Author: Gerry Moran

We had a great first day at school today. The weather is gorgeous again and we hope to get a long indian summer.
It was great to see all pupils wearing their uniforms and looking so sharp. Thank you to all parents for kitting out their children so well.

Reminder: No pupils are allowed on the school premises before 8.15am.
Breakfast club starts at 8.15am and we encourage children to use the breakfast club each day or whenever they need to.

Thank you to all for paying for book bills. Lots of parents have paid online, thank you for that. We need everybody to pay for school books this year. We will invest book money collected in new books for the pupils.
Please pay at PAYMENTS

We look forward to the return of pupils and staff to school after the summer holidays.
School will reopen for all pupils on Thursday 30th. Breakfast club will open at 8.15am for all pupils.
Remember there is no supervision of pupils before 8.15am each morning. Children are not allowed on the school premises before this time.

The online payments is a great success. Sorry that the system was down for a while over the summer holidays. Lots of parents are using the system. Please continue to use this for everything, school books, swimming and any other expenses during the year. Parents can pay in whatever amounts they wish.

Book money is now due at €45 per pupil. This can be paid in small amounts if necessary but must be paid. Please pay at PAYMENTS

Please ensure that your child has the correct uniform on at all times or the school tracksuit if they are doing PE or playing team games during the year.Children can wear navy blue shorts during the fine weather. All pupils can wear a school trousers this year.

In September we hope to open a Codor Dojo class here in the school.
First of all we need to get some adult volunteers. If you have some background in IT or coding and are willing to volunteer to help at the Codor Dojo class please drop me an email.
We hope initially to run twice a month. Time and day to be decided but it will probably be some evening from 7pm-8pm.

Please email gmoran@bunscoilris.ie if you have some interest & are willing to get involved.

Between now and the summer holidays the classes will cover the sensitive areas of the RSE programme. It is important that parents discuss these areas with their children to ensure that they are clear with the content and understand the terminology. Content can be accessed here at http://www.pdst.ie/primary/RSE

Dear Parents, We still have some unpaid book bills. Please call the office immediately to arrange payment for books. Pupils will not be allowed travel on school tours unless their book bill is cleared. We apologise for this but we need to pay very large book bills each year.

Some pupils are arriving way too early for school.

Pupils are not allowed in the school gate until 8.15am each morning. Please allow your children to arrive between 8.15am-8.45am.

Breakfast club, hurling 365 and Fball 365 will start at 8.15 am each morning. There will be no supervision before 8.15am each morning. Regards Gerry Moran.

Dear Parents, please note that there is a charge of 40 Euro per family each year to be paid in September.

This covers all school books and copybooks. The school office is open this week from 9am-3pm if you wish to pay this fee this week.

The uniform policy is available on this website under ‘Policies’

The school office is now closed until Monday 21^st. August at 9.00 a.m.

School information for parents of our intake class can be obtained in the Parents section of the web page.

The school uniform is navy jumper and pants or skirt with a blue shirt or blouse. Uniforms can be purchased from the Cloth Hall in South Street or Kennedys in North Street. Parents can choose to buy generic navy uniforms and purchase the crests from the school office.

The school book lease is 40 Euro per family. This money is payable in September. There is no need for a book list as all items are included in the 40 Euro

Official Opening

• The official opening of the school takes place Friday 16^th. June. Bishop Denis Brennan will bless the school and two pupils will be chosen by lottery to cut the ribbon.
• As a special treat, pupils will receive strawberries & ice-cream in the morning . School will finish 30 minutes earlier than normal at 2.00 p.m.
• Pupils travelling on the school bus will not have any change to their arrival time home as the buses cannot come any earlier.

Performance Day for 3^rd. , 4^th. and 5^th. classes

• We are holding a performance hour for the pupils of the above classes on Tuesday next 20^th. June.
• Pupils from each of the classes will demonstrate what they have learned at dance classes in recent weeks . The 5^th. class guitar group will play a few tunes and the school choir will sing a few songs.
• The performance will take place in the PE Hall beginning at 1.15 p.m. and finishing at 2.15 p.m. The school playground will double as a car park from 1.00 p.m. Parents are very welcome to attend. A video of the event will be uploaded to the school web page www.newrossprimary.ie

6^th. Class Graduation Day

• The 6^th. class graduation will take place on Wednesday 28^th. June at 11.00 a.m.
• 6^th. class pupils will perform their dance routines and the 6^th. classes will sing some songs with the 6^th. class guitar group.
• 6^th. class pupils will each be presented with a graduation certificate and a group photograph which is being sponsored by our Parents Council.
• 6^th. class pupils will be treated to a special lunch that day and they will finish school at the earlier time of 1.45 p.m. on 28^th. June – a day earlier than the rest of the school which will close for the Summer holidays on Thursday 29^th. June at 12.00 p.m .

See a video of the Confirmation Ceremony held in the Parish Church in May 2017. This was our first Confirmation as an amalgamated school.

Download a pdf Presentation of our new school project.

The Catherine McAuley Junior school First Holy Communion took place recently. Here is a link to a short video of the ceremony and of the 2nd. class pupils who were involved. The music was provided by the Edmund Rice School Choir under the direction of Ms. Michele Quinlivan and Ms. Liz Carey.

Congratulations to our pupil Marcel Komin who got a distinction in this year’s Texaco Children’s Art Competition. Marcel is a really talented artist and he is currently a pupil in Ms. Whelan’s 4th. class.

The Official Opening of our new school buildings takes place on Friday 16th. June at 12.00 p.m. Ceremonies will begin in the Junior School Building at 12.00 and continue to the Senior School building immediately afterwards. The ceremony will be attended by Bishop Denis Brennan of Ferns who will formerly bless the facilities.

An attempt has been made to contact former staff, Boards of Management and Parents’ Councils from the old Michael Street , St. Joseph’s and CBS Primary schools. All are invited.

The event will also be attended by Brendan Howlin T.D. , Minister Paul Kehoe T.D. , former Junior Minister Sean Connick , as well as current members of the Municipal and County Councils.

Bizworld is a project organised by Bank of Ireland. Our four 5th classes took part in the project which involved coming up with a business idea and trying to sell the idea to prospective investors – similar to the popular TV programme ‘Dragon’s Den’. The classes were split into groups and each group had to come up with their plan and then make a presentation to the 6th. classes.

See our photo album.

We brought all our hurlers to the Geraldine O’harrahan GAA grounds today to put on a hurling exhibition for the rest of the school. The aim was to allow the pupils who hurl an opportunity to show off their skills to their teachers and their class mates and hopefully to encourage a few more pupils to take up the sport. The local club has linked with the local schools with an aim to increase involvement at underage level.

View the photos

Recent scientific evidence has come up with the terrifying statistic that the current generation of children will have a life expectancy of 5 years LESS that their parents– due to the lack of activity in their lives. Scientific research shows that short periods of physical activity even as little as 10 minutes at a time performed throughout the day provide health benefits similar to longer periods of physical activity.

As a parent, you play an important role in helping your child to be active by being active yourself, finding fun ways for the family to be active together and setting limits on screen time.

Free play is just as important as structured sports. Running around, playing in the garden or local park and having fun ALL count. Kids also love a challenge a setting them a task is a great way to get them active and keep them focused. For example, ask them: How many times can you throw and catch a ball between you without dropping it or How many skips can you do in a minute?

We are designating the month of June as Active Homework month. Your child has a list of activities he/she can choose from instead of written homework. If he/she doesn’t want to do an activity, we can of course give him/her written homework.

We are asking parents to tick off a minimum of 2 activities each evening and sign in the space provided.

Active Homework Chart

Being a newly amalgamated school , we have had a year of many ‘firsts’. Today was another first. Our 5th. classes were very excited this morning as they prepared for their school tour to Kilkenny Adventure Centre.

Thanks to our Parents’ Council who provided an ice-cream van for our Sports day on Wednesday 31st. May. Unfortunately, our activities were curtailed a little by the weather but pupils enjoyed their ice-cream !

The current principal , Brian MacMahon, has decided to retire at the end of this school year. Mr. MacMahon taught in the old CBS Primary for 42 years and was Principal of the CBS Primary for 16 years.

Having indicated his intention to retire , the Board of Management initiated a recruitment process and having interviewed seven prospective principals, they have now appointed Mr Gerry Moran to take over as principal on September 1^st. Mr. Moran is a very experienced principal and has previously been a principal teacher in Camolin, in Rathnure and in Bree. He is extremely well qualified to lead our school into the future and staff and pupils are looking forward to welcoming him to the Edmund Rice School.

Mr. Mac Mahon will continue as principal up to the end of August when the formal handover takes place .In the interim, he will be working very closely with Mr. Moran to ensure that the handover runs smoothly and that the school continues to blossom and grow.