Dear Parents,
A warm welcome back to the 2024/25 school year and a special welcome to our new families. I hope you and your family had a very enjoyable and relaxing summer break.
It has been a busy summer in the school. Maintenance work has continued during the holidays. The school looks well as it undergoes landscaping at the flagpole area and around the walls. Steps have been inserted at the slide area there. The plants have been chosen for biodiversity. It will be completed in the next few days.
New solar panels have been installed on the flat roof beside the sensory garden. A TV panel has been placed on the wall of the school corridor inside which allows the children to see how much electricity is being created by them daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. It will also show the children the time of day which is most effective for creating electricity and how much saving they give us in euros and from CO2 emissions.
New marmoleum floors were replaced in the main office and toilet/photocopier area.
A deep clean of the whole internal school building including shelving, presses, floors windows and toilets took place. Any discarded and broken material in the shed/school were removed by skip. The wifi system was upgraded in all the classrooms. The two main doors at the front of the school including the office door and access to Room 1 door are in progress and will be replaced in the next few weeks.
The pathway leading from the church gate to the basketball court has been dug up and resurfaced with new tarmac. There were many dead tree roots under the old cracked surface causing a trip hazard. The fence on this pathway has been changed to the more durable chain link from the worn timber post and rail. All our lawn areas have been freshly cut in preparation for many little feet. Many thanks to the volunteers who cleaned outdoors, power washed, cut grass and did a general tidy of all areas last week. Unfortunately, we have no caretaker and no money allocated by the department towards one so the school is very grateful for this help.
I am delighted to inform you that our school has successfully secured funding from the Department of Social Protection, School Meals Scheme. This will provide a hot lunch free of charge to all our children. This is expected to start by mid-October when all relevant procedures are completed. More information will follow on this shortly.
September is off to a great start with added classes to look forward to. David Day will provide weekly drumming classes (Jabba Jabba Jembe Percussion Workshops) and Cycle Ireland will provide weekly workshops in bike skills for all classes for the month. Ms Leslie Dowdall from Music Generation will be returning for the whole school year.
All our staff will be receiving refresher training on First Aid early this week and we look forward to seeing the children back on Wednesday and to a great year ahead in Brittas Bay.
Kindest Regards,
Úna Gallinagh
Principal