Clonmoney NS Parent Association – Annual Report 2014/2015
As another school year has come to an end, I would like to take this opportunity to detail some of the activities and events the Parent Association have been involved in over the previous 9 months.
Our first meeting of the new school year took place on Tuesday October 21st 2014 and a new committee was formed.
The 2014/2015 committee is as follows:
1. Brendan Ryan - Chairperson
2. Niamh Hogan - Secretary
3. Gia Spellacy – Treasurer
4. David McCormack – School Principal
5. Marion Crimmins - Teaching Staff
6. Padraig Delaney – Committee Member
7. Lorraine McInerney - Committee Member
8. Denise Murphy - Committee Member
9. Collette Barker - Committee Member
10. Bridget Walshe - Committee Member
11. Eimear Dillon - Committee Member
12. Antoinette Earley - Committee Member
In total we had 9 official meetings during the year with many other individual gatherings and communications between the committee members to plan and confirm details for the various events and activities organised throughout the school year.
As chairperson of the Parent Association, I want to pay a huge tribute to each and every one of the very hard working committee members for their commitment, dedication and interest shown for each of the events during the year – a huge amount of work goes on in the background in an effort to try and improve the school experience for all and each and every one of the events were organised and carried out smoothly and effortlessly.
The Parent Association committee would also like to say a very big ‘thank you’ to Mr McCormack, all the teaching staff, and Yvonne in the office for all their support throughout the year. On behalf of all parents, I would like to thank them for looking after our children and making their school days both educational and enjoyable. We are extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated and supportive team taking care of our children.
To all the parents, guardian and pupils who helped in any way with any of our activities, my thanks to all of you.
To the boys and girls of 6th class, it was a pleasure to share all your achievements and fond memories of primary school and we wish you all the best in your exciting new journey.
Starting back in October 2014, the first event was the bi-annual ‘Cash for Clobber’ collection. We run this event around Halloween and again around Easter time. These two events prove to be a great success and provide some financial income for the school. The Cash for Clobber works on a weight system so the more bags we fill the greater the income to the school. Please remember that this event will occur again in the new school year and if possible please store your unwanted recyclable items until this event. Each event will raise approximately €500 in income for the school.
For our Christmas fundraising initiative, in conjunction with the school and Board of Management, we asked families to help sell raffle tickets in order to raise enough money to purchase and upgrade the school laptops which have since proved to be a huge addition and benefit to all who use them. The profit from the raffle was in the region of €3000 so this was a brilliant return. The money raised has allowed our school to replace the batteries in our 8 existing pupil laptops as well as purchasing 8 new pupil laptops which arrived on Wednesday January 28th 2015. Thanks to all those who supported this raffle and thanks also to the local businesses and parents who donated some spot prizes. We did receive some feedback in relation to the ticket sale and this will be noted for future events.
One of the events in planning for next Christmas will be a carol service at the Well’s Church – the date will be confirmed early in the new school term.
Early in the New Year a Care Credit scheme was launched in the school, this is a really fantastic program which follows best practice as outlined and advocated by the new D.E.S. guidelines of 2013 on Anti-Bullying. The Parent Association were delighted to be able to help provide some ‘goodies’ for all the pupils to mark the official launch day.
On Pancake Tuesday February 17th 2015, the Parent Association organised, cooked and sold pancakes, the children thoroughly enjoyed these and the income was in the region of €180. Thanks to all who supported and those who cooked on the day.
As you may be aware the outside drinking water tap had become problematic and the pupils were using the drinking water tap in the staff room which was not ideal. The Parent Association were able to provide approximately €400 to install a new fountain which sees regular queues during the busy break times.
In the run up to the Easter holiday period the children were asked to design and create an ‘Easter Bonnet’. There was some wonderfully imaginative bonnets created and the children proudly displayed their creations in a school parade. The Parent Association where delighted to be able to help out with this activity and provided Easter Eggs as prizes for each class. The total spend for this activity was approximately €50.
Clonmoney NS First Holy Communion day was celebrated on Saturday April 25th 2015. This was a wonderful occasion for the pupils of 2nd class and their families. To help with this occasion the Parent Association provided refreshments in the school after the church service had concluded – the total cost here came to just over €100.
On the afternoon of Thursday May 21st 2015, the Parent Association held a very successful second handbook sale. This was a really enjoyable event and raised just over €500 for the Parent Association. Special thanks to the committee members for the huge effort undertaken to collect, categorise and price the books, set-up the book sale area, coordinate the sale on the day and also publicise the event. Many thanks also to all the parents, guardians and pupils who donated and purchased the books to make this event so successful.
In early April, the Parent Association committee submitted an application form to request involvement in the Tesco Community Fund in the Coonagh Roundabout store in Limerick. Our application was successful and for a 6 week period in April and May we were one of three chosen charities to benefit from the €1000 charity split. Our thanks to all our shoppers who added their ‘blue’ goodwill token to the Clonmoney NS tube. Our thanks also to the management of the Tesco Coonagh Roundabout store. At the time of writing we are still waiting for the proceeds from this activity.
Friday June 19th 2015 was the School’s annual sports day and BBQ - the Parent Association wish to thank Mr. McCormack and the teaching staff for organising and coordinating the sports day events - special thanks to our committee members and the school staff for the effort undertaken to organise and run the BBQ and refreshments. Our sincere thanks also to the ‘chef’s’ on the day who cooked and served some delicious food and for the use of their BBQ equipment – this was very much appreciated by all.
Currently during the holiday period we are working on two activities, firstly the covering of the schools rental books in preparation for the new school year – many thanks to the parents who have helped out with this activity – we may organise a second night – details will be posted on the Parent Association Facebook page once confirmed.
The second activity we are helping out with is the school ‘Summer Clean’ program. Our first morning’s work was Saturday June 27th – a very special thanks to the volunteers who turned out to help with scrubbing, cleaning, painting, cutting, trimming, digging and power washing. Special thanks to Colin Walshe for the use of his machinery to clear out the area in front of the pre-school prefab – in time we hope to be able to add an additional play area in this location.
Over the summer holiday period, we are also planning to make some small improvements to the Junior and Senior’s small yard – this will most likely be in the form of some new art on the playing surface.
At the end of the school year, any excess funds collected by the Parent Association are presented to the school Board of Management – this year the funds will be used to part finance some upgrades to some of the classroom interactive whiteboards. We are delighted to be able to help support this hugely beneficial and important improvement.
Though impossible to thank everyone individually I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has supported us in any way during the year, and we look forward to your continued support in the future.
Finally, our first meeting of the new school term will be Wednesday September 9th at 8pm – new members more than welcome
Wishing everyone a happy, enjoyable and restful summer holiday.
Brendan Ryan– Chairperson Clonmoney NS Parent Association
Our first meeting of the new school year took place on Tuesday October 21st 2014 and a new committee was formed.
The 2014/2015 committee is as follows:
1. Brendan Ryan - Chairperson
2. Niamh Hogan - Secretary
3. Gia Spellacy – Treasurer
4. David McCormack – School Principal
5. Marion Crimmins - Teaching Staff
6. Padraig Delaney – Committee Member
7. Lorraine McInerney - Committee Member
8. Denise Murphy - Committee Member
9. Collette Barker - Committee Member
10. Bridget Walshe - Committee Member
11. Eimear Dillon - Committee Member
12. Antoinette Earley - Committee Member
In total we had 9 official meetings during the year with many other individual gatherings and communications between the committee members to plan and confirm details for the various events and activities organised throughout the school year.
As chairperson of the Parent Association, I want to pay a huge tribute to each and every one of the very hard working committee members for their commitment, dedication and interest shown for each of the events during the year – a huge amount of work goes on in the background in an effort to try and improve the school experience for all and each and every one of the events were organised and carried out smoothly and effortlessly.
The Parent Association committee would also like to say a very big ‘thank you’ to Mr McCormack, all the teaching staff, and Yvonne in the office for all their support throughout the year. On behalf of all parents, I would like to thank them for looking after our children and making their school days both educational and enjoyable. We are extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated and supportive team taking care of our children.
To all the parents, guardian and pupils who helped in any way with any of our activities, my thanks to all of you.
To the boys and girls of 6th class, it was a pleasure to share all your achievements and fond memories of primary school and we wish you all the best in your exciting new journey.
Starting back in October 2014, the first event was the bi-annual ‘Cash for Clobber’ collection. We run this event around Halloween and again around Easter time. These two events prove to be a great success and provide some financial income for the school. The Cash for Clobber works on a weight system so the more bags we fill the greater the income to the school. Please remember that this event will occur again in the new school year and if possible please store your unwanted recyclable items until this event. Each event will raise approximately €500 in income for the school.
For our Christmas fundraising initiative, in conjunction with the school and Board of Management, we asked families to help sell raffle tickets in order to raise enough money to purchase and upgrade the school laptops which have since proved to be a huge addition and benefit to all who use them. The profit from the raffle was in the region of €3000 so this was a brilliant return. The money raised has allowed our school to replace the batteries in our 8 existing pupil laptops as well as purchasing 8 new pupil laptops which arrived on Wednesday January 28th 2015. Thanks to all those who supported this raffle and thanks also to the local businesses and parents who donated some spot prizes. We did receive some feedback in relation to the ticket sale and this will be noted for future events.
One of the events in planning for next Christmas will be a carol service at the Well’s Church – the date will be confirmed early in the new school term.
Early in the New Year a Care Credit scheme was launched in the school, this is a really fantastic program which follows best practice as outlined and advocated by the new D.E.S. guidelines of 2013 on Anti-Bullying. The Parent Association were delighted to be able to help provide some ‘goodies’ for all the pupils to mark the official launch day.
On Pancake Tuesday February 17th 2015, the Parent Association organised, cooked and sold pancakes, the children thoroughly enjoyed these and the income was in the region of €180. Thanks to all who supported and those who cooked on the day.
As you may be aware the outside drinking water tap had become problematic and the pupils were using the drinking water tap in the staff room which was not ideal. The Parent Association were able to provide approximately €400 to install a new fountain which sees regular queues during the busy break times.
In the run up to the Easter holiday period the children were asked to design and create an ‘Easter Bonnet’. There was some wonderfully imaginative bonnets created and the children proudly displayed their creations in a school parade. The Parent Association where delighted to be able to help out with this activity and provided Easter Eggs as prizes for each class. The total spend for this activity was approximately €50.
Clonmoney NS First Holy Communion day was celebrated on Saturday April 25th 2015. This was a wonderful occasion for the pupils of 2nd class and their families. To help with this occasion the Parent Association provided refreshments in the school after the church service had concluded – the total cost here came to just over €100.
On the afternoon of Thursday May 21st 2015, the Parent Association held a very successful second handbook sale. This was a really enjoyable event and raised just over €500 for the Parent Association. Special thanks to the committee members for the huge effort undertaken to collect, categorise and price the books, set-up the book sale area, coordinate the sale on the day and also publicise the event. Many thanks also to all the parents, guardians and pupils who donated and purchased the books to make this event so successful.
In early April, the Parent Association committee submitted an application form to request involvement in the Tesco Community Fund in the Coonagh Roundabout store in Limerick. Our application was successful and for a 6 week period in April and May we were one of three chosen charities to benefit from the €1000 charity split. Our thanks to all our shoppers who added their ‘blue’ goodwill token to the Clonmoney NS tube. Our thanks also to the management of the Tesco Coonagh Roundabout store. At the time of writing we are still waiting for the proceeds from this activity.
Friday June 19th 2015 was the School’s annual sports day and BBQ - the Parent Association wish to thank Mr. McCormack and the teaching staff for organising and coordinating the sports day events - special thanks to our committee members and the school staff for the effort undertaken to organise and run the BBQ and refreshments. Our sincere thanks also to the ‘chef’s’ on the day who cooked and served some delicious food and for the use of their BBQ equipment – this was very much appreciated by all.
Currently during the holiday period we are working on two activities, firstly the covering of the schools rental books in preparation for the new school year – many thanks to the parents who have helped out with this activity – we may organise a second night – details will be posted on the Parent Association Facebook page once confirmed.
The second activity we are helping out with is the school ‘Summer Clean’ program. Our first morning’s work was Saturday June 27th – a very special thanks to the volunteers who turned out to help with scrubbing, cleaning, painting, cutting, trimming, digging and power washing. Special thanks to Colin Walshe for the use of his machinery to clear out the area in front of the pre-school prefab – in time we hope to be able to add an additional play area in this location.
Over the summer holiday period, we are also planning to make some small improvements to the Junior and Senior’s small yard – this will most likely be in the form of some new art on the playing surface.
At the end of the school year, any excess funds collected by the Parent Association are presented to the school Board of Management – this year the funds will be used to part finance some upgrades to some of the classroom interactive whiteboards. We are delighted to be able to help support this hugely beneficial and important improvement.
Though impossible to thank everyone individually I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has supported us in any way during the year, and we look forward to your continued support in the future.
Finally, our first meeting of the new school term will be Wednesday September 9th at 8pm – new members more than welcome
Wishing everyone a happy, enjoyable and restful summer holiday.
Brendan Ryan– Chairperson Clonmoney NS Parent Association
