Agreed Report Board of Management Meeting Wednesday 25^th October 2023.

A Board meeting took place in the school on Wednesday 25^th October at 7pm

The meeting was opened by Chairperson Kevin McCarthy.

Minutes of the previous meeting were proposed and seconded.

Correspondence

Letter from Bishop acknowledging the work of the BOM.

Letter from Credit Union to update documentation. 

Principals Report

Principals Report was presented. It included the details of enrolment, staffing, curriculum, The Summer Provision Programme, ethos, extracurricular and fundraising. See some of the following details from the report. 

Principal’s Report

All the children returned to school on Wednesday 30^th August.

Enrolment

We have an enrolment of 196 pupils for the 2023/24 school year and this is the number recognised on the POD system as of 30^th September 2023. At the start of September, we did have 200 pupils on our roll but unfortunately a family of four children moved house and moved school as well during the month bringing our number back to 196.  Two new pupils are due to start in Le Chéile any day (waiting on transport approval.) This will mean that we will have 198 children in the school. There are twenty-six new pupils in the Junior Infants mainstream class. There are two new Junior Infants in Le Chéile 1 with as already mentioned 2 more due to start.  We also have two new pupils in Senior Infants, one new pupil in 1^st Class, two new pupils in 3^rd Class, two new pupils in 4^th Class and one new pupil in 6th Class.  Five of our new pupils are from Ukraine. 

Staffing

• Teachers- 14 posts being covered by 17 teachers and 15 hours per week EAL hours covered by 1 teacher.

Welcome back to Maria Moore who is job sharing with Susan Amy Scanlan this year, welcome also to Tracy Hogan (who has been regularly here over the years) and to Ms Fiona Tobin in their roles job sharing in SET & Senior Infants.   Ms Louise Kennedy joined us in mid-September when we were allocated 15 EAL hours per week.  Thanks to Ms Catriona Bullman who is covering leave in this first term. 

Principal	Martin Delaney
Deputy Principal	James Casey
Special Education Teachers	James Casey Máire Kearney Aisling Fennell/Tracy Hogan
Le Chéile Class 1 Le Chéile Class 2	Caoimhe Ní Chuirrín Jenny Kiely
Junior Infants	Leonie O’Brien
Senior Infants	Laura Roche/Fiona Tobin
1st Class	Caroline Price
2nd Class	Eilish Curran
3rd Class	Louise Lyons
4th Class	Breda Feeney
5th Class	Maria Moore/Susan Amy Scanlan
6th Class	Mairéad Veale
15 EAL Hours	Louise Kennedy
Special Needs Assistants	Olivia O’Daly, Deirdre Cahill, Therese Walsh, Mary O’Brien, Deirdre Buckley, Cathy Halley, John Twomey and Aileen Buckley.
Bus Escorts	4
School Secretary	Mary Casey
School Maintenance	Jamie Corcoran, Lois Crotty &  Janice Barry

• SNA’s – 6 posts covered by 8 SNAs
• Bus Escorts – 4 soon to become 5.

Work Placement

• One on SNA placement this week and there was another SNA placement over various dates in September and early October.

Ethos

On Wednesday 4^th October Fr Keogh celebrated an Opening Year Mass with the whole school. Thanks to Mr Casey and Fr Keogh for organising the Mass and thanks to all the boys and girls who read or carried gifts for it.   First Holy Communion will take place on Saturday 11^th May at 11 a.m. in Cappoquin.  

 

 

 

Curriculum

New Primary School Curriculum 

There is a new primary school curriculum currently being phased into primary schools in Ireland replacing the 1999 Curriculum. It started with the introduction of the new Language Curriculum (English agus Gaeilge) over the last few years. 

New Maths Curriculum

Now we are going to have a new Mathematics curriculum.

The aim of the new Primary Mathematics Curriculum is that children see maths as important and useful to their everyday lives.

Training for the new Mathematics curriculum is starting this year. On Wednesday last, 18^th October in Waterford Teachers Centre, James Casey and I attended a training day for school leaders in relation to the Mathematic Curriculum.  This training day was run by Oide

(formerly known as the PDST.) In the coming months someone from Oide will come to the school to introduce the teachers to the new Mathematic Curriculum.  Oide will assign a date to us and we will need to close the school for the children on this date. 

Maths

Maths Week Ireland took place from 15^th to 21^st October.  Bricks 4 Kidz came into the school on Thursday 19^th and Friday 20^th October where every class had an hour lego lesson with them on one of the days.  The majority of children seemed to really enjoy it. Thanks to Mr Casey for organising Bricks 4 Kidz and for organising Maths Week in the school.  Other extra mathematical based activities took place in many of the classrooms and there were Maths trails around the school as well during Maths week.  A number of classes also used Maths apps on the ipads. 

Breda Feeney as IT co-ordinator introduced Khan Academy and Mathsletics as two maths apps for the classes to use on a regular basis.  Juniors to First Class use Khan Academy each week which is free while 2^nd Class to 6^th Class use Mathsletics on a weekly basis.  We agreed to pay for the Mathsletics subscriptions for all those students after the free 30 day trial had ended. There was a lot of work in setting these apps and getting the teachers up to speed on them. Well done to Ms Feeney on getting through so much in a short space of time. 

Station Teaching

A number of classes are currently using station teaching in Literacy or Numeracy when the SET teacher is timetabled to work with their class. 

Summer Stars

Well done to the pupils from Bunscoil Gleann Sidheáin who participated in the Summer Stars reading programme in Lismore and Dungarvan Libraries (unfortunately Cappoquin Library is still closed.) Sheila Curtin has sent in the certificates and medals to the school and we will present the children with their medals and certificates at Assembly this Friday before the mid-term break. Sheila also sent in a couple of lovely new books for every Junior Infant in the school. 

SPHE- Barnardos Online Safety Talk

  Mary Lonergan on behalf of Barnardos delivered an online safety workshop in person to 3^rd to 6^th Class students on Monday 16^th October. Ideally I would have like this workshop in February when we focus on online safety however I booked them in at IPPN last year and the 16^th October was the date they had for us.  It was only €50 for the school which is a lot cheaper than other speakers on this important subject.

Music

  Peace Proms

Mrs Veale is setting up our school choir again this year and it is made up of pupils from 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes. The choir will be participating in Peace Proms again this school year.

The Choir will also perform at Santa At the Strand in Lismore on Thursday evening 30^th November.  

 

SESE (Social Enviromental & Scientific Education)

Seachtain na hEolaíochta

Science Week Ireland is from 12^th to 19^th November.  There will be plenty of science activities during the week and we will be encouraging the children to carry out their own investigations and experiments as well. 

NEPS Teresa Thornton has visited the school on a number of occasions during September and October and is due back again after mid-term.  We have five 6^th Class pupils in Le Chéile 2. 

 

 

PE,  Sport  and Extracurricular

GAA

Gaelic Football for all classes took place on Thursday 12th and Thursday 19th October with Conor Prendergast. Congratulations to Alyssa Ferguson on winning both the Division 2 under 12 Ladies Football Championship Plate and the under 13 Championship Plate with St Oliver’s and likewise congratulations to Bonnie Mclaughlin on winning the Division 5 under 12 Ladies Football Championship Cup with Shamrocks in September. Bonnie was also a member of the Cappoquin Camogie under 14 panel who won the Under 14 C County Championship in September.  Well done to Mark Coughlan and Eoghan O’ Gorman who were on the Cappoquin/Naomh Bríd panel who won the under 13 County Divison 3 Plate in September. A number of our past pupils were also involved. 

 

Cuman Na mBunscol

The Cuman na mBunscol Primary games Gaelic football competitions started back in September.  Our boys’ team were in a group with Ballymacarbry and Lismore schools.  The blitz took place on Thursday 5^th October in very wet conditions. The boys lost both games but played very well in the two games.  The boys are in a Shield Final against Garranbane and it has been postponed a few times due to the poor weather.  Likewise, the girls are due to play Garranbane in a Shield semi-final but it too was postponed with the boys’ match.  Both games will take place after the mid-term.

Football/Soccer

Student coaches from Dungarvan College are currently in on Wednesdays to do blocks of coaching with the children.  In October the coaches started with soccer which will run for 5 weeks and then they will coach volleyball in November and December. 

 

Gymnastics

DK Sports have just completed a six week block of gymnastics with all the classes.  

 

Cycle Right

5^th Class participated in the Cycle Cycle Right program with Donal Jacob and Ollie every Tuesday morning for four weeks. 

Show Jumping

Well done to 6^th Class pupil Raven Joyce who competed at two Interschools Showjumping events in October. 

Athletics

A number of our students are members of Finisk Valley Athletic Club based in Ballinameela and indeed some of these students have performed really well recently in county and provincial competitions.   

A number of them also competed in the primary school cross country took place in St Augustine’s on Friday 6^th October. 

-Alyssa Ferguson ran in the 6th class race and came home in 11th place. 

– Roisin Glasheen ran in the 3rd class race and came home in 2nd place. 

– Aoife Glasheen ran in the 2nd class race.

Active Schools

Fundamental movement skills for October is running for the Junior Infants and striking with the hand or dribbling for Senior Infants to 6^th Class. 

Active Schools

Ms Lyons and the Active School Committee organised a European Sports Day in the school on Friday 29^th September.

 

IT

Thanks to Susan Amy Scanlan for looking after the school’s Facebook pages and thanks to Maireád Veale for looking after the school twitter account.    Breda Feeney is working on a Digital Learning Plan following on from the work started by Kevin last year.

 

Parents Association

The committee members of the Parents Association/Council held a meeting in the school on Thursday evening 19^th October.  The Parents Association are looking at doing the following in December – Christmas Table Quiz, Family Fun Event/Santa and they will contact Kellehers about the usual Super Valu Raffle. They will be adding new members to the committee from Junior Infants in the coming weeks. 

Blackwater Community School had an Open Night for 6^th Class pupils and their families on Thursday 5th October.

Photographs

Billy Whyte took school photographs of the pupils on Monday 2^nd October

Halloween Dress Up will take place in the school this Friday 27^th of October. 

Child Protection Oversight Report.

Child Protection Oversight Report was presented. 

Health & Safety Report

The report was presented. 

 

Maintenance – Caretaker

Jamie Corcoran also appointed school caretaker following interviews during the summer.

New School Books

Mary Casey worked on this over the summer and it seems to be working well.

Work around perimeter of the Field

Huge amount of work done over the summer

 

Uniform Review Committee

Uniform Review Committee sent out a questionnaire re same.  Results to be looked at.

Parents Association

• Table quiz December 8^th
• Family fun Day/Santa Visit December 10^th.

These are all possible fundraisers.  Billy to contact Tom Kelleher re raffle.  They have two new parent members from Junior Infants this year

New BOM 2023 – 2027

Fr Keogh organising it on behalf of the Bishop at the moment,

I.T.

Susan-Amy Scanlan looking after Facebook page and Mairead Veale looks after Twitter.         

Breda Feeney has completed a huge amount of work in the short space of time she has taken on the post.  Many thanks to her.

Finance

The Treasurer presented the financial report.

Plans and Policies

Máire Kearney and Eilish Curran had a draft SPHE policy.  Martin wants to make some changes; he feels RSE etc. needs to be done every year.  Possibility of the new board looking at it.

Martin to get feedback from teachers.

Well-being Policy – Survey

Votes of sympathy

• Sympathies to Maire Kearney on the passing of her mother, Peggy Kearney.
• Sympathies to the family of Margo Veale
• Sympathies to Therese Walsh on the passing of her mother in law, Angela Walsh.

Kevin McCarthy as outgoing Chairperson thanked all the current Board members for their work over the past four years and wished the school well going forward. This concluded the meeting. 

 

Agreed Report Board of Management Meeting Thursday 8^th June 2023.

 

A Board meeting took place in the school on Thursday 8^th June at 7pm

The meeting was opened by Chairperson Kevin McCarthy.

Minutes of the previous meeting were proposed and seconded.

Correspondence

No correspondence.

Principals Report

Principals Report was presented. It included the details of enrolment, staffing, curriculum, The Summer Provision Programme, ethos, extracurricular and fundraising. See some of the following details from the report. 

Principal’s Report

We finished up for the second term on Friday 31^st March with an in-service day for the staff.  All the children and staff returned to school following the Easter break on Monday 17^thApril.

We had a very busy but enjoyable third term in Bunscoil Gleann Sidheáin and have two weeks left to the end of the school year. 

Enrolment

At our last Board meeting we had come down to 192 pupils on Aladdin, but over the last month a number a number of new pupils started in the school. A new girl started in 5^th class, another girl in Junior Infants, a boy in Senior Infants and a girl in second class bringing our number on Aladdin up to 196. It is not certain that all those 4 children will stay in the school but hopefully they will still be with us come September/October.   We have 28 children finishing their primary education here this year which is a big number, 24 of those are in the mainstream 6^th class and 4 children are in Le Chéile 2. 

Our Open Day for the incoming Junior Infants took place yesterday, Wednesday 7^th June (thanks to Leonie O’ Brien for organising it.)  We received 26 enrolment forms for Junior Infants and it looks like 23 of those families showed up yesterday.  We expect somewhere between 24 or 25 Junior Infants will start in late August.  There will be 4 new enrolments in Le Chéile. A family of two children just let me know last week that they are moving school in September. Our current estimate of our enrolment for September is 191.   

Staffing

• Teachers – 14 – At the end of May/start of June we welcomed Ms Breda Feeney back to school and she has gone into the SET role with the junior classes for the last few weeks. Thanks to Ms Hannah Waide who finished up with us last week. Hannah was in the school since January and got on very well here.  We also say thanks to Ms Hannah Houlihan and Ms Lisa Barry who will both finish up in their roles at the end of the school year.  Hannah Houlihan taught 5^th Class this year and actually spent most of the last three years teaching here in the school. Hannah also led the Amber Flag School Committee and the school was recently awarded the Amber Flag. Lisa Barry taught 4^th Class here for the full year. Both teachers also helped out with gaelic games during the year and they were a pleasure to work with. We wish all three teachers well in the future
• SNA’s – 9 (8 in September)
• Bus Escorts – 5 (2 of the regular bus escorts are continuing throughout July for summer provision)

Work Placement/Volunteering

• One student teacher from DCU (St. Patrick’s Campus) completed her teaching practice in Junior Infants for five weeks during March and April.
• One SNA is currently on work experience for most of the last three weeks of June.
• One parent recently finished up volunteering to assist with Literacy Lift Off in Junior Infants and also helped with 4^th Class stations. She was a huge help to the school.

Curriculum

 

Standardised Testing

Most of the children in the mainstream classes completed standardised tests in numeracy, literacy and spelling in late May and early June. The senior classes also completed a standardised test in Gaeilge this year.   The results of the tests were added in to the report cards, which will be released to parents on Aladdin next week.     

PLC

We had in-service days on Friday 31^st March and Friday 2^nd June. In terms of the PLC the staff engaged in the following 3 areas: Teaching of Gaeilge in English medium schools, disciplinary literacy and the transfer of skills.  We also looked at the framework for the proposed new curriculum.  A new Maths curriculum is being introduced from this coming September.    

Library Visits

Unfortunately, the library in Cappoquin closed for renovations recently so classes will have to wait until September to resume their visits. 

Literacy & Maths Stations Thanks to Christine Coffey for all her help with the Junior Infants Literacy stations. 

Music

As part of the Opera Festival activities Music Generation came in and did 4 music lessons with our 3^rd class pupils in May. This was then followed by a 3^rd class Discover Opera class visit to Lismore Castle Gardens with Blackwater Valley Opera & Music Generation Waterford on Thursday June 1^st from 09:30 – 11:15

 

Opera

Some students from 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes along with Mrs Veale, Ms Barry, Ms Waide and  Ms Houlihan attended the Lismore Opera on Monday evening 29^th May.  It was a late night for all involved but the feedback I received on it was positive overall.  

Food Dudes

The Health Eating Initiative Food Dudes returned to the school for a week from Monday 29^th May to Thursday 1^st June. To be honest it wasn’t the best time of year for it and it wasn’t as well organised as previous years. 

Summer Provision

Summer Provision will run in the school from Monday 26^th June until Friday 21^st July. 

Ethos

First Holy Communion and Confirmation

First Holy Communion took place on Saturday 6^th May.  Fr Keogh celebrated the Mass. Well done to all the boys and girls in second class who made their First Communion.  Thanks to Mrs Curran for preparing them so well and thanks to Mr Casey for all his help.  The Parents Association organised teas/coffees and refreshments for the Communion families in the hall afterwards. 

In preparation for Confirmation the 6^th Class pupils had a retreat with the Holy Family Mission on Friday 19^th May. The feedback from the class afterwards was very positive about the day.  Two Confirmation ceremonies took place on Wednesday 31^st May and Bishop Cullinan confirmed the boys and girls in 6^th Class.  The first ceremony was at 10 a.m. for three children and the second ceremony took place at 11 a.m. Again thank you very much to Mrs Veale for all her work in preparing the class.  Thank you very much to Bishop Cullinan and to Fr Keogh, especially for accommodating our request for two ceremonies. 

 

Fr Arthure

Fr Arthure’s Anniversary Mass took place on Thursday 27^th April.   Some of the classes attended from the school.  

There will be Graduation Mass for 6^th Class on Friday week, 16^th June in the school and an end of year school Mass for infants to 5^th Class on Wednesday 21^st June with Fr Keogh.

 

School Tours

The 1^st & 2^nd class  school tour to Leahy’s Open Farm was on Wednesday 7^th June and the two infant classes are going on their tour to Ardmore Farm tomorrow.  Le Chéile will have their school tour to Suir Valley next week while the remaining classes will have theirs during the last week of the school year. There are 2 classes left to go on their tours.

( 5^th Class are going to Zipit in Cork and 6^th Class are going to Dunmore East.)

Sport

Hurling

All the classes had hurling every week during the term.  Thanks to our five coaches from Cappoquin/Affane GAA Club, James Lacey, Conor Prendergast, Fintan Murray, Patrick Morrissey (Snoopy) and Stephen Organ. Thanks also to Tricia McCarthy and Lauren Reddy from Cappoquin Camogie Club as they who also helped out when we were short a coach.

Cuman Na mBunscol

In the hurling, the mini 7s were played in Tallow and Cappoquin participated in the boys and girls competitions.  It was ran off as a group this year and this was a much better format than straight knock out. 

 Then in the 15 a side the boys lost out to Lismore, Scoil Na Leanai and Ballymacarbry in the group. The best performance was against Ballymacarbry.   A few weeks later the boys enjoyed a good victory over Garranbane  in the shield semi-final.  The final was played in Abbeyside on Thursday 25^th May and there was great support for the team there. The boys lost out to Ballymacarbry in the final after a good performance especially in the first half.  The girls camogie team qualified for the Roinn A proper semi-final and lost after a good performance to Scoil Garbhan. Congratulations to our 6^th Class pupil, Hollie Cahill who played with Waterford Primary Games team in camogie at half-time of the Waterford v Cork Munster SHC game. 

3^rd Class students recently took part in 2 blitzes organised by Déise Og, one gaelic football and one hurling blitz. The Gaelic Football blitz took place in Ardmore, while the hurling blitz took place in Dungarvan.

There was a 2^nd Class camogie blitz in Lismore on Monday 29^th May. Thanks to Tricia McCarthy for helping Mrs Curran and Lauren Reddy on the day.

Soccer

Brideview United in Tallow organised a very enjoyable soccer blitz for 5^th and 6^th class boys and girls. A number of schools from West Waterford and East Cork participated.  We entered two teams and both teams got on well reaching the semi-final stages and both teams were a bit unlucky not to reach the final.  They ended up playing each other in the 3^rd/4^th placed match.

Bike Week

Bike week took place in May and Leonie O’ Brien borrowed balance bikes for the infant classes in the school and they were a great hit. 

Swimming

4^th Class, 6^th Class and Le Chéile 1 and Le Chéile 2 completed a  five week block of  swimming lessons in the Aura Leisure Centre Youghal during March and for one week after Easter in April.  

Athletics

Today, Tuesday 8^th June we had an athletics day in the school.  The children really enjoyed the day. Thanks to Ms Lyons and her Active School’s Committee for organising the day.

Sports Day and Active Schools Week 

 Active Schools Week and Sports Day (Wednesday 14th June) will take place next week. Thanks to Ms Lyons and the Active Schools Committee for organising Active Schools Week. 

A huge thank you to the Parents Association of the school who are covering the following costs during Sports Day and Active Schools Week, two bouncy castles, ice-cream van visit and zumba.  

Thanks again to our local soccer club Cappoquin Railway Football Club for making their facilities available to us throughout the year.

 For active schools we were also focusing on the fundamental skill of skipping and hopping during June. 

Visits to the School

Garda John O’Dwyer visited the school on Friday 26^th May.  He spoke to junior classes in the hall first and then spoke to the senior classes afterwards.  John spoke about the many different aspects to the role of being a garda.  The children asked many interesting questions during the two talks. 

Child Protection Oversight Report.

Child Protection Oversight Report was presented. 

Health & Safety Report

The report was presented. 

 

New Text Book Scheme

• We were given money to purchase books and copies for each child. We will ask parents to purchase all stationary.
• Arts/Crafts & Photocopying will be asked for from each family
• We will need to get three quotes and we will purchase then.

.

Amber Flag

• We had a Well Being Week coming up to the Easter Week. A discussion was held in relation to this.
• The decision taken by the BoM in February 2020 ‘that Yoga for children could go ahead as part of the SPHE programme if the school wished’ was discussed and the Board is happy to reiterate and support the teaching of yoga as part of the SPHE curriculum. The Board supports any future implementation of any programmes in line with curriculum guidelines.

Retirement

Mary Flynn retiring.  She began in 2007.  Martin complemented Mary on her great work over the years.  On Tuesday June 13^th we will celebrate Mary’s retirement.

• Staff to celebrate on June 9^th and present her with a gift.
• Parents Association will give a gift on the day.
• Board to give gift.

Work around the perimeter of the field

The Board gave approval to go ahead with it.

Finance

The Treasurer presented a current financial update.  ICT grant not coming in the 2022/2023 school year.

I.S.M. Report

End of Year reports from members of the ISM (In School Management) were read out by the Principal.

AP2– Post Advertised this week and interview to be held in August 2023.

I.T. – Digital Learning

Kevin organised the following

• Staff Survey
• Parents Survey
• Draft I.T. Digital Strategy.

The ipads we bought need to be used in the most effective way to assist teaching & learning.  The Board offered to pay for any ICT course.

The Draft needs to be returned with any suggestion before end of this school year.

 

 

Votes of sympathy:

Family of Josephine Fennessy on her passing. . 

Deirdre Buckley- on the passing of hermother in law – Mary Buckley.

Sympathies to any of our school community that lost any family members during the school year.

This concluded the meeting.

Agreed Report Board of Management Meeting Wednesday March 15^th 2023.

 

A Board meeting took place in the school on Wednesday 15^th March at 7:30pm

The meeting was opened by Chairperson Kevin McCarthy.

Minutes of the previous meeting were proposed and seconded.

Correspondence

No correspondence.

Principals Report

Principals Report was presented. It included the details of enrolment, staffing, curriculum, The Summer Provision Programme, ethos, extracurricular and fundraising. See some of the following details from the report. 

Principal’s Report

February and March

Enrolment

Since our last meeting a family with three children in the school left the school as they moved to Waterford city, they also had a child due to start Junior Infants in September.  However, two other children have since enrolled (which would mean we now have 192 children currently attending the school. We have 24 enrolment forms returned in to the office for the incoming Junior Infants for the 2023-2024 school year.   We have two definite enrolments for Le Chéile for next year. 

The staffing schedule for the 2023-2024 school year came out at the end of January.  As expected our enrolment number of 193 last September is fine to retain the 8 mainstream class teachers last, the retention number dropped from 194 to 189. 

Staffing

• Teachers – 14
• SNA’s – 9
• Bus Escorts – 5

Teaching Practice

• One student teacher from DCU (St. Patrick’s Campus) is on teaching practice in Junior Infants for five weeks.

Work Placement

• One SNA work placement one day a week to gain SNA experience as part of her course.

Curriculum

 

Gaeilge Subject Inspection

 The final Gaeilge curriculum evaluation report was sent to the school in February.  A staff meeting was held on Tuesday 28^th February to review the report and look at implementing the recommendations from the report into our teaching and learning of Gaeilge.   

Seachtain Na Gaeilge

Seachtain Na Gaeilge is currently running in the school, we started it on Monday 6^th March and the staff and students are making a great effort to promote Gaeilge and Irish culture over these past couple of weeks.  Thanks to Máire Kearney for organising Seachtain Na Gaeilge and thanks to Mary Casey for teaching Irish dancing to all classes. Paired comhrá between different classes took place on a number of occasions in March.   We had a Lá Glas, a ceilí and an Irish assembly today. 3^rd to 6^th classes will also have a tráth na gcéist tomorrow afternoon.  

PLC – Primary Language Curriculum 

During this school year the Department of Education have instructed schools that we are to use 3 half days to working on the primary language curriculum as a whole staff.  To try to be as least disruptive to parents as possible, Cappoquin will have a half day in-service on the PLC for the staff on Friday 31^st March meaning there will be no school for children on this date and Easter holidays will begin for the children on Thursday evening 30^th March.  Then we will combine two half days to have a full day staff in-service on Friday 28^th April/2^nd May.

 

Literacy & Maths Stations Literacy and Maths Stations continue to take place across a number of different classes in the school with SET teachers going in to support classroom teachers for these. Thanks to Christine Coffey who is currently coming in once a week to assist 4^th Class stations.  Christine is going to come in 4 days a week after Easter to help Junior Infants with Literacy Lift Off.

Library Visits

A number of classes also had recent visits to the library in Cappoquin.

 

World Book Day

World Book Day took place on Friday 3^rd of March and a large number of the children dressed up as their favourite book characters and brought in their favourite books.    

 

Music

Our school choir (comprising of children from 4^th to 6^th class) performed at Peace Proms in SETU arena Waterford on Saturday night March 4th. It was a brilliant night of performance and the Cappoquin choir were excellent.  The choir members seemed to really enjoy the night. A huge thanks Mrs Veale for all her preparation of the choir and thanks to Ms Barry and Ms Houlihan for helping with the rehearsals.  Thanks to all three teachers for giving up their Saturday evening to go the Peace Proms with the choir. 

SESE (Social Enviromental & Scientific Education)

Credit Union Quiz

Well done to our two school teams who entered into the Credit Union quiz which took place in Dungarvan on Monday 30^th January.  Both teams performed well with the under 13 team coming 2^nd on the night, only 1 pt behind the first placed team.

Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day was on Tuesday 7^th February and the teachers did a number of online safety lessons around this time.

SPHE

The 6^th Class pupils had an RSE talk with Susan Abrook on Wednesday 8^th February. 

DEIS- Hot Lunches

The hot lunches started on Monday 30th January. All seems to be going well with them.  Sharleen Kerrigan was hired by Fresh Today as the food operative. 

Ethos

St Brigid’s Day

Junior Infants to second class pupils and their teachers attended Mass on St. Brigid’s Day Wednesday 1^st February, while 3^rd to 6^th Class pupils attended Mass on Friday 3^rd February for the feast of St Blaise.  All classes attended Mass on Ash Wednesday, 22^nd February. Thanks to Mr Casey for liaising with Fr Keogh and organising the different jobs for the Masses.  

Confirmation will take place in Cappoquin on Wednesday 31^st May.  In preparation the 6^th Class had an enrolment ceremony in the church with Fr Keogh on Wednesday morning 8^th March. 

 

 

First Holy Communion will take place on Saturday 6^th May. First Confession

Our First Confession tbc.  There will be an enrolment ceremony for 2^nd Class on Thursday morning 16^th March at 10a.m.

 

Sport

Gaelic Games

Thanks to Cappoquin/Affane GAA Club for providing coaching in the school.  CP, Snoopy and Stephen Organ are coaching hurling since mid-term and will continue on every Thursday up until Easter. 

Cuman Na mBunscol

We participated in the hurling and camogie mini 7s in Tallow on Tuesday March 7^th. They changed the format to a blitz this year and it worked well. Both teams played four matches against Ballyduff Upper, Knockanore, Lismore and Tallow.  Our boys team won 1 game, drew 1 and lost 2. Our girls team won 2 and lost 2.   

3^rd and 4^th Class Hurling and Camogie Blitz

Some of our 3^rd and 4^th class pupils participated in a hurling and camogie blitz in Lismore on Friday 10^th February.  CP helped Ms Lyons with the boys team and Patricia McCarthy helped Ms Barry with the girls team. The 15 a side competitions for our senior classes will start up soon. 

Soccer and FAI 5 a side

The FAI primary schools 5 a side took place in Cappoquin on Wednesday 1^st of March. We entered 2 boys teams and 2 girls teams.   All 4 teams acquitted themselves well. 

Again thank you to the soccer club for continued access to the astro pitch.  

Athletics

Mark Ferguson from Finisk Valley AC finished up coaching athletics at the start of February.  Thanks very much to Mark for giving up his free time and volunteering to coach the children.    

Badminton

On Friday 10^th February 2 boys teams and 1 girls team participated in the schools Munster Badminton Competition in UL Sports Arena on Friday 10^th February. Our boys A team reached the Munster Final and lost to Ennis NS.  Our 2^nd boys team won 2 and lost 2 in their group.  Our girls team were narrowly defeated in a playoff at the quarter-final stage. The girls had won all their group games.   The boys A team and girls team qualified for the All Ireland series which took place on Wednesday1st of March in Dublin. The girls again reached the quarter-final stage and the boys reached the semi-finals.  It was a great achievement, well done to all the players and their club mentors.   Thanks to Bridget Murray and Blackwater Badminton Club who organise everything on behalf of the school for the badminton competitions. Thanks to Bridget and to Darragh Wilkinson for attending both the Munster and All Ireland competitions. 

Swimming

4^th Class, 6^th Class and Le Chéile 1 and Le Chéile 2 have started a block of 5 weeks swimming lessons in the Aura Leisure Centre Youghal during March and for one week after Easter in April.  

 

The Parents Association

The Parents Association/Council ran a very enjoyable and successful quiz on Friday 3^rd March. Thanks to the Parents Association for organising the quiz and thanks to Kevin McCarthy for being the quizmaster. 

Cake Sale Fundraiser- Following the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, 6^th Class and Mrs Veale organised a cake sale fundraiser in the school. The Cake Sale in aid of the Earthquake Victims in Turkey and Syria raised an amazing €987.07. Thanks so much to all of the families for supporting it and thanks to Mrs Veale and 6th Class for organising it.  The money is going to GOAL’s work with the Earthquake victims. 

Child Protection Oversight Report.

Child Protection Oversight Report was presented. 

Health & Safety Report

The report was presented. 

Gaeilge Curriculum Evaluation

Recommendations from DES will be implemented.

School Uniform/Tracksuit

Martin is to go back to parents and feels that all parents need to be surveyed.  A committee of five to six to be created making up of three parents and two staff.  They will be looking at all options – tracksuit for PE, tracksuit for school or school tracksuit and uniform.  Tracey Brown Garvey felt it is very important to look at wear ability of tracksuit.

Financial Report

Helen Looby presented the 2021/2022 accounts.  Accounts signed off.

IT Digital learning – Plans & Policies – Start of Digital Plan

Kevin surveyed parents and staff

Information gathering

Trying to link everything now we are a DEIS school.  We have a good broadband network.

We will follow the DEIS six step process.

Surveys given out after St Patrick’s Day.  Each family to be given a fortnight to complete survey.  Answers to be given back on an online format.

A.O.B.

Bookfair:- Tracey Brown Garvey said the code for the school needs to be put in as you are buying books.

Votes of Sympathy

Family of Eddie Fraher- on the passing of Eddie. 

Máire Kearney – on the passing of her Uncle,

Next meeting will take place after Easter in  May/June. 

This concluded the meeting.

Agreed Report Board of Management Meeting 26^th January 2023.

 

A Board meeting took place in the school on Thursday 26^th January at 7:30pm

The meeting was opened by Chairperson Kevin McCarthy. The opening prayer was led by Fr Keogh. 

Minutes of the previous meeting were proposed and seconded.

Correspondence

Letters of correspondence were read and discussed. 

Included in the correspondence was a Christmas Card from Mt Melleray Abbey and a €200 donation. 

Principals Report

Principals Report was presented. It included the details of enrolment, staffing, curriculum, The Summer Provision Programme, ethos, extracurricular and fundraising. See some of the following details from the report. 

Principal’s Report

November, December & January

After the mid-term break we returned to school on Monday 7^th November.  We had a busy run in to the Christmas and then Christmas holidays began on Wednesday 21^st December.  We returned to school after Christmas on Thursday 5^th January. 

Enrolment

Enrolment number of 193 for 2022/2023 school year remains unchanged since last meeting. 

Staffing

• Teachers – 14
• SNA’s – 9
• Bus Escorts – 5
• Maternity Leave – Aisling Fennell started her maternity leave on Thursday 5^th January. Welcome to Hannah Waide to the teaching staff as she covers Aisling’s maternity leave for the next few months.

Congratulations to Aisling Fennell on the birth of her baby boy this week and congratulations to Susan Amy Scanlon on the birth of twin baby girls, Evie & Grace, towards the end of October. 

Work Placement

• One SNA work placement one day a week to gain SNA experience as part of her course.

Curriculum

Gaeilge Subject Inspection

A Gaeilge curriculum evaluation was carried in the school on Tuesday 6^th and Wednesday 7^th December.  Two inspectors from the Department of Education undertook the evaluation while a 3^rd inspector shadowed them.  On Tuesday 6^th December the inspectors met with the Principal first and carried out checks in relation to the school’s child protection and anti-bullying procedures.  The inspectors then visited each of the eight mainstream classes that day.  On Wednesday 7^th December the inspectors met with 11 students ranging from 3^rd to 6^th class as a sample group to ascertain their views and thoughts on Gaeilge.  Following this each mainstream teacher was then given oral feedback on the visit to their classroom individually. Finally, the inspectors met with Ms Kearney (as the GAEILGE post holder) and Mr Delaney to provide oral feedback on the visit.  The inspectors praised the good work and the good practices that are happening in the school and then they made recommendations on how we can improve the teaching and learning of Gaeilge in the school.  An official written report will be sent to the school soon. 

We will aim to incorporate the recommendations for Gaeilge in the school.   

 

PLC – Primary Language Curriculum 

Literacy & Maths Stations Literacy and Maths Stations are taking place across a number of different classes in the school with SET teachers going in to support classroom teachers for these.

Paired Reading

Some of the classes have started up paired reading last week and all classes will participate in the coming weeks.  6^th Class are paired with 2^nd Class, 5^th Class are paired with 1^st Class, 4^th Class are paired with Senior Infants and 3^rd Class are paired with Junior Infants. 

Library Visits

First, third and fifth classes also had recent visits to the library in Cappoquin.

 

World Book Day

World Book Day will take place on Thursday 2^nd March and we will plan some activities in the school for that day. 

 

 

Music

Mrs Veale continues to prepare the choir (comprising of children from 4^th to 6^th class) for the Peace Proms, which takes place in WIT on March 4th.  Thanks to Ms Barry and Ms Houlihan who are also helping Mrs Veale with choir.   

The choir also performed at Santa at the Strand in Lismore on the evening of Thursday 1^st

December.  Junior and Senior Infant classes combined to perform their Nativity play on Friday 16^th December in the school hall.  There was a lovely atmosphere that morning and it was great to have parents back in the school for something like this.  I thought the parents really enjoyed it and thanks to Ms O’ Brien and Ms Roche for preparing the children for the performance. Then on Monday 19^th December 1^st to 6^th class children sang Christmas carols in the church.  The singing sounded so nice in the church and again thanks to all the class teachers for preparing their classes. 

SESE (Social Enviromental & Scientific Education)

Seachtain na hEolaíochta

Science Week Ireland took place from 13^th to 20^th November.  There pupils and teachers were very active carrying out science experiments and investigations during the week.  The school also purchased STEM boxes from Lismore Heritage Centre for the class teachers to use. 

Art – Credit Union

The children participated in the Credit Union Art competition. 

Credit Union Quiz

The school have 2 teams entered into the Credit Union quiz which takes place in Dungarvan next Monday.  There is an under 11 and an under 13 team. 

Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day will be on Tuesday 7^th February. 

Parent Teacher Meetings

Parent Teacher meetings took place in the school on Tuesday 22^nd November and Wednesday 23^rd November. 

Ethos

Thanks to Mary Flynn, Mary Casey and James Casey for putting up the crib and the Advent Wreaths as well as the Christmas tree and other decorations in preparation for Christmas.

1^st to 6^th Class children attended Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8^th.  Then all classes attended Mass on Friday 6^th January for the Feast of the Epiphany.

Catholic Schools Week is on this week, running from Sunday 22^nd to Sunday 29^th January. Yesterday, Wednesday 25^th January, was Grandparents Day.  Our sacramental classes of 2^nd and 6^th attended Mass at 10 am and there were a good number of grandparents.  As is tradition the school also invited in the grandparents of the 5^th Class children to come to visit their grandchildren at school. We had a great turnout of grandparents.  Firstly, the grandparents went to Ms Houlihan’s classroom where the children presented projects in groups that they had prepared on the ipads. There was then a question and answer session where the grandparents and a short discussion comparing life in school years ago and today. Afterwards all the grandparents and the children went down to hall for some refreshments.  Thanks to all the grandparents for coming in, thanks to Mary Flynn with help from Eilish Fenton for preparing the hall and serving the teas/coffees. A big thank you also to Ms Houlihan for all her work in preparing the class and for guiding the children on their projects.

St Brigid’s Day

St. Brigid’s is next Wednesday 1^st February.

Confirmation will take place in Cappoquin  on Wednesday 31^st May.  

First Confession

Our First Confession tbc

First Holy Communion will take place on Saturday 6^th  May

 

Sport

Gaelic Games

A huge thank you to Cappoquin Camogie Club who for donating a vast amount of equipment to the school on 24^th November. The equipment included indoor hurleys, sliotars, cones, hula hoops, soft balls, reaction balls etc.    While mentioning the camogie club congratulations to Lorraine Bray on winning an All Star for 2022, Lorraine was also a nominee for player of the year. 

Thanks to Cappoquin/Affane GAA Club for helping with coaching in the school.  Gavin Whelan came to the school on a few occasions during the first term.  From mid-February two coaches from Cappoquin/Affane will come in once a week for 5 to 6 weeks.  They will then provide more help after Easter.  

Cuman Na mBunscol

Our Cuman na mBunscol Gaelic Football Roinn A gaelic football finals were originally postponed in late October and they then took place in Balinameela on a bitterly cold Saturday morning 19^th November. The boys’ final took place first and Cappoquin defeated Garranbane, Cappoquin led for the majority of the match and put in a very good display.  The boys really felt the cold. It was very slightly warmer for the girls final and after a titanic tussle Cappoquin emerged victorious over Ballymacarbry.  This was a very close game and Ballymacarbry were in the lead close to the end but the Cappoquin girls showed incredible determination and spirit throughout the game and deservedly got a winning goal near the end of the game.  This was a great achievement by our girls team. 

We also participated in the mini 7s in Lismore on November 8^th.  Our boys team were knocked by Ballyduff Upper. Our girls team defeated Ballyduff Upper and were very unlucky to lose to Lismore in the final game that day. 

The hurling na mBunscol hurling competitions will start up in March. 

Soccer and Futsal

Futsal in the Yard in Cappoquin Primary School

FAI coach Gary Power came to the school on Wednesday 23^rd November and coached the Futsal programme to our 3rd and 4th class children.  We have also entered teams in the FAI primary schools 5 a side which will take place in the spring.

Again thank you to the soccer club for continued access to the astro pitch.  

Athletics

Mark Ferguson from Finisk Valley AC is coaching athletics to the children every Monday on a voluntary basis.  Thanks very much to Mark for this. 

Tennis  Shelley Mernin from Dungarvan Tennis Club is coaching tennis on a weekly basis to all classes for six weeks every Tuesday. 

Swimming

4^th Class, 6^th Class and Le Chéile 1 and Le Chéile 2 will have a block of 5 weeks swimming lessons in the Aura Leisure Centre Youghal during March and for one week after Easter in April.   4^th and 6^th class pupils will go on Tuesdays starting on March 7^th , while Le Chéile classes will go on Thursdays starting on March 9^th.  Unfortunately the cost of hiring buses is extremely high these days. 

Active Schools

For active schools we are focusing on the fundamental skill of side stepping during January. 

 

The Parents Association/Council during November and December.

The Parents Association/Council organised the rota for Kellehers Christmas raffle.  Thanks also to Tom Kelleher and Supervalu for sponsoring the €500 shopping voucher and congratulations to the winner Ellen Corrigan from Modeligo who bought the winning ticket for her son Ollie Barron.  It was a very successful fundraiser and €3500 was raised.   A lot of time was given by a number of people to sell the tickets in Kellehers. Thanks to all who supported it. 

The Parents Association also showed great initiative in organising 2 discos on Saturday 10^th December.  The afternoon disco was for younger children and Santa visited them as well. Then in the evening there was a disco for 5^th and 6^th class children. Both events were extremely well organised and the feedback from our 5^th and 6^th class boys and girls who attended was very positive.  The Parents Association would have liked more attendees especially for the second disco so that it could have been a more profitable event. Even though there wasn’t much money made on the discos I thought it was great to see something different tried and the children who did go enjoyed it.  

 

Fire brigade Fundraiser

Unfortunately, due to bad weather and dangerous road conditions Cappoquin Fire brigade had to cancel their annual fundraiser in December. 

Health & Safety Report

The report was presented. 

I.T

I.T Consultant came and updated the ubiquity system (means of spreading  wifi around the school) and it is working very well.

Finance

2021/2022 accounts are with the accountant. Current Financial report was presented by the Treasurer. 

Plans & Policies

Admissions Policy updated.  We were directed by the Department to make the changes.

 

 

Votes of Sympathy

Jamie Corcoran – on the passing of his aunt, Mary Dunbar. 

Cathy Halley – on the passing of her Grandmother. 

James Casey – Wife’s cousin

Janice Barry –– on the passing of her Mother-in-law, Phil Barry. 

This concluded the meeting.

Agreed Report Board of Management Meeting – 25^th October 2022

A Board meeting took place in the school on Tuesday 25^th October at 7:30pm

The meeting was opened by Chairperson Kevin McCarthy where he welcomed Fr Keogh to the BoM.  The opening prayer was led by Fr Keogh. 

Minutes of the previous meeting were proposed and seconded.

 

Principals Report

Principals Report was presented. It included the details of enrolment, staffing, curriculum, The Summer Provision Programme, ethos, extracurricular and fundraising. See some of the following details from the report. 

Principal’s Report

All the children returned to school on Tuesday 30^th August.

Enrolment

We have an enrolment of 193 pupils for the 2022/23 school year. There are eighteen new pupils in Junior Infants. We also have one new pupil in First Class, two new pupils in 3^rd Class, one new pupil in 4^th Class, one new pupil in 5^th Class, one new pupil in 6th Class and one new pupil in Le Chéile 2.

Staffing

• Teachers- 14

Ms Hannah Houlihan is back in the school currently covering a maternity leave in 5^th Class and welcome to Ms Lisa Barry who is currently teaching 4^th Class and she us covering the maternity leave there too.   

Principal	Martin Delaney
Deputy Principal	James Casey
Special Education Teachers	James Casey Máire Kearney Aisling Fennell
Le Chéile Class 1 Le Chéile Class 2	Caoimhe Ní Chuirrín Jenny Kiely
Junior Infants	Leonie O’Brien
Senior Infants	Laura Roche
1st Class	Caroline Price
2nd Class	Eilish Curran
3rd Class	Louise Lyons
4th Class	Susan Amy Scanlan (Ms Lisa Barry)
5th Class	Breda Feeney (Ms Hannah Houlihan)
6th Class	Mairéad Veale
Special Needs Assistants	Olivia O’Daly, Deirdre Cahill, Therese Walsh, Mary O’Brien, Deirdre Buckley, Cathy Halley, John Twomey, Aileen Buckley and Jamie Corcoran.
Bus Escorts	5
School Secretary	Mary Casey
School Maintenance	Mary Flynn, Lois Crotty &  Janice Barry

 

Maintenance

Mary Flynn painted two classrooms during the summer months. 

Ethos

We wish Fr Gear and Fr Denmead well as they move on to new parishes.  A very warm welcome to our new Parish Priest, Fr Keogh. 

On Friday 14^th October Fr Keogh celebrated an Opening Year Mass with the whole school Thanks to Mr Casey and Fr Keogh for organising the Mass and thanks to all the boys and girls who read or carried gifts for it.   

 

Curriculum

DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) School Plan  On Friday 30^th September Mr Delaney attended a DEIS training day for Principals run by the PDST in Kilkenny Education Centre.  It was very informative and there is a lot of work for a DEIS School Plan.  The DEIS plan will incorporate our SSE (School Self Evaluation) and SIP (School Improvement Plan.) There are six themes DEIS THEMES: DEIS themes are curricular areas or aspects of school life which are set down by the Department as being critical for improving educational outcomes in schools.

Literacy Lift Off

Literacy Lift Off is taking place in First Class on a daily basis for a six-week period.  Literacy Lift Off is an intervention that gives children lots of opportunities to read books at their own level of competency and gradually lift the complexity of what they can do in both reading and writing.  During Literacy Lift Off we increase the number of adults in the classroom to work with the children in smaller groups especially in relation to reading.

Station Teaching

A number of classes are currently using station teaching in Literacy or Numeracy when the SET teacher is timetabled to work with their class. 

Summer Stars

Well done to the pupils from Bunscoil Gleann who participated in the Summer Stars reading programme in Cappoquin and Dungarvan Libraries. Sheilia Curtin is sending in the certificates to the school tomorrow and we will present the children with their medals and certificates at Assembly on Friday before the mid-term break.

Library Visit

On Wednesday 12^th October First Class had a very enjoyable visit to the ‘Trunk of Tricks’ show in the Cappoquin library.   During this school year we intend that each class will have a month visiting the library regularly.

First Class also planted holly trees for National Tree Day. 

Third Class are participating in the Picker Pals initiative. 

Maths

Maths Week Ireland took place from 15^th to 23^rd October.  Bricks 4 Kidz came into the school on Tuesday 18^th October and on Friday 21^st October where every class had an hour lego lesson with them on one of the days.  The majority of children seemed to really enjoy it. Thanks to Mrs Curran for organising Bricks 4 Kidz.  Other extra mathematical based activities took place in many of the classrooms and there were Maths trails around the school as well during Maths week.  A number of classes also used Maths apps on the ipads. 

 

Music

Peace Proms

Our school choir is up and running this year and is made up of pupils from 4^th, 5^th and 6^th classes.  Thanks to Mrs Veale for setting up and looking after the school choir and thanks to Ms Barry and Ms Houlihan for assisting Mrs Veale. The choir will have a rehearsal in WIT arena on Wednesday 16^th November and then the date for the show itself is Saturday 4^th March 2023. 

The Choir will also perform at Santa At the Strand in Lismore on Thursday evening 1^st December at 6.30 p.m. 

Carol Service

First to Sixth classes hope to have a carol service in the church on Wednesday evening 14^th December and the infant classes will have a Nativity performance in the school on Friday morning 16^th December.

SESE (Social Enviromental & Scientific Education)

Science Week Ireland is from 13^th to 20^th November.  There will be plenty of science activities during the week and we will be encouraging the children to carry out their own investigations and experiments as well. 

 

PE,  Sport  and Extracurricular

GAA

During a number of Thursdays during September and October we’ve had Gaelic Football and fundamental movement coaching with Gavin Whelan assisted by Stephen Organ (who is on placement on Thursdays as part of his third level course.)

 Congratulations to Violet Dineen and Alyssa Ferguson on winning the Division 3 under 12 Ladies Football Championship with St Olivers and likewise congratulations to Bonnie Mclaughlin on winning the Division 5 under 12 Ladies Football Championship with Shamrocks in September. 

Cuman Na mBunscol

The Cuman na mBunscol Primary games gaelic football competitions started back in September.  Our boys’ team were in a group with Ballymacarbry and Lismore schools. While our girls’ team were in a group with Ballymacarbry, Lismore and Scoil Na Leanai.   Despite some very good performances by both the boys and girls we lost our matches against those schools in our blitz held in Cappoquin on Tuesday 27^th September.  We were then in the Roinn A Shield section.  The boys team defeated St Joseph’s National School Dungarvan in the shield semi-final and qualified for the shield final against Garranbane NS.    The girls defeated Garranbane National School in the Shield semi-final and are through to play Ballymacarbry again in the Shield Final.  Both finals were originally due to be played in Dungarvan on Saturday last, 22^nd October, however both games are now postponed until after mid-term.

Cycle Right

5^th Class participated in the Cycle Cycle Right program with Donal Jacob and Ollie every Thursday morning for four weeks. 

 

 

 

Athletics

A number of our students are members of Finisk Valley Athletic Club based in Ballinameela and indeed some of these students have performed really well recently in county and provincial competitions.   There were numerous open days etc where medals were won but the main one was the Munster B’s in Templemore. 

At the Munster B’s in Templemore in July 

U10 Boys 500m – Gold– Daithí Ferguson

U11 Girls Long Jump – Bronze- Chloe Landers

U11 Girls Sprint- Bronze- Lily Quann

U11 Girls Turbo Javelin- Bronze- Lily Quann

U12 Girls Shot put- Gold- Alyssa Ferguson 

Jake and Rory Quann also competed and excelled with personal bests in the U9 long jump and turbo javelin. 

Active Schools

Fundamental movement skills for October is running for the Junior Infants and striking with the hand or dribbling for Senior Infants to 6^th Class. 

PE EQUPMENT

Thanks to Louise Lyons who is ordering some extra PE equipment for the school

 

DEIS FOOD

School Lunches – Fresh Today have been delivering cold lunches to the school during the first term and overall the feedback from families seems positive.  It was hoped that we would be moving to hot lunches at the start of November, however this has been delayed and it will probably be December at the earliest before we have the hot lunches.  Parents login to the Fresh Today website and order the lunch for the week.  

IT

Wifi speed- broadband –hasn’t been great at on numerous occasions during the first term. Mr Delaney was given a date of the week of 17^th October as the date when the upgrades carried out last spring by Viatel would kick in.   Viatel are still waiting on the NBI to sign off on all the paper work between themselves and the NBI & PDST. We should have download speeds of 100 mbs coming into the office when it does kick in.  An IT consultant has also being hired for a few days work to improve and upgrade the ubiquiti system in the school (this is what is used to spread the wifi throughout the school building.)   This IT Consultant is due back in over the mid-term to install new ubiquiti devices and to provide us with the capacity to have more IP addresses to cater for a greater need for them now with the new IPADs. 

In October 68 new Ipads along with 68 protective cases and 35 keyboards arrived in the school.  We ordered the devices through Wriggle Connect, a company which was recommended for buying ipads for schools.  Wriggle Connect also provide online training for the teachers as part of the package and they pre-installed a number of educational apps.  The cost of all the order from Wriggle was almost €35,000.  This money is the combined budget we had/have from ICT grants and the Parents Association fundraising during the spring and early summer.  Thanks so much to the Parents Association for the fundraising. Thank you to everyone who supported either the idonate fundraiser or donated through the letter to businesses.  A special mention of gratitude to Billy Garvey, Chairperson of the PA, who spearheaded the whole fundraising project and to Mags Ormonde for setting up the Idonate page.  A number of other parents also volunteered their time selling tickets and a huge thank you to all of those parents too. 

We had a delivery of headphones for the pupils today.   

Thanks to Ms Hannah Houlihan for looking after the school’s Facebook pages and thanks to Maireád Veale for looking after the school twitter account.   

Parents Association

The Parents Association intend to hold a meeting the first week back after the mid-term.  Chairperson of the PA, Billy Garvey is going to link in with Tom Kelleher in relation to the traditional Christmas Raffle. 

Blackwater Community School had an Open Night for 6^th Class pupils and their families last night, Monday 24^th October. 

Photographs

Billy Whyte took school photographs of the Junior Infants and their siblings recently.

Thanks to Mary McGrath for taking also took photos of the Junior Infants at the start of the school year. 

Halloween Dress Up will take place in the school this Friday 28^th of October. 

Summer School Programme: 11 pupils participated. Very positive feedback

Health and Safety

• First Aid kits and items purchased
• Weekly battery checks of the defibrillator are being carried out
• Monthly checks on break glass units, fire extinguishers, emergency lighting and RCBOS are being carried out.
• Guardian Fire Service carried out a quarterly service of the fire alarm system.

Finance

Financial Report was presented by Treasurer

Policies

Critical Incident Policy updated.

Updated Risk Assessments Anti Bullying Policy: Policy was reviewed and was ratified. 

 

Votes of sympathy Votes of sympathy were passed to the families of John Cahill, Joan O’ Brien, Patrick Kearney, James Buckley, Amanda Condon, Charlie Barry, Bernadette Fives and to all those in the school community who lost loved ones over recent months.   

Agreed Report Board of Management Meeting – 15^th June 2022

A Board meeting took place in the school on Wednesday 15^th June at 7:30pm

The meeting was opened by Chairperson Kevin McCarthy.

Minutes of the previous meeting were proposed and seconded.

 

Principals Report

Principals Report was presented. It included the details of enrolment, staffing, curriculum, The Summer Provision Programme, ethos, extracurricular and fundraising. See some of the following details from the report. 

Return to School for Term 3

We finished up for the second term on Friday 8^th April and the children and staff returned to school following the Easter break on Monday 25^thApril. We had a very busy but enjoyable third term in Bunscoil Gleann Sidheáin.  All the children and teachers worked hard throughout much of the term.  It wasn’t all work especially as we reached the end of May and headed into June.  

Enrolment

Our current enrolment on Aladdin is 199 pupils. Our Open Day for the incoming Junior Infants took place today, Wednesday 15^th June.  We received 20 enrolment forms for Junior Infants.   This is a smaller number than normal and could possibly put the school under pressure to retain 8 mainstream classes for the 2023-2024 school year.  

Staffing

• Teachers – Thanks to Ms Hannah Houlihan for all her great work in the school during the year. Hannah was subbing in SET up to the end of November and then she was with 5^th Class for the remainder of the year. Thanks also to Mary Cora Roche for all her work in the school over the past two years, Mary Cora’s job exchange with Breda Feeney comes to an end this summer. We wish both teachers well in the future. 
• SNAs – Thanks to Jacinta Casey for all her work this year covering Deirdre Cahill’s maternity leave. We wish Jacinta well in the future.

Curriculum

Standardised Testing

Almost every child in the mainstream classes completed standardised tests in numeracy, literacy and spelling in late May and early June.  The results of the tests were added in to the report cards, which were released to parents on Aladdin yesterday, Tuesday 14^th June.  

Stay Safe

All teachers were requested to ensure that the Stay Safe programme was taught to all our classes as part of the SPHE curriculum and as part of our Child Protection policy. 

CLASS Hours

We employed two teachers for a combined total of 16 hours per week for just over 10 weeks during March, April and May under the Department of Education’s CLASS (Covid Learning And Support Scheme) scheme.  This scheme was put in place to help school mitigate the adverse impacts of Covid-19 on pupil/student learning loss and wellbeing arising from the periods of school closures in 2020 and 2021. These teachers worked with children who had missed significant time in school due to being in isolation because of Covid.  For example, some children have missed complete topics in Maths and usually, one or two sessions with a teacher helped them catch them up on what they missed. The teachers in SET and the class teachers identified children who could do with that bit of extra support to help them catch up.  Thanks to Tracy Hogan and Elaine Smith who were the two teachers and there was very positive feedback from a number of parents about CLASS hours.

World Book Day 

World Book Day took place in the school on Thursday 3^rd March where many of our students came in with one of their favourite books and dressed up as a character from that book. 

Food Dudes

The Health Eating Initiative Food Dudes returned to the school for a week  from Monday 28^th February to Friday 4^th March. Thanks to Ms Kearney for overseeing the program on behalf of the school.

Seachtain Na Gaeilge

S NA G agus Lá Glas- Seachtain Na Gaeilge took place for the first 2 weeks of March up to Wednesday 16th. 

World Autism Day 

World Autism Day was Saturday 2nd April, to mark this day in the school we had a non-uniform day on Thursday 7th April.  The children wore brightly coloured clothes to celebrate diversity.  There was no collecting of money with all the other fundraising going on.  

An Taisce Spring Clean- Some 6^th Class students participated in An Taisce Spring Clean on Thursday 7^th April. The students did a litter collection on the school grounds and just outside the school as well.

Summer Provision

Our students in Le Chéile have summer provision in the school for the month of July and the first week of August.  

Ethos

First Holy Communion and Confirmation

First Holy Communion took place on Sunday 15^th May.  Fr Denmead celebrated the Mass and we welcomed back Fr Gear who was also in attendance.  Well done to all the boys and girls in Second Class who made their First Communion.  Thanks to Mrs Curran for preparing them so well and thanks to Mr Casey for all his help.  The Parents Association organised teas/coffees and refreshments for the Communion families in the hall afterwards. 

In preparation for Confirmation the 6^th Class pupils had a retreat with the Holy Family Mission on Friday 20^th May. The feedback from the class afterwards was very positive about the day.  Confirmation took place on Wednesday 1^st June and Bishop Cullinan confirmed the boys and girls in 6^th Class.  Again thank you very much to Mrs Veale for all her work in preparing the class. 

Fr Arthure

Fr Arthure’s Anniversary Mass took place on Wednesday 27^th April.   2^nd and 5^th classes attended from the school. 

There will be an end of year school Mass on Monday 20^th June with Fr Gear.

School Tours

Thankfully school tours have resumed as normal this year. There are two classes left to go on their tours. 5^th Class are going to Zipit in Cork tomorrow and 6^th Class are going to Dunmore East on Friday.

Sport – Hurling

All the classes had hurling every week during the term.  Thanks to our five coaches, James Lacey, Shane Coughlan, Conor Prendergast, Fintan Murray and Patrick Morrissey, from Cappoquin/Affane GAA Club. Barry Dunne came to the school to coach hurling on Thursday 2^nd June and is returning again tomorrow on Thursday 16^th June.

Cuman Na mBunscol

The Cuman na mBunscol Primary games gaelic football and hurling competitions resumed this year after a two year break due to Covid. Gaelic Football started in March.  Our boys and girls teams were both in a group with Ballymacarbry and Lismore schools.  We lost to those schools in our blitz held in Cappoquin.  We were then in the Roinn A Shield section.  The boys team defeated Garranbane National School in the shield semi-final and then went on to win the shield final after a tough battle with St. Joseph’s in Dungarvan on Saturday 2^nd April.   The boys were delighted with their win.  The girls defeated Abbeyside National School in the Shield semi-final after another great battle played in extremely wet conditions.  The girls went on to play Scoil Garbhán in the final in Dungarvan on Saturday 2^nd April.  The girls put in a great effort but Scoil Garbhán were the better team on the day.  The boys and girls also competed in the West Waterford mini7s Gaelic Football competition which took place in Tallow on Tuesday 5^th April.  The boys were knocked out by Lismore and the girls narrowly lost out to Tallow. 

In the hurling, the mini 7s were played in Lismore and Cappoquin lost out to Lismore in the semi-final after a close battle.  The boys were knocked out by Ballyduff Upper.   Then in the 15 a side the boys lost out to Lismore and Ballymacarbry in the group but had very good victories over St Joseph’s in the shield semi-final and Garranbane in the shield final.  The final was played in Abbeyside on Thursday 26^th May and there was great support for the team there. The girls camogie team qualified for the Roinn A proper semi-final and lost after extra-time to Scoil Garbhan. This was a terrific battle and it was very disappointing for the girls that they lost.  The camogie team were an extremely talented group with a really good mixture of strong 6^th and 5^th Class players supplemented by a few from 4^th Class.  The girls should have won the semi-final in normal time and they were talented enough to win it out.  It wasn’t to be for them this year.  Congratulations to two of our 6^th Class girls, Caoimhe Coughlan and Robyn McLaughlin, who played with Waterford Primary Games teams in camogie.

3^rd Class students recently took part in 2 blitzes organised by Déise Og, one gaelic football and one hurling blitz. Both blitzes took place in Clashmore.  Congratulations to past pupil and current Waterford Camogie captain Lorraine Bray who was named GPA PWC player of the month for May. 

Soccer

We organised a very enjoyable soccer blitz for the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th class boys and girls just before Easter.  It was played on the astro. 

Gymnastics

 There were gymnastics classes for all students which started on Friday 11th March with DK Sports.  The lessons ran for 4 Fridays – 11th March, 25th March, 1st April and 8th April.  Friday 8th April was a half day leading up to the Easter holidays so one of the gymnastics coaches came back on Tuesday 26th April to take the 4 classes who missed out on Friday 8th April. 

Swimming

Swimming lessons for 4^th Class took place in the Aura Swimming Pool in Youghal for 6 weeks during February and March.

Badminton

Badminton – well done to the eight students from 5th and 6th classes who competed so well in the National Schools Badminton competition in Dublin on March 2nd, one team reached the semi-final stages.  Thanks to Blackwater Badminton Club for entering the school and organising everything for the competition.

Rowing

6^th Class participated in a rowing programme for 4 weeks during May. This was organised by Cappoquin Rowing Club and Waterford Sports Partnership. 

Sports Day and Active Schools Week 

 Active Schools Week took place from Tuesday 7th June to Friday 10th.  Thanks to Ms Lyons and 6th Class pupils for organising the timetable for Active Schools Week. There was a wide range of activities throughout the week and every class had Zumba in the hall and tennis on the astro pitch on Tuesday 7th June.   Sports Day took place on Wednesday 8th June, we were lucky with the weather as there were a few showers that morning but it cleared then for the rest of the day. It was a terrific day of activities.  There were bouncy castles and everyone was thrilled to hear the sound of the ice-cream van coming into the school. A huge thank you to our local soccer club Cappoquin Railway Football Club for making their facilities so regularly during the year.

Athletics

Yesterday, Tuesday 14^th June we had an athletics day in the school.  The children really enjoyed the morning.

 For active schools we were also focusing on the fundamental skill of hitting and striking a ball/object during June. 

Visits to 6^th Class

Mrs Veale organised some visitors to come and talk to the 6^th Class during the last term.  Waterford hurler Iarlaith Daly visited and Irish international soccer player (&past pupil) Jason Molumby also visited.  Unfortunately, Lorraine Bray was not in a position to visit due to work.  A few months ago Shane Coughlan also visited the class to talk about life in the army.

6^th Class Students visited Blackwater Community School on Monday 30^th May.

Fundraising

Our big IT fundraiser started in March with using the Idonate platform. The Idonate fundraiser recently finished and a huge thank you to all of the families who supported it.  A number of the Parents Association also collected for it outside Kellehers for a few days which really helped to supplement the Idonate Fundraiser. A huge thank you to PA Chairperson Billy Garvey for leading the fundraiser and to Mags Ormond for setting up the idonate page.  Thanks also to the parents who gave up their valuable time to collect outside Super Valu.  Another side of the IT fundraising was the support from local businesses.  A letter was given out to a local companies and businesses requesting for financial support for IT in the school. Billy Garvey and Kevin McCarthy put in a lot of work calling to the businesses and companies and they got a great response.  A huge thank you to those businesses who supported us. 

IT

Wifi speed- broadband hasn’t been great lately again. A company called Viatel came to the school two days over the past two months to work on the infrastructure to improve our broadband.  Viatel were sub contracted to do work in the school on behalf of the NBI and PDST.  Thanks to Susan Amy Scanlan and Hannah Houlihan for looking after the school’s Facebook pages and thanks to Maireád Veale for looking after the school twitter account.   

Child protection – Principals Oversight Report

This report was presented by the Principal

Health and Safety

• A fire drill was carried out by Mr Casey during this term.
• Weekly battery checks of the defibrillator are being carried out
• Monthly checks on break glass units, fire extinguishers, emergency lighting and RCBOS are being carried out.
• Guardian Fire Service carried out a quarterly service of the fire alarm system.

Finance

Financial Report was presented by Treasurer

Policies

Child Safe Guarding: It was decided to put the review date on the top of each policy going forward. The New updated Child Safeguarding was ratified

 Anti Bullying Policy: Policy was reviewed and was ratified. 

Votes of sympathy were expressed to the family of Lena O’ Brien on her passing. 

Agreed Report Board of Management Meeting – 10th February 2022

A Board meeting took place in the school on Wednesday 10^th February 2022 at 7:30pm

The Chairperson, Kevin McCarthy, opened the meeting. 

Minutes of the previous meeting were read, proposed and seconded.

Principals Report

Principals Report was presented.

Enrolment

It included details of enrolment three new pupils started in Cappoquin on Monday 17^th January.  Our current enrolment on Aladdin is 199 pupils.  However, our official enrolment with the Department of Education for the 21/22 year is 196 as that is the number we had on September 30^th last.   

Covid 19 and Attendance

During our first two weeks back at school is January there were often days where we had close to a quarter of our student population absent. Just as our attendance numbers seemed to be returning to normal during the last week of January and early days of February we have had a spike in Covid cases amongst our student population in recent days.  In terms of staff, we were down more staff than usual in early January but thankfully we were able to get enough sub cover most of these days to manage. 

Curriculum – Literacy Lift Off-Literacy Lift Off is now taking place in Senior Infants on a daily basis for a six-week period.  Literacy Lift Off is an intervention that gives children lots of opportunities to read books at their own level of competency and gradually lift the complexity of what they can do in both reading and writing.  During Literacy Lift Off we increase the number of adults in the classroom to work with the children in smaller groups especially in relation to reading. Thanks to Mrs Price for organising Literacy Lift Off.

World Book Day

World Book Day will take place on Thursday 3^rd March and we will plan some activities in the school for that day.

Music

Mrs Veale is still hoping that Peace Proms can take place this year but we still haven’t brought the choir group comprising of children from 4^th 5^th and 6^th classes together yet due to Covid restrictions. 

SESE (Social Enviromental & Scientific Education)

Sixth Class pupils were asked to choose famous buildings from around the world and make a 3-D model of it at home using materials that they would find around the house.  The children brought their completed models into school and they were fantastic.  The models were displayed in the hall on Friday 4^th February and the other classes in the school took turns to go in and view the models. 

SPHE:  Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day was on Tuesday 8^th February. Many of the classes in the school did work based on safer use of the internet.  A note was sent to parents to encourage them to talk to their children about what they do online.

Food Dudes

Food Dudes will return for a week at the end of February/start of March to encourage children to maintain their healthy eating habits and to encourage them to try new types of fruits and vegetables. Thanks to Ms Kearney for co-ordinating food dudes this year. 

Ethos

Catholic Schools Week took place from Sunday 23^rd to Sunday 30^th January.  Normally the school invite in the grandparents of the 5^th Class children to come to visit their grandchildren at school. While we couldn’t do that this year due to Covid regulations, all the 5^th class children did projects on their grandparents, which they presented to the rest of the class.  Fr Gear also came in to celebrate Mass with 5^th Class on Wednesday 26^th January.  Mr Casey organised the reading of prayers and reflections on a daily basis over the intercom for all the classes.  

St Brigid’s Day The children made St. Brigid’s crosses on Tuesday1^st February.

Confirmation will take place in Cappoquin  on Wednesday 1^st June

First Holy Communion will take place on Sunday 15^th May time tbc.   

PE and Sport

Gaelic Games

We are still waiting on guidance from Cuman na mBunscol as to whether the primary schools GAA competitions can proceed or not this spring/summer.   Meanwhile coaching continues in the school.

Soccer

The school will enter the FAI Spar 5 a sides again this year.  However, the competition will be run differently this year because of Covid.  It will mostly be an in school event. 

Swimming

4^th Class are attending swimming lessons in the Aura Leisure Centre Youghal every Thursday morning for 6 weeks.   Their first lesson was on Thursday January 27^th. 

Rinka Fitness

Rinka Fitness came into the school to do a one-day taster session with all the classes on Thursday 13^th January.  Rinka were exploring the option of establishing fitness classes one-day week after school in the Community Centre. 

Active Schools

For active schools we are focusing on the fundamental skill of kicking a ball during February.  

Parents Association and Fundraising

Thanks members of the Parents Association/Council for organising the rota for Kellehers Christmas raffle.  Thanks also to Tom Kelleher and Supervalu for sponsoring the €500 shopping voucher and congratulations to the winner, Tom Morrissey.  It was a successful fundraiser and €3000 was raised towards the school funds. 

Fire brigade Fundraiser

Thanks to Cappoquin Fire Brigade who donated €1000 from their fundraiser.  

Clothes Collection Fundraiser

€480 was raised. 

Child protection – Principals Oversight Report

This report was presented by the Principal

 

Health & Safety

Health & Report from James Casey was presented by the Principal.

IT

Broadband is still a source of frustration in the school despite improvements with our Wifi speeds. The average broadband speed coming into the school office as of 1^st February 2022 is download 28.2 mbps and upload 5 mbps. The download speed is double what it was and upload is over 5 times faster albeit coming from an extremely low base. 

Still we should now proceed with fundraising and purchasing new IT devices for the classes.  Kevin, Billy Garvey and I are signing off on a fundraiser letter that will be sent to prospective sponsors and most of the contents of this letter would be used for a Go Fund Me page. 

Financial Report

Financial Report was presented by Treasurer

Plans & Policies

The Anti-Bullying Policy is at present at the review stage. 

Date for next Meeing

The date for the next meeting was left open.

Agreed Report Board of Management Meeting – 9^th December 2021

A Board meeting took place via zoom on Thursday 9th December 2021 at 7:30pm

The meeting was opened by Chairperson Kevin McCarthy.

Minutes of the previous meeting were proposed and seconded.

Principals Report

Principals Report was presented. It included the details of enrolment, staffing, Covid 19, curriculum, ethos, extracurricular and fundraising. See some of the following details from the report.   

We returned to school from the mid-term break on Monday 1^st November. 

Enrolment

3 new pupils started in Cappoquin on Tuesday 2^nd November, Umar Ashraf enrolled in Junior Infants, Aishah Ashraf in Senior Infants and Ahsaan Ashraf in First Class. 

Staffing

Following interviews Ms Hannah Houlihan has been appointed to cover the 5^th Class maternity leave.

Covid 19

We have had a number of Covid cases amongst our school population in recent weeks. New guidelines came into effect last Monday week where parents are entitled to apply for free antigen tests should their child be in the same pod as a positive case.  Guidelines on wearing masks for 3^rd to 6^th Class pupils came into effect on Tuesday 30^th November.  Compliance in Cappoquin Primary School to date has been excellent. 

A deep clean of the school was carried out on the weekend of 26^th to 28^th November. 

Storm Barra

The school was closed on Tuesday 7^th December and Wednesday 8^th December due to Storm Barra. 

Curriculum

PLC – Primary Language Curriculum

On Monday 15^th November there was no school for the children as the teaching staff had in-service training on the primary language curriculum.  For the first hour and a half the staff engaged in an online webinar. Then Elizabeth O’Brien from the PDST (Professional Development Service for Teachers) came into the school for the rest of the day to work with the staff on the primary language curriculum, with a particular focus on the writing genres in English.

Literacy Lift Off

Literacy Lift Off is now taking place in Second Class on a daily basis for a six-week period.  Literacy Lift Off is an intervention that gives children lots of opportunities to read books at their own level of competency and gradually lift the complexity of what they can do in both reading and writing.  During Literacy Lift Off we increase the number of adults in the classroom to work with the children in smaller groups especially in relation to reading. Thanks to Mrs Price for organising Literacy Lift Off.

 

Music

Mrs Veale has set up a choir group comprising of children from 4^th to 6^th class for the Peace Proms.  Obviously we have not brought the choir group together as of yet because we are not allowed to mix the class groupings.  It will more than likely depend on the Covid numbers in early 2022 as to whether the Peace Proms will proceed or not. 

SESE (Social Enviromental & Scientific Education)

Heritage in School specialist Elaine Garde will visit the school again on Tuesday 14^th December for a Heritage in Schools lesson. This time Elaine will work the pupils from Junior Infants to second class   

Sustainable Use of Water

On Friday 12^th November, an officer from Irish water Catherine Seale met with Kevin McCarthy at Cappoquin/Affane GAA Club.   That morning Catherine did a walk and talk at the GAA grounds with two of our classes, 5^th and 6^th class, the talk focused on sustainable use of water.   

History

For the past few years Ireland has been commemorating the centenary of a number of hugely significant events from our history.  The centenary of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty was on Tuesday 7^th December.  Recently 6^th class pupils have been working on projects based key events from early 20^th century Ireland.

Seachtain na hEolaíochta

Science Week Ireland took place from 7^th to 14^th November.  There pupils and teachers were very active carrying out science experiments and investigations during the week. 

Art – Cappoquin Library

Cappoquin Library are currently a coluring competition for the pupils in our school.  

Ethos

On Monday 1^st November 4^th class pupils, Mrs Scanlan, Mr Casey and Mr Delaney all attended Mass for All Saints Day in Cappoquin. Later in November Mr Casey organised a prayer service over the intercom to remember all our deceased relatives and friends.  Well done to the 6^th class pupils who read out so well over the intercom.   6^th Class pupils along with Mrs Veale and Mr Casey attended First Friday Mass on Friday 3^rd December.  Thanks to Mary Casey, James Casey and some of the 6^th class pupils for putting up the crib and the Advent Wreaths as well as the Christmas tree and other decorations in preparation for Christmas.

 

Sport

Gaelic Games

Thanks to Cappoquin/Affane GAA Club for enabling the school to set up gaelic games coaching for all classes on a weekly basis.  John Twomey coaches each class in the school once a week and the club help to provide cover for John while he is coaching.  During November and December John is coaching Gaelic Football.  John will coach hurling from February onwards. 

Thanks also to Cappoquin Camogie Club who are currently in the process of sourcing equipment for the school such as indoor hurleys and sliotars.  While mentioning the camogie club congratulations to Patricia McCarthy who received an award virtually from the Federation of Irish Sport Volunteers in Sport Awards ceremony last night, Wednesday 8^th December, in recognition for her years of dedicated volunteer work with Cappoquin Camogie Club.

In 1998, upon realising there was no sports club for her daughter to join, Tricia McCarthy, with her friend Gina McGrath, set up Cappoquin Camogie Club. Since then, Tricia has been an influential force behind the club’s success. 

Soccer-Futsal

Futsal in the Yard in Cappoquin Primary School. As mentioned previously a number of FAI coaches came to the school in September and coached the Futsal programme to our 3rd and 4th class children.  Then in November Michael Looby and another coach came back to take the 2 classes for a follow up session.  Michael also presented new futsals to the school.  The teachers will continue with the program in January. Also a huge thank you to the soccer club for giving the school so much access to the astro pitch.  

Tennis  Shelley Mernin from Dungarvan Tennis Club is coaching tennis on a weekly basis to all classes for six weeks.  We postponed today’s lessons to tomorrow due to the wet weather.   The feedback from the children to date is very positive about the tennis.  Again it is brilliant to have the use of Cappoquin Railway Football club’s astro pitch for the tennis. 

Cycle Right

The pupils in 5^th class are currently participating in the Cycle Right program with Donal Jacob and Ollie every Wednesday morning for four weeks. 

Active Schools

For active schools we are focusing on the fundamental skill of dodging during December. 

Clothes Collection Fundraiser

We hosted a clothes collection on Monday 8^th November.  1200 kg of clothes were collected.  We should be paid for this in December. 

Child protection – Principals Oversight Report

This report was presented by the Principal

Health and Safety

• Weekly battery checks of the defibrillator are being carried out
• Monthly checks on break glass units, fire extinguishers, emergency lighting and RCBOS are being carried

Sonny Landers checked on the school following Storm Barra to ensure that there was no physical damage anywhere. 

Substitute Teacher Appointment: Ms Hannah Houlihan was ratified as the teacher appointed to cover the 5^th Class maternity position from January to the end of the school year. 

IT

It was agreed at the last BoM meeting that Martin could explore other options for providing broadband to the school and if necessary pay a private company for the next year or 2 while we wait for the NBI to come to Cappoquin.  Imagine engineers came in November and installed their system to connect up to the PDST Cisco router in the school.  The engineers told Martin that there is a download speed of over 50 Mbps download speed coming into the Imagine box, however, the current Cisco box can’t cater for this speed and that there is only 18 Mbps download speed coming through to the school from the Cisco box.  He told me to get back in contact with PDST that they are providing new boxes with greater capacity.   There hasn’t been any significant improvement to the wifi in the school as of yet, hopefully the new Cisco box will change that scenario and possibly by January that there will be good enough broadband in the school to cater for our proposed IT purchases.  

Mrs Scanlan and Ms Houlihan are currently in the process of setting up a school facebook page.  Mary Casey is sending out permission slips through Aladdin to the parents to allow photos of their children be put up on the new Facebook page.  The Facebook page will be used a promoter of Fundraising in 2022. 

 

Fundraising and Parents Association

Tom Kelleher has agreed to allow the school to run the Super Valu raffle again this Christmas. The Parents Association are organising a rota of ticket sellers, traditionally they sold from inside the shop but obviously with Covid we will need to sell tickets from outside.  We will avoid Saturday week 18^th December as the Fire Brigrade are having their traditional fundraiser on that date.  The school will actually be one of the beneficiaries from the Fire Brigrade fundraiser as well. 

The 6th Class are organising a small mini-sale of work in the school next Wednesday 15^th December. 

Finance

Financial Report was presented by Treasurer

Plans and Policies

The Code of Behaviour was ratified and adopted.  Some discussion took place on the Anti-Bullying policy and further work is needed on this policy before the next BoM meeting. 

Votes of sympathy Vote to Sympathy was passed to family of Marie Morrissey following her recent passing.