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.   

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.   

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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.