School Calendar 2018-2019
Dear Mams, Dads, Pupils and Staff,
The calendar for the 2018-2019 school year has been agreed with St. Mary’s BNS. We publish the calendar at this time so that you can plan family time around school time. Remember – every school day counts!
Term 1 begins Monday 3rd September 2018
Hallowe’en Break Closed Monday 29th October – Friday 2nd November inclusive
School re-opens Monday 5th November
Christmas Closed Monday 24th December to Friday 4th January 2019 inclusive
Term 2 begins Monday 7th January 2019
Mid-Term Break Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd February
St. Patrick’s Day Closed Monday 18th March (Public Holiday)
Easter Break Closed Monday 15th April to Friday 26th April inclusive
Term 3 begins Monday 29th April
May Bank Holiday Closed Monday 6th May
June Bank Holiday Closed Friday 31st May to Tuesday 4th June inclusive.
Reopening Wednesday 5th June
School year ends on Friday 28th June 2019
Yours sincerely,
_______________________
C. O’Reilly – Principal
First Holy Communion
We would like to express our thanks to all of you and to your families for your co-operation in ensuring that the First Communion ceremony on Saturday 12th May was such a pleasant and enjoyable experience for everyone.
As always the girls and boys did themselves and their families proud. We congratulate each and every one of them and we hope that you all had a wonderful day.
School Tours
The girls and their teachers are looking forward to their school tours which will be taking place over the next few weeks. If you haven’t already done so, please forward the money for the tour to your child’s teacher on/before the tour date.
29th May Third and Fourth Classes Castlecomer Discovery Park
11th June Fifth and Sixth Classes Castlecomer Discovery Park and Dunmore Cave
14th June Second Class Woodfield House
15th June Junior and Senior Infs. Copper Coast Farm
21st June First Class Ardmore Open Farm
St. Dominic’s Credit Union
The Credit Union will visit the school next Wednesday so get those piggy banks ready girls.
Chick News
Brian, from Nore Valley Farm will come to the school today to ‘candle’ the seven eggs in the incubator. This means that he will check to see if a chick is growing in each egg. Brian will use a bright light for the candling process. Before electric light and torches were invented, people used lighted candles to check the eggs and this is where the term ‘candling’ comes from. We look forward to finding out how many of the eggs have chicks growing in them.
Next week, we will have a draw to name the chicks. We are looking after the eggs very carefully. We have to make sure that they are kept at 37.5° Celsius, that the air in the incubator is humid enough for the eggs and that they are turning over in the incubator.
When the chicks hatch out, we will take them out of the incubator and put them in a brood box.
A Journalist in the Making?
Congratulations to Annabelle (6th Class) who wrote a wonderful piece in response to an article published in the Sunday Independent on April 29th. You can read Annabelle’s piece on the Active School Committee section of our website www.goodcounselgns.com
Congratulations
We wish a very happy day to our caretaker Mark, who will celebrate a special birthday in the coming weeks.
Reminder
The school is closed tomorrow because it will be used as a Polling Station for the Referendum.
Next week, the school will be closed on Thursday 31st May, Friday 1st June and on Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th June. We will re-open on Wednesday 6th June.
Date for Your Diary
Weather permitting, we will have our annual Dancing Display on Tuesday 12th June. We will send you a timetable in advance.
GDPR
No doubt you will have heard lots of news stories about GDPR – the General Data Protection Regulation – which comes into effect tomorrow, May 25th. This is a piece of European legislation and it is to do with every person’s rights and responsibilities around data protection. The Board of Management has updated its Data Protection Policy and it will shortly be published on the school’s website.
Book Rental
We run a Book Rental scheme for all the girls from First Class to Sixth Class. The girls have received the information and a Book Rental contract. If your child is taking part in the Book rental scheme for September 2018, please return the contract and money to the school on/before June 15th. Unfortunately, this year, we will not be able to order books for your child until the Book Rental money has been paid to the school. Please feel free to pay the Book Rental fee in smaller amounts between now and June 15th.
