Latest Newsletter
MILFORD NATIONAL SCHOOL – 21st DECEMBER 2023
‘RUBY TIMES’ It is difficult to find superlatives to adequately describe the wonderful entertainment and atmosphere which we experienced recently at our 40th anniversary celebrations in the University Concert Hall. It is with great pride that we can say that all available children from the school were given the opportunity to rehearse & perform, and they really enjoyed themselves.
A great debt of gratitude is due to all who helped out in any way, co-operating in a very cohesive and organised manner. A particular thank you to James O’Shaughnessy, John Nelligan, Maureen Meehan and Louise Hill for organising and coordinating the incredibly dedicated team of parents who were working in various capacities throughout the concert hall on the two nights of the show, stage-managing, supervising, pinning and tucking costumes, selling raffle tickets & programmes, setting up the Concert Hall and for helping to bring everything back to ‘headquarters’ at 8am the morning after the final show. Most of this was unseen by the audience but is very much appreciated. This is, of course, further to the traipsing around Castletroy and its environs to elicit sponsorship and spot prizes and the incredible amount of work that went into the programme production – sincere thanks here to Annmarie Fitzgerald for the enormous effort in coordinating this area and also for coordinating the front of house at the Concert Hall. A big thank you to Ms. Angela Reidy and the entire staff of Milford National School, the teachers, special needs assistants, retired members of staff, college placement students, Rose our secretary and Joe, our caretaker, for their spirit of generosity in the way they embraced the concept of staging the Ruby Times show from the initial plans to the elaborate performance in the UCH. A huge thank you to you, our parents, for your support, cooperation and positive feedback regarding the show. When we all pull together the sky‘s the limit for our children.
We wish to sincerely thank everyone who purchased tickets for the shows, those who bought raffle tickets, movie downloads & programmes and the many companies who took out advertising space in the programme and provided spot prizes.
SPORTING NEWS: Congratulations to all our fantastic football teams who trained and competed in matches this autumn. Sincere thanks to all the teacher coaches for their hard work with all teams who took part in competitions this autumn.
SARSFIELD CUP: Well done to our pupils, James D, Harry O’C and Ben B, who were selected to play for the City Football Team to contest the Sarsfield Cup 2023. It is a wonderful achievement to play in this competition, as it pitches the most talented footballers in the county against each other. We are delighted to report that the City Team emerged victorious over their Sarsfield Cup opponents under lights in the Gaelic Grounds. Well done boys! We are very proud of your achievements.
THE FITZPATRICK CUP: To honour the memory of our former colleague Mr. George Fitzpatrick, the school holds a Gaelic games competition each January. This annual event is known as The Fitzpatrick Cup. This competition will commence again as soon as the children return after the Christmas Holidays. 70 boys and girls from 5th & 6th classes have signed up to take part and they are eagerly waiting for the ball to be thrown in on Tuesday, January 9th, 3-4pm on the old astro-turf facility in UL. This year the code will be football. (Last year it was football). All matches will be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays during January, 3-4pm. Hopefully the weather will allow us to complete the entire series before the end of January. Please feel free to come along to the astro-turf to cheer for your star/starlet if the mood takes you. All fixtures and league tables will be posted on our school website.
LOST & FOUND: Our school Lost and Found box is overflowing with uniform items, coats, water bottles and hats. All items in the box are not labelled, which makes it impossible to return items to pupils. We have a large selection of blue tracksuit jumpers, light blue polo shirts, and some brown uniform items too. If your child is missing an item, please come and take a look into the box, stationed inside the main door of the school and retrieve the item you need for your child. Some other items of note in the box include the following:
- a Hollister jacket
- a girls Limerick GAA bodywarmer
- a Zara gilet
- a Benneton jacket
- a Minnie Mouse hoodie
- a Poznan sport jacket
- a Quechua jacket
- A selection of hats, gloves, snoods, mittens, and water bottles is also on display on the reception area windowsill.
ATTENDANCE POLICY: Parents, please note that the school is legally obligated to report to the National Education Welfare Board (NEWB) any child who misses more than 20 days in the school year. All absences must be explained in writing (absence note on Aladdin will suffice) by parent/guardian. It is very important that children should not go to school when they’re contagious to others or when they’re too sick to learn.
PARENTS’ COUNCIL: The AGM of the Parents’ Council took place on Wednesday 8th November. A new committee was elected. A huge thank you to Julianne Butler, who stepped down as Secretary. The time and effort dedicated by Julianne to Parents’ Council Activities is very much appreciated. The new committee is as follows: James O’Shaughnessy, (Chairperson), Keith Murray (Treasurer) and Nuala Dooly (Secretary). Thank you all very much for your efforts and generosity of time to our school.
THANK YOU: A special word of thanks to Rosemary Ryan (parent in our school) for coordinating the successful nomination of Milford National School for the Analog Devices Community Awards Program 2023. As a result of Rosemary’s efforts in organising the application Analog Devices will donate €1500 euro to Milford National School. The cheque was presented to our school in Analog’s European Research and Development Centre in Raheen on December 7th. The funds will be used for the purchase of STEAM resources in our school.
ENROLMENTS 2024: The closing date for enrolments for Junior Infants for September 2024 is 2pm on January 15th, 2024.
FAIRTRADE CARD: Congratulations to Conor O’B who was recently awarded a Special Artistic Merit award in the Junior Section of our Fairtrade Christmas Card 2023. It is such a beautiful card. Well done Conor!
TEAM HOPE SHOEBOX APPEAL: A huge thank you to everyone who donated a shoe box to this year’s Team Hope Appeal. We received over 300 shoe boxes in total which have now been collected and are on their way to needy children in Eastern Europe and Africa. Thank you to the Student Council who undertook such a worthy cause. We received a record amount of shoe boxes this year so well done to everyone involved.
NUT ALLERGY: Just a reminder that Milford N.S. is a nut-free zone. We request that you exclude all nuts or nut products from your child’s lunch.
SHAKIN’ WITH SHAKESPEARE CLUB: Ms. Murray’s after school activity will re-commence in February 2024, on Tuesday afternoons, when the Fitzpatrick Club Tournament is completed. New members from 5th and 6th classes are welcome to join Ms Murray and the existing group. Any pupil who is interested in joining is invited to call to Room 3 for more information.
CHRISTMAS PANTO: Junior Infants to Fourth Class enjoyed the Christmas panto, Sleeping Beauty, in U.C.H. on Tuesday, this week. Sincerest thanks to Ms. Olive Doody for coordinating this festive event for our pupils.
SWIMMING: Swimming will begin in 2024 for 1st to 6th class pupils. Swimming is an important and mandatory element of the P.E. curriculum and we are most fortunate to have a world-class swimming pool on our doorstep. Please note that swimming is a compulsory component of the Revised Curriculum for Primary Schools. The pupils in 4th, 5th and 6th classes will be timetabled to commence their lessons in January for an eight week block. The pupils in 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes will begin their eight week block of lessons in March. We will publish a timetable of the dates that your child will be swimming on Aladdin in advance of the lessons.
NEW BOARD OF MANAGEMENT: Our new Board of Management, 2023-2027, was convened on December 1st and the first meeting was held on December 7th. The composition of the Board has now been completed and the members are as follows:
- Mr Liam de Búrca – Chairperson
- Mr Gearóid Yelverton – Treasurer and Parents’ Nominee
- Ms Lena Barry – Parents’ Nominee
- Ms Angela Reidy – Teachers’ Nominee
- Fr Koenraad Van Gucht – Patron’s Nominee
- Mr Edmond Magner – Community Nominee
- Ms Eileen Morrissey – Community Nominee
- Mr Diarmaid Moore – Principal and Secretary to the Board
I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the members of the outgoing Board, and acknowledge the unselfish commitment, sense of volunteerism and selfless giving to the school and community, shown individually and collectively by these unbelievably generous people. Their legacy is evident in the many changes and improvements around the school, the tremendous work they have done for school management, fund-raising, school maintenance and for the support and friendship they have shown to the staff and personnel of the school at all times.
CHRISTMAS EVE CHILDREN’S MASS: Fr. Koenraad and Fr Seamus Madigan (Monaleen Parish Priest) have extended an invitation to the pupils of our local schools to attend a Children’s Mass on Christmas Eve at 5pm in Milford Church (Our Lady Help of Christians).
MILFORD HOMEWORK CLUB: Milford Homework Club for the new term will begin on Monday 8th January 2024. The club runs in term time from Monday – Thursday 2:45pm – 4:15pm and is available for children from 1st-6th Class. If you wish to make an inquiry please email mnshomeworkclub@gmail.com.
INTERNET SAFETY: A big “Thank you” to Ms Sandra Larkin for organising the DigiWise pupil workshops for pupils in 2nd to 6th Classes and also for organising the “Parenting in the Digital Age” session for our parents. The workshops were run by Jackie O’Regan from DigiWise. The importance of parents checking in on their children’s digital access from the earliest possible time was emphasised by Jackie during her presentation to parents. Snapchat, Roblox, YouTube, YouTube Shorts and unsupervised access to Google Search were the primary online sites / apps that are causing families problems at this moment in time. We have shared an information sheet already on Aladdin with links to helpful resources. If you would like us to reshare with you please let us know via the school email address.
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS: All classes will be dismissed for the Christmas holidays on Friday 22nd December 2023 at 12 Noon. Infants will be dispersed at 11:55am. Uniforms are not compulsory on this day. Children may wear festive clothing if they wish and bring one treat to eat with their small lunch.
DATES TO NOTE:
- Christmas Closing – December 22nd at 12 Noon. Infant Classes will be dispersed at 11:55am. School reopens on Monday, 8th January 2024.
- School Closure – Monday, 5th February – Public Holiday – St. Brigid’s Day
- School Closure – 15th & 16th February – Mid Term Break
- School closure – March 7th 2024 (Staff Inservice)
- Confirmation Ceremony: Wednesday, 17th April 2024 at 12 Noon.
- First Holy Communion Ceremony: Saturday May 11th 2024.
Go raibh síocháin na Nollag agus na Bliana Nua faoi shéan ‘s faoi shonas ort ‘s ar do mhuintir!
Diarmaid Moore
Principal
