your daughter is not permitted to be on the yard due to health, safety and insurance issues.
Note; Please avoid dropping your daughter to school before the above times especially on
wet/very cold mornings.
Collection at end of school day
Collection times remain unchanged from last year.
Finishing times:
Junior Infants; 12.30pm (for the first 12 school days) 1.45pm from Monday September 18th
Senior Infants; 1.45pm
1st and 2nd class; 2.45pm
3rd, 4th,5th and 6th class; 2.50pm
Collection procedures will be the same as last year. If collecting by car, you may wait in one of the three
lanes in the drop off area. When your child’s class comes out, the teacher or another member of staff will
bring your child to your car. Please remain in your car during collection.
New Car Park
We are delighted that our staff car park is just about finished and ready for use for the new school year.
Please note that this is a staff only car park and is not to be used by parents or people dropping
children off to school. A barrier will be in place in the coming weeks to ensure this is the case. You are
still very welcome to drive into the drop off area that has always been used – please stay in lane to
ensure easy access and exit for all.
New pupils on the first day of school
We are delighted to welcome new pupils in many classes across the school. On the first day of school
we will meet you and your parent(s) at the gate and you will be all shown where to go and where your
class is. You are all very welcome here in Good Counsel and we are delighted to have you.
School Book Scheme
As communicated at the end of the last school year, the Department of Education have provided funding
to all primary schools to buy books for all children. You do not have to buy any books as they will be
provided here. Your daughter is asked to bring her school bag and lunch to school. She is also welcome
to bring a pencil case/pencils/colours etc although she will be provided with them if required.
Photocopying
Although all of the books are provided, you are required to pay for photocopying for your daughter for theschool year. The amounts are below and payment is by cash only please. Your daughter may give this
amount to the class teacher in an envelope with her name on it or it can be given to Tracey our secretary.
Junior and Senior Infants: €30
1st class – 6th class: €25
School Uniform
As ever, the girls are required to wear a full school uniform coming to school every day. The girls may
wear a tracksuit on P.E. day which will be assigned by their class teacher.
A full uniform consists of:
A pinafore/skirt
School shirt
Tie
Jumper
Navy/white socks or tights
Flat black shoes
Junior Infants
We are delighted to welcome our incoming Junior Infant class for the coming year. For the parents,
please remember that school for the incoming Juniors starts at 9.30am for the first day of school. You are
welcome to walk your daughter into the yard/to her class for the first day of school.
The Junior infants will finish at 12.30pm for the first 12 days of school. We will be in touch to remind you
when time changes.
New Staff
We are delighted to welcome three new staff members to our team here in Good Counsel for the coming
year. Ms Alice Hutchinson will take up the position of Senior Infants class teacher and Ms. Aoife White
will be the Special Education Teacher (SET) for the coming year. Mrs. Aine Morrissey will take up the
position of SNA for the coming year also. Best wishes to all in your new posts!
North Quay Traffic
It is great to see such activity along the North Quay. Please bear in mind that with such activity and
progress comes disruption. There will be traffic disruption in Ferrybank and around our school for the
foreseeable future. I will endeavour to update the school community on any information provided to me
regarding such disruption. It is important that you give yourself extra time in the morning and afternoons
and please be patient as delays are expected.
Wishing you all a happy return to school and an enjoyable school year.
Yours sincerely,
J. Nagle
Principal
Wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable summer from Third Class, Mrs Ryan, Ms Fenton and Ms Moore.
Dear Parents, Guardians, Pupils and Friends of the school,
I hope this update finds everyone well and that you are all ready for the summer break. We have had a very busy few weeks as the school year draws to a close. I hope you all received your daughter’s report card in the post and all of the other information that was included. If you didn’t, please give Tracey, our secretary a call and we will get it sorted.
The girls were given the opportunity to meet their new class teacher in their new classroom on Friday for a little while! They were all very excited and I’m sure they will all quickly settle into their new classes in the new school year!
Last Tuesday we welcomed the new junior infants and their parents. We are delighted to have met you all and I hope you are all looking forward to the new school year in late August.
We also bade farewell to the 6th class girls on Friday who had their graduation in school. Many thanks to all parents who attended – we hope you all enjoyed the ceremony which was very entertaining and emotional it must be said! Thank you to Ms. Burke and all of the teachers and staff for their efforts over the years in providing an education to the girls to help them better themselves and to prepare them for secondary school. All the best to the girls both in secondary school and in the future. You all have the world at your feet!
Staff
Congratulations to Ms. Claire Harney who is one of our SET teachers who recently had a baby boy. We hope you are all doing well!
Congratulations also to Ms. Jean Evans, SNA who will be moving schools to St. Senan’s, Kilmacow next year. Although we are very sad to lose you, we wish you the very best in your new school!
Sports Day
Everyone had a great day in school on Thursday last for Sports Day. Thank you to Ms. Shanahan for her efforts in planning the day out so well for all the classes! The girls enjoyed a day full of activities including an Inflatable obstacle course, an inflatable slide and ice pops to cool down on what was a beautiful day!
Please click on the link to see some of the photos taken on the day – Sports Day 2023 (Photos)
Useful information for parents
Summer Stars Reading Adventure – Waterford Libraries recently launched the Summer Stars Reading Adventure. This would be a great way to keep your daughter busy and reading over the summer. Our library here in Ferrybank will be partaking in the initiative.
Please read the letter here – Summer Stars Reading Adventure – Letter to Parents
You will find more information on Summer Stars here – Summer Stars information
Ferrybank AFC – Members of Ferrybank AFC have been in touch with the school and have asked us to pass on a message to parents regarding girls soccer and summer camps. Please click here – Message from Ferrybank AFC
Primary Curriculum – The Department of Education are in the process of making changes to the Primary Curriculum with more changes planned in the future. It is important parents are kept up to date with these changes and relevant information can be found here – Primary Curriculum – Information for parents. Please note that the leaflet on the above link is available in many different languages on the page.
North Quays Newsletter – You can keep up to date with the developments on the North Quay here – North Quays Newsletter (June)
Half Day on Wednesday
A gentle reminder that we get our Summer holidays tomorrow, Wednesday, June 28th:
Junior and Senior Infants @ 12.10pm
1st and 2nd class @ 12.15pm
3rd – 6th class @ 12.20pm
Finally, just a message to you all to wish you the best for the summer holidays. On what has been a busy year for the school in many ways, I would like to thank everyone for the warm welcome I have received since I arrived in late January. We are very lucky to have such a hard working staff who want only the best for every girl that comes through our door. Thank you to the Board of Management and Parents Association for their help and hard work in making our school a better place for everyone. Thanks to all of the parents and thank you to the girls themselves who continue to be a pleasure to work with.
Have a lovely summer and we will see everyone back on Thursday, August 31st.
All the best,
J. Nagle – Principal
Amber Flag
The Wellbeing Warriors made the announcement we have been awarded our Amber Flag renewal today. A huge thank you to the children, staff and committee for their hard work during the year. It goes to show that by working together, we can achieve wonderful things.
Camogie
A huge thank you to Doxer Burns for teaching First -Fourth Class camogie skills over the last few weeks in Ferrybank GAA itch. The girls had a great time and learnt some new skills.
Ms. Shanahan
We have had lots of fun designing and making our ‘Under the Sea’ wall hanging in Art. The girls started with choosing colours to paint hessian. Following that, they cut felt and filled their sea creatures with cushion filler and created nice designs to make them unique and different. To create a 3D feeling, the girls made holes to stick crepe and wool through for the seaweed. They also added their Science experiment fish. Earlier in the year, the girls were learning about mixtures and floating. They learned that oil floats on water and so we used marbling ink which floated on water, mixed these, placed white card flat on top and hey presto – beautiful coloured fish resulted! Thanks to Mr. Nagle, we have displayed our wall hanging in the reception area. Well done girls.
We went on a habitat study and discovered and identified many unusual and common insects and plants in Science. Following their investigations, we did a photostory. I think you’ll learn a lot from what we found out – I know I did!
We also learned about the life cycle of a seed from germination to photosynthesis. The girls took great care to look after their plants and will get to bring them home to look after during the summer. Be sure to send some pictures during the summer on Seesaw. Alongside growing plants, the girls worked really hard during Term 3 to finish their Procedural Genre – How to grow a _____. Each child chose a different plant and I’m sure you’ve enjoyed reading their final product. Super work here in English writing class over the last few months.
Camogie training for the last few weeks has been so much fun. The sun shone for each class and our trainer, John, had fantastic lessons each day. Ferrybank camogie club may have a few new recruits after it!
The highlight from this week was of course, SCHOOL SPORTS DAY. A huge thank you to Mrs. Shanahan for all the organising for this very successful day. It was most enjoyable, as you can see…….
And we’re not finished just yet. We have our school tour to look forward to on Monday.
Best wishes,
Mrs. Power
