Wednesday letter January 8th 2025
WELCOME BACK AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
A very warm welcome back to our school community. I hope you all had a happy and peaceful Christmas. It was great to see our wonderful students bounce in the doors once again. The boys were straight back to work and looking forward to the year ahead!
At assembly this morning, we chose RESPECT as our word for 2025. The boys are encouraged to respect themselves and each other, their teachers, SNAs and parents, their coaches and others that lend a helping hand. They are also asked to respect their property and belongings. We had a thoughtful discussion in many classes and the boys feel a real focus on respect will set them up for success in later life. Parents, if you could discuss the ideas above and encourage respect, it would really help our focus for the new year. Tús maith leath na h-oibre!
PARENT TEACHER MEETINGS
Parent-teacher meetings will begin soon. Teachers will release time and date slots through our Aladdin system this week. When the time slots are available, you can follow the infographic below for tips on how to book your time slot. Please ensure you are signed up to the ALADDIN CONNECT app.
January 29th & 30th school will close @ 2.15pm to facilitate parent teacher meetings. Collection time for 1st-6th class is 2.15pm.
We are really looking forward to welcoming you to the school at the Parent Teacher Meetings. We respectfully ask that you do not bring any children to the school at the time of your meeting. Meetings will last 10 minutes. We hope you enjoy your visit to your child's classroom and the school.
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK
We look forward to celebrating Catholic Schools Week 2025 which will run from Sunday 19th January to Saturday 25th January, 2025. The theme for this year is Christ Is Alive. We will celebrate Grandparents' Day on Wednesday 22nd. Teachers will advise boys on inviting their grandparents to the school that day. We know that grandparents play a vital role in the lives of our pupils. We will serve tea/coffee and refreshments to all grandparents in our staffroom from 9.30-11am. We look forward to meeting you!
I have included a link to resources for parents which are available in Irish and English.
https://catholiceducation.ie/catholic-schools-week-2025-alive-in-christ/
CAPUCHIN DAY CENTRE
Our fabulous Pupils Voice Committee Pictured above) raised the amazing amount of €2,750 in vouchers for the Capuchin Day Centre in our Christmas collection. The vouchers were delivered to the centre before Christmas and will be used to provide much needed food and supplies for homeless families over the winter season. Well done to the whole committee for all their hard work with the collection. They made numerous motivational speeches and called to each class every day to encourage us all to donate to this worthy cause.
Well done boys. We are so proud of you all
PEACE PROMS
Our 3rd class boys are really looking forward to their Peace Proms performance on Saturday, February 1st. We currently have at least 10 families that were not able to purchase tickets due to high demand on the night. If you, or someone you know has purchased tickets that you may no longer need, if you could contact me via info@hollyparkbns.ie, I can put a Hollypark family in touch with you to arrange payment. We would love for all our boys to have at least one parent in attendance on the night.
RTE NEWS2DAY
As part of the launch of the European Dodgeball Championships 2025 which are taking part in Limerick this year (June 26th to 29th), RTE News2Day will be coming into school on Monday to do a feature with Mr.McEvoy's class showcasing the sport. Over 600 athletes from 21 countries will compete in men’s, women’s, and mixed dodgeball events in Limerick, showcasing the sport's vibrant and growing presence across Europe. Mr. McEvoy has been playing/coaching with Irish Dodgeball since 2013 and we are very proud of him.
https://www.dodgeball.ie/events/european-championships-2025
CÓR NA NÓG- LOOKING FOR NEW MEMBERS
UPCOMING EVENTS
I have included some upcoming events from January- June to help in advance of the year ahead. As the weeks go on, I will add future events to the calendar. Any new additions will be included in RED. (January attached here and February- June is attached below)
| January 2025 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Mo | School reopens |
| 7 | Tu | |
| 8 | We | |
| 9 | Th | |
| 10 | Fr | |
| 11 | Sa | |
| 12 | Su | |
| 13 | Mo | |
| 14 | Tu | |
| 15 | We | |
| 16 | Th | |
| 17 | Fr | |
| 18 | Sa | |
| 19 | Su | Catholic Schools' Week |
| 20 | Mo | |
| 21 | Tu | |
| 22 | We | Grandparents' Day |
| 23 | Th | |
| 24 | Fr | |
| 25 | Sa | |
| 26 | Su | |
| 27 | Mo | PT Meetings |
| 28 | Tu | |
| 29 | We | PTM 14.15 close |
| 30 | Th | PTM 14.15 close |
| 31 | Fr | |
This week is a very special week for these great boys: Cian Geraghty, Henry Dillon, Michael Akkerman, Hari Cahill, Maximillian Mc Phillips, Ruairí Brennan, Darragh Geraghty, Oliver Cunniffe, Andrei Geyger, Shane Mc Keown, Cole De Rís, agus Renzo Marino
Have a wonderful celebration boys!
Beir bua agus beannacht,
Principal
8.1.2025
SCHOOL CALENDAR FEBRUARY-JUNE
| February 2025 | March 2025 | April 2025 | May 2025 Testing Month | June 2025 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sa | Peace Proms RDS | 1 | Sa | 1 | Tu | 1 | Th | 1 | Su | ||||
| 2 | Su | 2 | Su | 2 | We | 2 | Fr | 2 | Mo | Bank Hol | ||||
| 3 | Mo | Bank Hol | 3 | Mo | 3 | Th | 3 | Sa | 3 | Tu | ||||
| 4 | Tu | 4 | Tu | 4 | Fr | 4 | Su | 4 | We | |||||
| 5 | We | 5 | We | 5 | Sa | 5 | Mo | 5 | Th | |||||
| 6 | Th | 6 | Th | 6 | Su | 6 | Tu | 6 | Fr | |||||
| 7 | Fr | 7 | Fr | 7 | Mo | 7 | We | 7 | Sa | Confirmation | ||||
| 8 | Sa | 8 | Sa | 8 | Tu | 8 | Th | 8 | Su | |||||
| 9 | Su | 9 | Su | 9 | We | 9 | Fr | 9 | Mo | Conf. Photos 6th | ||||
| 10 | Mo | 10 | Mo | SNAG | 10 | Th | 10 | Sa | 10 | Tu | ||||
| 11 | Tu | 11 | Tu | 11 | Fr | 11 | Su | 11 | We | |||||
| 12 | We | 12 | We | 12 | Sa | 12 | Mo | 12 | Th | Sports Day | ||||
| 13 | Th | 13 | Th | Paráid | 13 | Su | 13 | Tu | 13 | Fr | ||||
| 14 | Fr | 14 | Fr | 14 | Mo | Easter Holidays | 14 | We | 14 | Sa | ||||
| 15 | Sa | 15 | Sa | 15 | Tu | 15 | Th | 15 | Su | |||||
| 16 | Su | 16 | Su | 16 | We | 16 | Fr | 16 | Mo | |||||
| 17 | Mo | 17 | Mo | Bank Hol | 17 | Th | 17 | Sa | First Communion | 17 | Tu | |||
| 18 | Tu | 18 | Tu | 18 | Fr | 18 | Su | First Communion | 18 | We | ||||
| 19 | We | 19 | We | 19 | Sa | 19 | Mo | Communion Photos | 19 | Th | ||||
| 20 | Th | Mid-term | 20 | Th | 20 | Su | Easter | 20 | Tu | 20 | Fr | |||
| 21 | Fr | Mid-term | 21 | Fr | 21 | Mo | Easter Holidays | 21 | We | 21 | Sa | |||
| 22 | Sa | 22 | Sa | 22 | Tu | 22 | Th | 22 | Su | |||||
| 23 | Su | 23 | Su | 23 | We | 23 | Fr | 23 | Mo | |||||
| 24 | Mo | 24 | Mo | 24 | Th | 24 | Sa | 24 | Tu | 6th class Graduation | ||||
| 25 | Tu | 25 | Tu | 25 | Fr | 25 | Su | 25 | We | |||||
| 26 | We | 26 | We | 26 | Sa | 26 | Mo | 26 | Th | |||||
| 27 | Th | 27 | Th | 27 | Su | 27 | Tu | 27 | Fr | Final Day of term | ||||
| 28 | Fr | 28 | Fr | 28 | Mo | Return to School | 28 | We | New Infant story Day 13.45 | 28 | Sa | |||
| 29 | Sa | 29 | Tu | 29 | Th | 29 | Su | |||||||
| 30 | Su | 30 | We | 30 | Fr | 30 | Mo | July Provision | ||||||
| 31 | Mo | 31 | Sa | |||||||||||