Storm Debi

A huge thank you to you, the parents & boys, and the staff for the enormous effort in making sure everyone's safe arrival at school on Monday morning. In events like that, your safety and the safety of the whole school community is paramount. It is vitally important that all parents and guardians are receiving the correct method of communication, emails and/or texts via our Aladdin system. If you did not receive this communication during Sunday evening and Monday morning, you need to inform the school office immediately and we will get you set up on Aladdin properly. Please ensure, you have verified your phone number on the Aladdin App also, this is often overlooked but is very important.

Click here for Aladdin FAQs
https://www.aladdin.ie/content/faq?cat=About%20Aladdin%20and%20Aladdin%…

 

STAFF INSERVICE, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH. 

A reminder, school will close at 12 p.m. on Friday, November 17th to allow for staff in-service. Please advise minders, grandparents, creche and after- school facilities. 

HOLLYPARK TOUR

Last Wednesday, we had a fabulous evening in Hollypark. Parents and guardians were invited on a tour of the school, accessing all classrooms, viewing the sensory room, movement room, school library and more. Parents/guardians got to see our state of the art resources and equipment while also getting a feel of the atmosphere, the work ethic, and the ethos of Hollypark boys and staff. Each day, our staff, teachers & SNAs put in a huge amount of effort into planning, teaching, learning and assessment. They often go beyond the call of duty to ensure that every child is reaching their full potential. I could not be more proud of the team in Hollypark. They are truly a pleasure to lead. 

We take immense pride in the school building and its surrounds. Part of our Board of Management budget each year is devoted to enhancing the look and feel of a building that is 55 years old. You certainly could not tell it is that old. Thanks to our amazing caretaker, Jeff Jones and his predecessor, Garrett Maguire, the building is in remarkable condition. We have created a warm, caring, pleasant place to work and be educated. Thanks to your continued generosity, we have the resources, equipment and environment that make teaching in Hollypark a pleasure.  

For those of you that could not attend last week, I have added a virtual tour of the school to our website. Click the link below for full access to the school building. That you to parents, Nicholas Polley & Elsa Jones, and their company 3D Design Bureau, for creating the virtual tour.  

https://hollyparkbns.ie/virtual-tour

BOOK FAIR 2023

We are delighted to announce that our annual Scholastic Book Fair is back this week. The Book Fair has moved from March to this new slot to allow for some welcome Christmas purchases for family and friends. It also coincides with the reopening of our main school library after a revamp.

The Book Fair will be open from:

Monday November 13^th-Friday November 17th.

Times:  Open daily from 8:30-9:15a.m. and 1:30 p.m.-3:00p.m.

Thursday Evening from 6:30 -8:00 pm.

The book fair will close on Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. as the school will close for a staff training half day for PLC.

The commission we receive from the fair will go back into books for your son’s class library and our school library. For every euro spent we will receive 60c back in books for our school. We will also purchase new sets of class novels.

This event is always popular with pupils and families. Our 5^th & 6^th class buddies will enjoy sharing a reading session with their Junior and Senior Infant buddies in the hall. All classes will have an opportunity to visit the fair during the week. It is another opportunity to welcome families back into our school hall once more.

A huge thank you to our Library Team of parents and our PA who will be working at the book fair all week. Payment can be made by cash or card.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Annette Lynch (Deputy Principal)

MANNERS, COURTESY & RESPECT 

It is wonderful to see our corridors fill up with art pieces, creations and projects once more. The boys are working extremely hard academically while also remembering their wonderful Hollypark manners. We remind boys to continue making a great effort to use respect and manners during class time and on the yard.
Before midterm, the boys offered some great insights on how to show manners, courtesy and respect - including everybody in your games, using kind works, helping their classmates to play, saying please and thank you, treating adults and children with respect were just some of the great responses. We hope that you the parents, will help to reinforce this message at home too. 

REGISTRATION FOR SACRAMENTS

Registration Opens: Wednesday 1st November
Registration Closes: Wednesday 29th November

Hollypark BNS welcomes Minister Foley’s recent announcements on smartphones. In keeping with many schools locally and nationally, be assured that the school strongly supports your parental decision not to give your primary school child a Smart Phone or other Smart Device. As per our Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP) Smart Phones and related devices are not permitted in our school.
Helpful advice for parents re cyber safety is available on www.webwise.ie