School Letters

Scoil Bhríghde Naofa,
Northampton,
Kinvara,
Co.Galway.

25th October, 2011

Dear Parent(s) / Guardian(s),

Please note that there are tickets available at the school for the concert below at a cost of €10 (€15 on door that night). The evening is in aid of the local foundation “It could be you” and promises to be great fun while helping causes close to our hearts.

Northampton N.S. Parents Association will hold a coffee afternoon and children’s party (posters in circulation soon) on Saturday, November 12th from
2 – 4 p.m. in aid of the “It could be you” foundation also. More details to follow – please support.

Kind Regards,

_________________
Shane McDonagh

S.N. Bhríghde Naofa

14th September, 2010

Please note the following calendar dates for

2010-2011

September

Staff Meeting – Tuesday, 28th September

(All children will finish at 1.40 p.m.)

October

Mid – Term –

School Closing on Friday, 22nd October

Returning on Monday, 01st November

November

Staff Meeting – Tuesday, 16th November

(All children will finish at 1.40 p.m.)

December

Planning Day – School Closed on the 8th December

Christmas Holidays –`

School Closing on Wednesday, 22rd December

Returning on Monday, 10th Jan

January

Staff Meeting – Tuesday, 18th January

(All children will finish at 1.40 p.m.

February Mid-Term –

School Closed for the following two days –

Thursday, 24th February

Friday, 25th February

March

Staff Meeting – Tuesday, 29th March

(All children will finish at 1.40 p.m.)

April

School Closing on Friday, 15th April

Returning on Monday, 02nd May

May

Bank Holiday – Monday, 2nd May (School Closed)

Staff Meeting – Tuesday, 17th May

(All children will finish at 1.40 p.m.)

June

Bank Holiday – Monday, 6th June (School Closed)

Please note that for the Staff Meeting days, all children will finish at 1.40 p.m.

Scoil Bhríghde Naofa,

Northampton,

Kinvara,

Co. Galway.

(091) 637519

30th August, 2010

Dear Parents / Guardians,

Welcome back everyone. Just a few pointers about the traffic management facility.

• Left lane ‘Set Down’ is for stopping the car when the parent may need to get out of the car briefly also.

• Right lane ‘Drop Off’ is for dropping the children and ideally moving through to the exit without delay.

• Drivers are encouraged to use the Drop Off and Set Down facilities and only resort to other drop off options when the facility is at full capacity.

• The only way to exit the ‘Set Down’ lane is via the ‘Drop Off’ lane. Under no circumstances should cars cross the left hand white line into the playground.

• For the moment, children will not congregate in the playground in the morning as used to be the case. Children should exit the car and go straight to the appropriate classroom.

• In the evening for pick up, children will congregate in the shelter and will not leave until they are guided to the car collecting them.

• Gates will open at 8.50 a.m. and close at 9.05 a.m. They will open again for Pre-school at 12.20 p.m. and close at 12.35 p.m. National School lunch time moves to 12.40 p.m. Gates will open at 1.30 p.m. for Infants pick up and close at 1.45 p.m. Gates will open at 2.30 p.m. for senior school pick up and close at 2.45 p.m.

• For pick up or drop off outside of school time, please use the car parking spaces marked at the front of the school and enter through the turnstile.

• Please do not park or turn on the opposite side of the road from the school as this presents a variety of hazards.

• Please do not park between the entrance and exit on the roadside as this blocks a line of sight.

• Thanks to your care and patience on the first morning, things went better than expected. Thanks to all those who chose to walk or cycle or park n’stride. The system is not a ‘cure-all’ but with your continued efforts, it will certainly be a lot safer than before.

Yours in appreciation of your continued support.

………………………

Shane McDonagh

Dear Parents / Guardians,

Some Points for your attention –

• On this Thursday, March 11th, we will hold a bicycle awareness day. Children from 1st – 6th classes are invited to bring in their bicycles. Firstly, they will be shown how to do some safety checks on their bike before being shown on a sample bike how to go about doing some basic repairs. Later, they can take part in a cycling obstacle course on the school grounds. 5th and 6th class children may then go for a short cycle on the road (up the Northampton House road) to further explore road safety etc., Please write consent message in the homework notebook for your child to take part in above road cycle (5th & 6th Class only).

• The school was officially presented with the 4th Green Flag in a ceremony in Galway last Wednesday. We intend to hold a celebration day after Easter to raise the new flag and officially open the new school garden and the bicycle shelter. Once again, many thanks to all for the time and effort put into these projects.

• We would like to congratulate those children who made their first confession last Sunday. We were very well represented at St. Coleman’s Church, so well done to you all agus Rath Dé oraibh.

• The Annual Cake Sale in aid of Bóthar will take place at the school on Wednesday, March 24th at 12.45 p.m. All contributions to the event are welcome. Carmel Bermingham is the organiser on 087-9280093.

• Next Saturday, the gardening group will meet again at 10.30 a.m. to continue the development of the garden. It is looking fantastic. If you haven’t seen it, pop around and take a look. If anyone has any plants, fruit trees or shrubs to spare that are suitable for the garden please contact the school or any gardening group member. A meeting will take place on the 23rd of March at 7.30 p.m. to organise planting and maintenance groups to include parents, pupils and teachers. Your support for this meeting is hugely important to the long term success of the garden. All are welcome.

Thanking you,

Kind Regards,

…………………………
Shane McDonagh

Dear Parents,

Next Wednesday, Northampton N.S. will be presented with its fourth green flag. It is a proud day for the school and it gives us the opportunity once again to thank those parents who were able to give so much time and energy to ensure the success of the project.

We would like to thank those who attended the green school meetings and gave their time on all those Fridays to marshal the walking bus. Particular credit is due to Joe Keane and Tommy Ivers for leading up the marshalling teams from their respective directions. Thanks also to Joe and the Keane family for allowing their farmyard to be used as a carpark and to Morgan and Irene Doyle and their neighbours for allowing us to use their road frontage as a base.

Again, we gratefully appreciated John Burke (Londis) for sponsoring the cycle training module of the programme. We only asked him to finance a percentage of it but when he heard what it was for, John was happy to sponsor the lot. Thanks also to Safety Direct for sponsoring the high vis jackets and to the ‘Connaught Tribune’ and Galway Bay FM for highlighting our event.

Finally, congratulations and well done to the children of Northampton N.S. They showed great self-control and discipline on the walking bus and as always, were eager participants in the green schools project as a whole. The provider of the cycling training could not get over the great manners and excellent behaviour they exhibited in his classes along with a healthy energy and enthusiasm to learn. Many thanks to you also John, for your contribution to the project.

We plan to have some more events to do with the cycling end of the project between now and summer within the school grounds. Details to follow.

Kind Regards,

………………………
Shane McDonagh

An Roinn Talmhaíochta lascaigh agus Bia Baile Atha Cliath 2

Office of the Minister for State,

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food,

Dublin 2.

TREVOR SARGENT T.D.

Minister for Food & Horticulture

Please respond to Constituency Office Our Ref: ts/pe

The Principal

St Brighde Naofa Northampton Kinvara

Co Galway

I was delighted to meet the pupils and teachers of St Brighde Naofa on Thursday 25th June 2009 in UCD for the presentation of the Incredible Edibles Awards. I am sure that all involved with the school are rightly very proud of this achievement given that over 2,200 schools would have loved to be in the position you are in as award winners. I hope you will continue to develop the growing of food.

TREVOR SARGE T.D.

Minister for Food and Horticulture

Scoil Brighde Naofa

Northampton

091 637519

11th September, 2009

Dear Parent(s) / Guardian(s),

As part of our project to achieve our 4th Green Flag at Northampton N.S. we will continue this term with the walking bus over a block of 5 Fridays.

For new parents this means that your child has the option of taking part in the walking bus at 2.40 (i.e. the time school finishes for 1st – 6th classes). For Junior and Senior Infants wishing to take part for the 5 weeks the after school service, in support of the project, are offering a special rate of €15 in total. Participating infant children will be escorted each Friday from their classroom to the after school where they will be cared for until it is time to take part in the walking bus.

On these days parents park their cars at a point just less than a kilometre from the school and walk down to help marshal the walking bus back to the cars, therefore reducing the Co2 going into the environment (by roughly 14 balloonfulls per car).

Parents should be at the school to help marshal the group by 2.30 p.m. Two leaders are appointed to provide further information. These are for the Gort side of the school Joe Keane (087 6135492) and for the Kinvara side Tommy Ivers (087 7972295).

Parents of children in the Infant classroom are expected to be able to provide a parent or guardian to marshal the walk on at least two of the five Fridays in order for your child to take part. Please fill out the days that you will be available on the attached form and kindly return to the school by Tuesday next. While we are mindful of the pressure this puts on families, safety is at a premium with this activity.

Please fill the attached form if you would like your child to take part. If there is a day when due to unforeseen circumstances the walking bus cannot go ahead, parents will be informed by text by lunchtime and the registered Junior Infant children can still use the after school service as planned.

Children who took part in last years walking bus should be able to dig out their reflective vests. We will have vests available free of charge for new participants. Co-ordinators have kindly offered to be available for contact for other specifics or you are welcome to contact the school.

The Gort side walking bus should depart the school shortly after 2.30 p.m. with the Kinvara side following at 2.35 p.m. Children not taking part in the walking bus (and of course it is completely voluntary) may be collected as usual at 2.40 p.m.

Thanking you in advance of your continued support of our Green School Project.

Is mise le meas,

………………………

Shane McDonagh

Northampton National School

04th September, 2009

Dear Parent(s) / Guardian(s),

Thank God we are all settled back down to the routine again and we can start thinking of the finer details of the term. Welcome back to you all.

• Please find attached the forms for your child’s school Insurance. We generally go for the €8 option per child. This should be returned during next week if at all possible please.

• This term we intend to do a six week block of walking bus days. (starting next Friday at 2.30 p.m.) This was done with great success last term but more parental involvement is required to make this block work and secure our Green Flag. There will be a meeting to inform new parents on the initiative and even more importantly to try to involve some more parents to take part in supervising it. Maybe one might only be able to take part one Friday in the six weeks but at least it will be a slot covered and a chance for individuals to participate in the Greens Schools Programme. Meeting Tuesday, 8th September at 8 p.m. Please attend.

• School Milk forms will be given out next week as soon as they arrive from Arrabawn.

• The children are between home and school well versed in the idea of keeping their hands clean, disposing of tissues and other guidelines to prevent the spread of Swine flu. Please note that there is as hand sanitizer for parents in the hall just before the double doors on the way into the main school hall. Guidelines from the H.S.E. advise to keep children at home if there are any suspected systems of Swine flu. We appreciate your continued support in these matters.

• We are all looking forward to the Welcome Barbeque and hope to see you are there on the 19th of September from 2 – 6 p.m.

• Rain Gear ordered some time ago now will arrive on Monday after a slight mix up with the providers. I hope it hasn’t inconvenienced you too much. It’s not as if we’ve had much rain since. Apologies for the delay and if there are any size issues resulting, we will resolve them promptly.

• We will issue a school calendar next week but two dates in the first couple of months are –

Staff Meeting – September 29th - School will close at 1 p.m. for all on that day.

October break – will begin on Friday, 23rd October for one week.

Kind Regards,

…………………………

Shane McDonagh

Click links below for Swine Flu Information.