Newsletter 26/5/2022
School tour: Our senior infants are off to Newbridge House and Farm on their school tour this Friday 27th May. We hope that all the boys and girls have a wonderful day. Thank you to all our parent volunteers who are coming on the trip to give some extra supervision support. Please ensure that you apply sun cream to your child and that they have an extra drink, as the day will be an active one https://newbridgehouseandfarm.com/
Sport’s Day:We will hold 2 sports days this year. Day 1 will be for 1st/2nd classes and Day 2 will be for junior and senior infants. The reasoning behind this is because of staggered breaktimes. There is such a short window within which we have access to the yard and a full day for all pupils simultaneously would mean very little active engagement for the children. As always, our sport’s day is dependent on weather so the below arrangements are a provisional outline and may change at short notice.
- Sport’s Day 1: 1st/2nd class: Monday 13th June 9:30-2pm
- Sport’s Day 2: Junior/Senior Infants: Thursday 16th June 9:30-1:30pm
All parents are welcome to attend and if you are available to help out please call the office to let us know on 01 6282691 or inform the class teacher. We would be most appreciative.
First Holy Communions Well done to the pupils in Ms. M. Lawlor’s class who made their First Holy Communion on Sunday May 22nd. The children all looked wonderful and were a credit to the school and to their families. I hope that you all had a very special day. Best wishes to Mr. Kelly’s class this Sunday.
Communion/2nd class photos: A reminder to all second-class parents and guardians that the Communion/2nd class photos will take place on June 9th in St. Thomas’ Junior Hall followed by a Communion party and disco in Scoil Áine’s large hall (organised by the Parents’ Association). Please inform the class teacher if your child has any allergies that they are not already aware of. Parents are very welcome to attend the photography session with their child if they wish to ensure that the children are neatly presented for their photos. A timetable and letter with more details willbe circulated next week. Any child who has not made First Holy Communion is of course very welcome to come to school dressed in smart clothes and have their photograph taken too (if parents wish) and all children will partake in the celebrations. Thank you to the parents who completed the PA survey and all feedback has been relayed to County Photos.
Communion Dates
Mr. Kelly’s Class-Sunday 29th May @10:30am
Ms. Nolan/Ms. D. Lawlor’s Class-Sunday 5th June@ 10:30am
Upcoming closures and holidays: The school is closed for the bank holiday weekend in June (6th and 7th). The summer holidays begin on June 29th @ 12pm. Next year’s calendar is available to view on www.stthomasjns.com if you wish to plan ahead.
Familiarisation Week for Junior Infants. Meet Your Teacher Day 😊
Room 1: 2pm June 20th
Room 2: 2pm June 21st
Room 3: 2pm June 22nd
Room 4: 2pm June 23rd
Room 5: 2pm June 24th
Booklists/school fees lists-were emailed out last week for the ‘22/’23 school year. If you did not receive it, please contact Maureen in the office on 01 6282691 to ensure that she has the correct email for you. Please also check your spam folder in the first instance. Booklists will be placed on our website for future reference also.
Change of details: If you have changed address, phone number or email recently, it is essential that you inform the school via the office info@stthomasjns.com or on 01-6282691. Updated details are needed in order to ensure smooth communication.
Is your child moving to another school during the summer months? If so please contact the school as soon as possible so that we can offer the place to a child on our waitlist.
Outstanding School fees ‘21/’22: if you have outstanding school fees from the 2021/2022 school year please finalise the payment with Maureen at the office (cash/card) or via the class teacher. We rely on parental support as we do not receive funding from the Department to cover the cost of copies, pencils, crayons, art materials, photocopying, interactive resources and much more. All of these resources are essential to ensure that your child receives a rich learning experience during their time in our school. If you are having difficulty completing the payment please contact the school office on 01-6282691.
Standardised testing: Testing is currently taking place for our 1st and 2nd classes and your children may have mentioned this to you. As always, we try to reduce any pressure on our pupils who are still very young and would strongly encourage our parents not to discuss these tests with the children as it often causes unnecessary anxiety. Such tests are only one measure of how a child is progressing in reading, spelling and maths and results are often dependent on how a child presents on the given day, so please do not place any undue over emphasis on results.
There are many other useful and informative methods of assessment (combined with standardised test of course) that a teacher uses and which give a more accurate picture of how your child is progressing socially, emotionally and academically. These include teacher observations and checklists, teacher led tasks and assignments, weekly tests and tests throughout the year, portfolios etc. Your child’s class teacher is the best judge of how your child is doing and not an isolated test.
Lucan Sarsfield’s GAA: who are always so good in supporting us here in St. Thomas, have asked us to make you aware of two camps that they are running during the summer months. One is via the Irish medium where the children can brush up on their Gaeilge and the second is a sport’s camp. Please click here for more details here
Camp Esker: St. Thomas’ JNS Camp Esker runs from Monday 4th July-Friday 8th July 2022 from 9:30am-2:30pm. Registration takes place on Saturday 11th of June from 10am inside the front door of St. Thomas’ JNS. If you are unable to attend please send an email to campesker@gmail.com Priority will be given to the pupils of St. Thomas.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend.
Ms. Murray
Acting Principal