Rathmore National School

The pupils in Mr. Collier’s 6th class and Ms. Malone’s 5th class have entered the 2019/2020 Primary Schools’ Debating Festival celebrating the power of language. The competition is organised by Kildare Education centre in partnership with Kildare County Library Service and is run in collaboration with Concern worldwide. Last year’s competition was of a very high standard and demonstrated that debating can help self-confidence, promote active listening and provide a platform for the use of skills such as analysis, deductive reasoning and flexible thinking. We will be entering a team of six pupils made up of pupils from 5th and 6th classes to represent Rathmore N.S. and we wish them every success!

The term of office of the current members of Boards of Management expires on 30th November 2019 and the new term of office commences on 1st December 2019 for a period of four years. Two parent nominees, a mother and a father are required to be elected as part of this process. All parents/guardians will shortly receive a letter asking them to nominate one mother and one father from a list of all parents/guardians.

When a list of nominations has been prepared, a further letter will be sent to parents asking them to nominate one of the fathers from the list and one of the mothers from the list for election to the new Board of Management. If only one nomination is received from either panel, that person is deemed elected. If more than one nomination is received, a further ballot will be required when all votes will be counted in public.

The 14th annual Maths Week Ireland takes place from 12th -20th October 2019 and it has grown to attract participation from as many as 300,000 people annually across the island of Ireland. Maths Week is the biggest festival of its kind in the world. It celebrates a positive image of Maths For All.

In 2018, over 350,000 students and their teachers participated in Maths Week activities. It has evolved into a partnership of more than 50 organisations all united with the shared vision of making Maths accessible to people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.

We are looking forward to a very busy and fun-filled Maths Week in Rathmore N.S. with a host of activities planned such as Maths Trails, Maths Puzzles, Maths Raps and Slogans, Boardgames, a Maths Table Quiz with Dingbat round, Estimation activities, Coding, Beebots and integrating Maths with other curricular subjects. A ‘Bebras Challenge’ to develop skills in computational thinking will also take place for 5th and 6th classes later in November. Special thanks to the members of the Maths Week Team made up of Caitríona Lancaster, Claire Power, Carole Mooney and Margaret Maher for organising a very busy Maths Week for all in our school.

We are always delighted when parents volunteer to help with various in-school and extra-curricular activities, under the supervision of class teachers/support teachers/principal.

This can range from helping out in classrooms to:

• swimming supervision
• school tour supervision
• class outings
• library volunteer
• garden volunteer
• helping out on sports day
• lifts to matches/cross country etc.

Under Child Protection Guidelines it is a requirement that all parents helping out in-school are Garda-Vetted. The process is confidential and once the initial application is submitted by the school, the process is online for the applicant. (This must be completed within a specific timeframe).

Once submitted by the school, parents will then receive an email with an online application form to complete. Please note that this ONLINE vetting form is only issued to the applicant – the school does not have access to these forms.  Please note that if you do not reply to the link supplied, it will then become invalid and you will have to start the process all over again.

If you are interested in providing help in the school, please download the new GARDA VETTING FORM here, complete this form, and return it to the school principal or secretary with the required form(s) of ID. (A minimum of 100 points of ID are required – see Download ID Requirements Here).

If you have any difficulty downloading these forms, they are available to collect in the school foyer.

If you are available, we would really appreciate if parents/guardians would consider getting involved as partners in their child’s education.

Yours sincerely,

_________________
Lucy Travers
Principal

Junior Infants 1 ……………… Ms. Erika Roche

Junior Infants 2 ……………… Ms. Eleanor Roe

Senior Infants 1 (Ms. Roche) …… Mr. Cian Bolton

Senior Infants 2 (Ms. Kelly) …… Ms. Niamh Brady

1st Class 1 (Ms. Murphy) ………. Ms. Carole Mooney

1st Class 2 (Mr. Bolton) ………. Ms. Amy Gleeson

2nd Class 1 (Ms. Lancaster) ……. Ms. Caitriona Lancaster

2nd Class 2 (Ms. Mooney) ………. Mr. Shane Ryan

3rd Class ……………………. Ms. Kate Shaw

4th Class ……………………. Mr. Conor Cronin

5th Class ……………………. Ms. Aoife Malone

6th Class ……………………. Mr. Matthew Collier

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SCHOOL YEAR 2019-2020

Principal ……………………. Ms. Lucy Travers

Deputy Principal …………….. Ms. Caitriona Lancaster