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Parents' Council
8 April 2008
Parents' Council Activities
In September 2007 the Parents'
Council held their annual general meeting, where revisions to
the parents’ council constitution were agreed and adopted.
Others matters discussed were the school building programme and
the election of new members to the council. Two parent
representatives were also elected to the Board of Management.
At the October meeting the
council was officially formed and the officers elected.
Since then we have been actively
involved in a range of activities for the students. These
include:
Healthy Eating Week
– This ran from November 26th – 30th. In
conjunction with the vending machine committee in the school,
the Parents' Council organised healthy eating week. Our
involvement included sourcing a range of suitable foods from
local suppliers, preparing and selling fruit, soup, yogurts,
muesli, apple juice etc. on a daily basis in the school at break
time and lunch time. This has followed on from the three hugely
popular healthy eating weeks last year.
Oklahoma:
As well as sponsoring the cost of 1 nights’ performance the
Parents Council helped out with supervision during rehearsals
and performances of the show. On the nights of the show we also
assisted with make-up, costumes etc.
Students' Council:
The Parents' Council organised a lunch at which representatives
of the Students' Council and Parents' Council met to exchange
and explore ideas for future activities.
Bag Packing:
Members of the Parents' Council assisted Mr.O’Sullivan and his
team who packed bags over 3 days in Dunnes Stores to raise money
for the senior camogie team who were participating in the
All-Ireland semi final in Galway in February.
Throughout the school year we
participate on a number of committees such as the Green
Flag and the school policies committee.
Hot food:
Our most recent initiative is to try and organise the provision
of hot food to the students on a daily basis at both lunchtime
and the break between end of school and supervised study. This
was realised this week beginning 3rd March. In
association with Taste restaurant the girls have been enjoying
fresh fruit at morning break, paninis and soup at lunch time and
chicken curry and rice before supervised study. This has proved
to be very popular and we hope that this will be available every
day.
Finally, a huge thank you to
everyone who contributed to our recent appeal for funds. The
parents’ council simply could not function without this support.
If you have not got round to contributing yet, do not worry as
we will happily accept contributions at any time! The money
raised will be used to help finance various projects for the
girls and the school and we will feedback on these in the near
future.
________________________________________________________________________
November 2007
The officers
for the present school year are as follows:
Chairperson
Liz D'Arcy,
Johnstown, Castlebridge. E-mail:liz.darcy@hse.ie
liz.darcy@hse.ie
Liz may be
contacted on the Parents' Council mobile: 087-9354634
Secretary
Kathryn
Birmingham
Treasurers
Isobel Mahon /
May Wade
_________________________________________________________________________________
May
2007
The
talk by Peadar Maxwell was very well received and of great benefit to
all parents who attended on the night.
Two
more healthy eating weeks were organized by the healthy eating committee
and parents helped with the preparation and sale of the produce. Both
proved very successful, with good feedback from the students. The
Parents’ Council would like to thank all involved and will be looking
for volunteers to assist during the next school year.
A
workshop was held to discuss the role of the Parents’ Council, possible
changes to the constitution, and to provide an opportunity for other
issues to be raised. From this a policy on the Parents' Association and
Council was reviewed and approved. Changes to the constitution will be
proposed at the EGM immediately preceeding the AGM in October. A list
of suggestions arose out of the workshop, some of which are now being
addressed, for example: reflective beading on the school coats; better
lighting outside school; more structured and regular meetings between
the Principal and the Parents’ Council; the creation of subcommittees to
discuss specific issues.
Parents
have been involved with the Schools Development Planning Initiative
which formulates and reviews school policies.
The
Parents’ Council decided to sponsor the hoodies for the hockey team
which competed at national finals (and appeared on Setanta Sport) as a
one off, due to the expense of the teams participation.
Parents
also helped with the LCVP fashion show, which was a great success and
very enjoyable.
It is
disappointing that there is a slight delay on getting planning
permission for the school, due to the Department of the Environment
requirement for a report on the older part of the building due to be
demolished, but hopefully the existing or an amended plan will be
approved as soon as possible.
Good
Luck with the exams, girls, and hope everyone has a happy, healthy,
holiday.
_________________________________________________________________________________
September 2006-January 2007
The Parents’ Council has discussed possible changes
to the admissions policy in response to a request from the Board of
Management (BOM).It supported the healthy eating committee in its
efforts to provide healthy choices in the vending machines and ran a
very successful healthy eating week where girls could buy fruit and soup
at cost price in an effort to encourage them to eat more healthily on an
ongoing basis.
It is hoped that, if more parents are willing to
help, further healthy eating promotions could be arranged in response to
the enthusiasm of the girls.
A talk on dealing with adolescents will be given by
Peadar Maxwell, senior psychologist, HSE,
on March 21st. This
talk is limited to 50 people and should be of interest and value to all
parents. Application forms will be sent out in early February.
Parents who are willing to help on sub-committees on topics such as the
Green Flag, catering facilities in the refurbished school, or other
topics they are interested in - or who are willing to join the Parents’
Council on a full-time, part-time, or occasional basis - should
contact the Parents’ Council via the school. Any help would be
appreciated, particularly as so many Parents’ Council members are
parents of 5th and 6th years and new faces are
needed.
Two parents are also required for the parents’ positions on the Board of
Management from October 15th 2007.
The term is 3 years. Meetings are generally held once a month. An agreed
report is then presented to the Parents' Council. Elections will be held
in September 2007.
_________________________________________________________________________________
May 2006
The talk
by John Lonergan to the students appears to have been very successful
and hopefully the students gained another perspective on life. It’s a
pity the Fun-Loving Criminals were more attractive to the parents as Mr. Lonergan’s talk for them was extremely interesting and entertaining!
Despite the poor attendance in the evening, the support from the
Presentation, CBS, St. Peters, and VEC parents’ councils and the schools
themselves enabled us to break even on the day.
.
We would
like to thank Fr. Fegan for allowing us to use Rowe St. Church for the
students’ event. Feedback on whether other such events should be
organized would be appreciated.
.
The
project to provide healthy eating options for the vending machines is to
be discussed at the Board of Management before the end of term and we
are hoping that crisps and fizzy drinks will be replaced by healthier
alternatives by next September.
.
The
refurbishment plans appear to be progressing and work is to start on
upgrading the labs at the end of May. The planning of the rest of the
project seems to be moving along quite well at the moment. If it gets
stuck again we and Mr. O’Shea will let you know.
.
We wish
all the students taking exams good luck and wish the students leaving
the school all the best for their future lives.
.
So it’s
out with the sun cream, or maybe the rain jacket, and see you in
September!
.
Happy
holidays!
_________________________________________________________________________________
April 2006
We have organized with the
support of the other parents’ councils a talk by John Lonergan, governor
of Mountjoy Prison in the Talbot Hotel on 26th April at 8
pm. Entrance is 6 Euro on the door and entry is on a
first-come-first-served basis.
Mr. Lonergan will be talking to transition and 5th years from all 5 post-primary schools in
the afternoon of the same day.
.
Two members of the council
are participating in a group comprising 2 parents, 2 students, and 2
teachers, who are promoting a healthy eating policy in the school. It
is hoped that only healthy options will be available in the vending
machines by September.
.
We are investigating
joining an umbrella group for secondary schools that would provide us
with better information and, should we need it for the refurbishment,
school bus, and catchment area issues, more leverage.
.
We are also considering organizing a careers night in the Autumn term,
probably for the 4th, 5th, and 6th years.
.
We would like parents,
particularly of new pupils, to be aware that the school uniform only
specifies Brown shoes, not any particular brand or make. Some pupils
seem to have had posture and foot problems due to wearing deck shoes,
and this seems to be aggravated by the fashion of not tying the laces.
.
Thank you for contributing
to the Parents’ Council funds, which have been used to subsidize the
school show and to enable us to organize the John Lonergan talk.
If you
haven’t contributed your 10 euro there is still time!!!
.
Happy Easter!
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