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The main functions of Loreto
Parents’ Council, Wexford are to

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Represent all parents/guardians in the school
community
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Liaise with the school
»
Liaise with students through the Students’
Council
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Meet once a month
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AGM annually
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Appeal for funds annually
Parents’ Council update
Monday, January 23, 2012

The Parents’ Council continues to meet regularly
(9 November and 12 December 2011,
16 January 2012) to discuss matters of general
school concern.

The Principal, Mr. O’ Shea, attends all meetings
and gives a report on current school and general
educational issues. In recent times he has
highlighted for us the rapid pace of change
currently taking place in education e.g.
literacy and numeracy programme, Junior
Certificate reform, child protection procedures.

The Council has recently reviewed the
possibility of a book rental scheme but, with
uncertainty caused by changing textbooks in the
face of a reformed Junior Certificate, the
possibility of the introduction of e-books and
the considerable financial outlay on such a
scheme, the decision was made to concentrate
efforts this year on holding a meaningful book
sale in June.
A new e-mail address for the Parents’ Council
has been established and is kindly monitored by
a council member. To avail of this, simply go to
the contact us section of the school website:
www.loretowexford.com

Ms. Mary Fox has been elected Chairperson of the
Parents’ Council.

The Council will, at the end of February, be
seeking a €10 contribution per family to cover
its operating costs and activities for the year.

The next meeting of the Council takes place on
Monday, 27 February 2012 at 7.30 p.m.
Parents’ Council update
Monday, 10 October 2011 – Annual
General Meeting
Chairperson’s comments
Thanks
to:

» all who turned up at the Parents Council AGM

» Mr O’ Shea, our Principal, who has taken the time to come
and be present to furnish us
with his annual report

» our secretary, Frances White, and Treasurer, Jackie Owen,
for all their hard work and
commitment over the year

» our board of management nominees - Owen Hillery and
Patricia Hackett

» all members of the council who have come regularly to
Meetings and made their
contributions

» Special mention to our five new members who were co opted
when numbers at meetings
were less than the number required for a
quorum.

A reminder at this stage of the function of the
Parents’ Council . We are primarily a
consultative body. Our aims are to promote the
educational interest and general welfare of the
students of Loreto Secondary School and to
foster good relations between parents,
guardians, teachers and students.
Our areas of involvement throughout the last
year were as follows:

» A Cervical Cancer Vaccination programme was spearheaded to
provide vaccinations for all
girls outside of the group covered by the
Department of Health. The first of three
vaccines was given students in December.
This programme was completed by June 2011.
136 students took up the offer.
Our efforts in this
particular regard were rewarded by the
significant number of girls who availed of
this service.

» We surveyed the weights carried by the students in all of
the 6 years to school on a
random day. We weighed 59 school bags. The
maximum weight of 15kgs. was carried by a
second year and a sixth year student. The
average weight carried was 9.5kgs.

The gym bags weighed separately were 5,
5, and 6 kg
|
Age Range |
Height |
Median Weight
Range (kg) |
Median Bag Weight (kg) |
Percentage of body weight |
|
12-13 years |
60 - 63 inches |
43-48 kg |
8 |
16-18 |
|
14-15 years |
63 - 64 inches |
48 – 52 kg |
9.5 |
18-19 |
|
16-17 years |
64 inches |
52 – 54 kg |
6 |
11-15 |
|
18-20 years |
64 inches |
57- 59 kg |
12 |
20-21 |
The surprising result is that the first
years are not carrying the heaviest
bags, The 6th Years are carrying the
heaviest bags followed by the second
years. The deviation in weights across
the year generally decreases as the
students get older, indicating that the
students get better at managing their
bags. However, the percentage of bag
weight to body weight shows that all the
girls are carrying over the government
recommendation of 10 percent of body
weight. Our figures indicate that our
girls are carrying 11 to 20 % of their
body weight .

Now that we have concrete evidence the
challenge is to find a solution.
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»
We contributed funds towards a
lecture by Peadar Maxwell, HSE, on the topic
“How Best
to
support children through State Exams”. There was
a good turnout from parents on that
night.

» We met with the Head Girl and her deputy and the Students’
Council at the annual
Christmas
lunch prior to break up in December. We find it
very rewarding to meet students
from
all years at this meeting. It gives us an
opportunity to explain our role in the school
and
to invite them to approach us if we can be of
help in any way.

» We contributed funds towards a prize winning Mosaic created
by the Loreto, Wexford
students
as part of a CSPE project. You will have seen
this mosaic mounted on the
exterior
wall of the school.
» We attended the Green School Committee meetings. Funds have
been made available to
this
committee in previous years and we are keen to
make funds available in the future if
sought.
Congratulations to the school on attaining green
flag status.

» We continue to be involved in school development and
planning by attending weekly
meetings
and by sending feedback from our monthly
meetings.

» We contributed funds to support the Paired Reading group
after attending a meeting with
the
Special Educational Needs Support Team in the
school. The main aim of this group is
to
improve the school attendance of girls with
special learning needs.

» School prizes were sponsored at
last years' prize giving ceremony to the value
of €360.

»
A member of the
Parent’s Council took part in the selection
interview of the Head and
Deputy
Head Girl at the invitation of the Principal.

» A
blessed candle burned in the foyer for the
period of the State Exams as a symbol of
support
during that challenging time.

» First day of state exams- healthy snacks and bottled water
were distributed to all
students.

» The policy concerning acceptable Internet use has been
reviewed at the urgent request
of
the Board of Management for the school and the
updated policy can be seen on the
school
website. We urge parents to read this document
as parents have the responsibility
to
ensure that all students comply with this
policy.
Michele Winters
Parents’ Council update
Monday, 26 September 2011

Welcome everybody and wishing you all well for
the forthcoming school year.


The
Loreto Parents’ Council
had their
first meeting on 12th September 2011 which was
very well attended. Thanks to all present. The
school Principal, Billy O'Shea, attended the
meeting and gave a succinct report on all works
carried out in the school over the summer. The
main elements of the report which he presented
to the parents council is available to you on
the school website in the letters to parents
section. The thorny issue of the funding of the
parents council was discussed. No funds were
sought from parents in 2010/11 because the
council felt parents were experiencing financial
difficulties. No decision was made in regard to
the future funding of the council.


The
National Parents’ Council Post Primary (NPCPP)
annual conference
will be held on 14th and
15th October 2011 at the Sheraton hotel in
Athlone. All parents who have children attending
a second level school are invited to this
conference.

The president of the European Parents
Association, Mr Johannes Theiner will speak at
this conference about the general aspects of the
participation of European parents in schools.
Doctors Amanda Fitzgerald and Barbara Dooley
from UCD will present the findings of the first
national study of youth mental health at the
conference.

For further information on this conference
please contact Sandra at 018302740 or email
sandraboylan@npcpp.ie.
To assist parents and teenagers with their move
from primary to secondary school a book
has been published entitled " Moving Up ". This
book will be launched at this conference.


The
annual general meeting of the Loreto
Parents’ association will be held on
Monday, 10th October 2011 in the school hall at
7.30 pm. All parents of students in the school
are invited to attend.

Any parent who wishes a particular subject to be
included in the Agenda for this meeting should
contact the chairperson at
michelewinters1@eircom.net
before Friday, 30th September.

Every
parents’ council needs to be reinvigorated with
new members. NPCPP provide free training
for any member of all parents' councils
who wish
to
avail of same.

Dates
and locations for these training courses are as
follows:

6th October 2011 at Gorey Community College

13th October 2011 at Enniscorthy Vocational
College.

Meeting at 7.15pm until 9.15pm approximately.
Tea and biscuits to be provided at host
school. Application forms for these training
courses are available from
sandraboylan@npcpp.ie |