September Newsletter

Welcome Back

We would like to welcome all our boys and girls back to St. Patrick’s Mullanaskea.  We hope you had a lovely summer.  A special welcome to all our new Primary 1 boys and girls.  We hope you enjoy your time with us.

Back to School Documents

A large white envelope is being sent home with each child.  This envelope contains documents that need to be completed and returned to the school as soon as possible.

Car Park

We would like to remind everyone that a one-way system is in place in the school car park.  If you are a Primary 1 or a Primary 2 parent/guardian and are walking your children over to their classroom, please ensure that you park your car at the side of the school hall (left hand side of the car park).  We also ask that everyone is mindful of other cars and children crossing on the zebra crossing in front of the school.  Members of staff will be present for children in P3-P7 who are being dropped off.  Please do not park in the bus lanes in the morning or the afternoon.

School Dinners

A school dinner menu has been included in our back to school documents.  Please note that we will be starting on Week 2 from Monday 5^th September.  As always, the school dinners are prepared by Holy Trinity and are brought to the school each day.  The meals have now returned to the way they were prior to the pandemic, in which children will have a choice of 2 different meals each day.  The price of a school dinner remains at £2.60.  All dinners are to be paid for in advance but if your child is absent from school on a day that they were supposed to take dinner, it will be carried over for them to have another day.  In order to prepare enough food, Holy Trinity needs to have the dinner numbers by 10am each day.  If your child is going to be late for school or has an appointment in the morning and is taking dinner, we ask that you contact us before 10am for them to be included in the numbers.

If you know what days your child/children will be taking dinner, we would encourage you to pay a month at a time.  For example, if you know your child will be taking dinner every Monday in the month of September, we would encourage you to send in £10.40 (4 Mondays) instead of sending in £2.60 each week.  This saves you time looking for change on a Sunday evening and also saves the time of the teacher and office counting the money.

Money Monday

Please send in dinner money/milk money/any other payments on a Monday.  Each class receives a wallet on a Monday morning and the money is counted by the teacher as well as Claire in the office.  Please send money in an envelope with each child, rather than one envelope per family with the exception of twins. 

Please note that we can no longer accept the First Trust (AIB) banknotes that ceased to be legal currency on 30^th June 2022.

Free School Meals and Uniform Grants

There is still time to check your eligibility to receive Free School Meals.  Free School Meals have to be applied for each year, so if you received them last year you will need to complete a new form.  Please click on the link below for more information:

https://www.eani.org.uk/financial-help/free-school-meals-uniform-grants

Sickness/Absences

If your child is sick and unable to come to school, please contact us to let us know by phone (6632 6539) or email (cbrannigan610@c2kni.net) .  Please note that the school will be continuing regular handwashing throughout the day as we did during the pandemic.

Healthy Eating

Our school is a healthy eating school and we would encourage each child to bring a healthy snack for break time.  We would also like to remind parents that the school is also a Nut Free Zone.  We have children in the school who have nut allergies and would like to remind you not to send in nuts/nut spreads with your child/children.

Labels on Uniforms/Wallets

Please ensure your child’s uniform and wallet has their name clearly written on it.  The wallets of the Primary 1 class will be kept in school until Monday so their names can be written on.

Books/Resources

If you have any reading books/text books or any other resources belonging to the school at home, we ask that you please return them as soon as possible.

School Elections

The School Council elections and Digital Leader elections will take place on Friday 16^th September.

Roald Dahl Day

The school will celebrate Roald Dahl day on Tuesday 13^th September with in class activities.

Primary 7 Transfer

The Primary 7 children who are sitting the Transfer exam in November will be staying over after school on Tuesdays, (Mr Dolan) and Thursdays (Ms O’Neill) during the month of September starting on Tuesday 6th.  Pick up is at 4:15pm at the back door of the school assembly hall.

European Languages Day

This year, European Languages Day is on Monday 26^th September.  This is an opportunity for the children to learn about different countries and cultures.  Children can dress up in outfits from their class country or wear their colours:

P1: Italy

P2: France

P3: Spain

P4: Ireland

P5: Germany

P6: Holland

P7: Greece

Shared Education

Children in Primary 3 and Primary 4 will participate in the Shared Education Programme this year with Enniskillen Model Primary School.  They will have Ice-breaker mornings in September.

School App

As many of you are aware, St. Patrick’s Mullanaskea has their website linked to the Schools NI App.  This app is free to download and will give you notifications of when something is added to the website including calendar events, dinner menu changes as well as messages sent directly from the school.  There is no limit to how many people in the family can download the app so we would encourage everyone to get the app to stay up to date.

If you have any problems downloading the app, please contact Claire in the School Office.

School Day

9:00am                 School starts

10:45-11:00am  Break time

12:15-1pm           Lunch time

2:00pm                 P1 and P2 pick up at the class outside doors.  (P1 will not start this until a later date)

3:00pm                 P3-P7 pickup at the assembly hall back door

Facebook

The school now has a Facebook page.  Please ‘Like’ the page to keep up to date with everything going on in the school.