Scoil Mhuire Parents Association
Welcome to the Parents Association of Scoil Mhuire. All parents of girls in Scoil Mhuire are automatically members of the Parents Association (PA) and we also welcome all new parents to the school.
The PA Committee is made up of members from each year to represent the classes plus the Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. Our role is to support the work of the school, fundraise and to provide a channel of communication between the parents, Principal and the Board of Management.
Reps are on the committee for a 2 year period and there are annual nominations made for new reps every year.
Welcome!
We would like to welcome so many new reps for 2020/2021
Junior Infants: Ciara O’Brien, Karen Devane, Avenne Quinn
Senior Infants: Adrienne McDonnell, Mary Coonan, Laura Sherry, Pauline Quinn Flanagan
1st class: Colin Flynn, Alison Blake Knox
2nd class: Siobhan Cudmore, Sorcha Heaphy
3rd class: Emer O'Sullivan
3rd/4th Split: Emer Gilsenan, Susan Daly, Noelle Whelan
4th class: Ita Gordon
5th class: Joan Collins, Oonagh Carney
6th class: Michele Doran, Rebecca Green
Some reps have stayed on for their second year, but this year we welcomed 14 new reps and we are extremely grateful for their involvement. New this year are also myself Laura-Jayne Gilmore as Chairperson, Abigail Kennedy as Secretary and Hugh Kiely as Treasurer. We thank everyone for their support.
Committee meetings are usually held monthly on a Tuesday evening, from 7.30 – 8.30pm in the Staff Room of the school (although in the current climate, these are being conducted virtually).
The election of our new committee took place at our AGM (7th October) via a zoom call that all parents were invited to join. If you missed the chance to be a part of the PA there are plenty of other ways to get involved, like helping out in the redesign of our website, classroom planning, suggestions for educational speakers, helping at one of our social events (hopefully), sponsoring our annual Christmas Calendar or donating a prize at our Garden Fete. No contribution is too small, many hands make light work and the school is central to our community.
Finally, we would like to thank all the parents who have generously donated their time, skills and funds to have made 2019/20 such a successful year, despite the challenging circumstances. It could not have been done without you!
PA email address: scoilmhuirelakelandspa@gmail.com
2019/2020 PA Events and Activities
2021 Calendar
Each year the Parents’ Association, along with the teachers and students, work together to produce the Scoil Mhuire Calendar. Donations from our sponsors and calendar sales have seen us raise over €10,500 for the 2021 calendar! A massive thank you to parents and their companies for their very generous support. Special thanks also to Grace Keely for her hard work putting it all together for us. The theme was “Sandymount, Our Village” and the winning entry was Ms Brett’s Junior Infants class who did a great picture of the playground over on Sean Moore Park.
Visit from Santa Friday 18th December 2020
Many children were unable to go and meet Santa this year so Mr Cleary asked us to facilitate a visit from a very authentic Santa on the last Friday of term. We created a grotto in the Junior Infants Courtyard for him to sit, all the girls all had a chat with the big man and were given a small treat. It was a lovely morning of festivities.
5th and 6th December Communion
All the now 3rd Class girls made their Communion on the 5th and 6th December, after twice being cancelled! Father John, Star of the Sea Church, the PA reps and helpers from the now 2nd Class helped to make it happen. From cleaning the church before and after each Mass over the weekend, and putting together a lovely surprise goodie bags, the 2nd PA Reps knocked it out the park for them. In addition, the PA paid for a Bujo lunch for all the girls instead of the usual whole class/family lunch. We hoped that it helped make the event memorable for the girls albeit under difficult circumstances.
Chrome books, Ipads and microphones
The school has a good stock of Chrome books and Ipads but with the current COVID restrictions/cleaning requirements they were not servicing enough of the school during the week. The PA purchased a second set of Chrome books and more ipads so that even the largest class is able to work with one ipad each, as well as microphones to help the teachers better communicate with their classes.
Golf Classic – Tuesday 15th September 2020
The Scoil Mhuire Golf Classic, which took place in Elm Park, raised over €2,300. These funds have been used to help purchase a new set of chrome books and bolster our amount of ipads to 32 so that even in the largest class each child has one. Our thanks to Peter O'Leary the outgoing Treasurer for organising such a successful event.
6th Class Year Book and Hoodies
As a special treat for the 6th Class girls, the school organised and funded the purchase of branded Graduation hoodies.
We also paid for the Year Book - thanks must go to the outgoing 6th Class Reps, Judy Cavanagh and Ann Dalton for their hard work in putting it together and creating a wonderful memory of the girls’ 8 years at Scoil Mhuire.
Literacy Circle Books
The PA purchased 25 sets of books for 3rd - 6th Class’ Literacy Circle. Ms Martley and librarian parent, Antoinette Prout, in conjunction with the 6th Class students, put together a list of books from the latest releases to lesser-known titles.
Confirmation - Thursday 12th March
The 6th Class girls were fortunate that their Confirmation was held on the last day before Lockdown! They marked their special ceremony with family and friends who came from all over Ireland and around the world, even from as far away as Australia. A big thank you to 5th Class Rep, Michele Doran, and 5th Class parents from Scoil Mhuire and Star of the Sea who provided refreshments after the church service.
Parents’ Talk—Wednesday 3 March
Former Governor of Mountjoy Prison, John Lonergan, shared his philosophy on raising the next generation. "Parenting - the Challenges and the Rewards", focused on a number of important issues facing parents of children of all ages including modern technology and social media, constructive communication, and how to build a more positive and affirming relationship with our children.
STEM Week Workshops
The PA part-funded two exciting workshops for STEM Week in March — Pedal Power and Lego Robotics
Grandparents Day - January 2020
Grannies and Grandads of Scoil Mhuire girls were invited to the school to celebrate Grandparents Day. A huge thank you to everyone who baked and bought platters, plates and boxes of delicious food. Families were extra generous this year, we had 4 tables full of food —sausage rolls, frittata, sandwiches, muffins, cakes, buns and biscuits galore. One student stayed up till late making three different treats!
It was worth the effort as we received many lovely compliments from the grandparents, some of whom had spent considerable time travelling to Sandymount especially for the occasion. There was a huge turnout this year, the place was full with visitors and the PA volunteers were kept busy pouring cups of teas and coffees for most of the time. We enjoyed the morning nonetheless, there was a lovely warm atmosphere in the hall. Grandparents’ Day is an event that epitomizes the ethos and values of the school and we are glad to be part of it.
Welcome to the Parents Association of Scoil Mhuire. All parents of girls in Scoil Mhuire are automatically members of the Parents Association (PA) and we also welcome all new parents to the school.
The PA Committee is made up of members from each year to represent the classes plus the Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. Our role is to support the work of the school, fundraise and to provide a channel of communication between the parents, Principal and the Board of Management.
Reps are on the committee for a 2 year period and there are annual nominations made for new reps every year.
Welcome!
We would like to welcome so many new reps for 2020/2021
Junior Infants: Ciara O’Brien, Karen Devane, Avenne Quinn
Senior Infants: Adrienne McDonnell, Mary Coonan, Laura Sherry, Pauline Quinn Flanagan
1st class: Colin Flynn, Alison Blake Knox
2nd class: Siobhan Cudmore, Sorcha Heaphy
3rd class: Emer O'Sullivan
3rd/4th Split: Emer Gilsenan, Susan Daly, Noelle Whelan
4th class: Ita Gordon
5th class: Joan Collins, Oonagh Carney
6th class: Michele Doran, Rebecca Green
Some reps have stayed on for their second year, but this year we welcomed 14 new reps and we are extremely grateful for their involvement. New this year are also myself Laura-Jayne Gilmore as Chairperson, Abigail Kennedy as Secretary and Hugh Kiely as Treasurer. We thank everyone for their support.
Committee meetings are usually held monthly on a Tuesday evening, from 7.30 – 8.30pm in the Staff Room of the school (although in the current climate, these are being conducted virtually).
The election of our new committee took place at our AGM (7th October) via a zoom call that all parents were invited to join. If you missed the chance to be a part of the PA there are plenty of other ways to get involved, like helping out in the redesign of our website, classroom planning, suggestions for educational speakers, helping at one of our social events (hopefully), sponsoring our annual Christmas Calendar or donating a prize at our Garden Fete. No contribution is too small, many hands make light work and the school is central to our community.
Finally, we would like to thank all the parents who have generously donated their time, skills and funds to have made 2019/20 such a successful year, despite the challenging circumstances. It could not have been done without you!
PA email address: scoilmhuirelakelandspa@gmail.com
2019/2020 PA Events and Activities
2021 Calendar
Each year the Parents’ Association, along with the teachers and students, work together to produce the Scoil Mhuire Calendar. Donations from our sponsors and calendar sales have seen us raise over €10,500 for the 2021 calendar! A massive thank you to parents and their companies for their very generous support. Special thanks also to Grace Keely for her hard work putting it all together for us. The theme was “Sandymount, Our Village” and the winning entry was Ms Brett’s Junior Infants class who did a great picture of the playground over on Sean Moore Park.
Visit from Santa Friday 18th December 2020
Many children were unable to go and meet Santa this year so Mr Cleary asked us to facilitate a visit from a very authentic Santa on the last Friday of term. We created a grotto in the Junior Infants Courtyard for him to sit, all the girls all had a chat with the big man and were given a small treat. It was a lovely morning of festivities.
5th and 6th December Communion
All the now 3rd Class girls made their Communion on the 5th and 6th December, after twice being cancelled! Father John, Star of the Sea Church, the PA reps and helpers from the now 2nd Class helped to make it happen. From cleaning the church before and after each Mass over the weekend, and putting together a lovely surprise goodie bags, the 2nd PA Reps knocked it out the park for them. In addition, the PA paid for a Bujo lunch for all the girls instead of the usual whole class/family lunch. We hoped that it helped make the event memorable for the girls albeit under difficult circumstances.
Chrome books, Ipads and microphones
The school has a good stock of Chrome books and Ipads but with the current COVID restrictions/cleaning requirements they were not servicing enough of the school during the week. The PA purchased a second set of Chrome books and more ipads so that even the largest class is able to work with one ipad each, as well as microphones to help the teachers better communicate with their classes.
Golf Classic – Tuesday 15th September 2020
The Scoil Mhuire Golf Classic, which took place in Elm Park, raised over €2,300. These funds have been used to help purchase a new set of chrome books and bolster our amount of ipads to 32 so that even in the largest class each child has one. Our thanks to Peter O'Leary the outgoing Treasurer for organising such a successful event.
6th Class Year Book and Hoodies
As a special treat for the 6th Class girls, the school organised and funded the purchase of branded Graduation hoodies.
We also paid for the Year Book - thanks must go to the outgoing 6th Class Reps, Judy Cavanagh and Ann Dalton for their hard work in putting it together and creating a wonderful memory of the girls’ 8 years at Scoil Mhuire.
Literacy Circle Books
The PA purchased 25 sets of books for 3rd - 6th Class’ Literacy Circle. Ms Martley and librarian parent, Antoinette Prout, in conjunction with the 6th Class students, put together a list of books from the latest releases to lesser-known titles.
Confirmation - Thursday 12th March
The 6th Class girls were fortunate that their Confirmation was held on the last day before Lockdown! They marked their special ceremony with family and friends who came from all over Ireland and around the world, even from as far away as Australia. A big thank you to 5th Class Rep, Michele Doran, and 5th Class parents from Scoil Mhuire and Star of the Sea who provided refreshments after the church service.
Parents’ Talk—Wednesday 3 March
Former Governor of Mountjoy Prison, John Lonergan, shared his philosophy on raising the next generation. "Parenting - the Challenges and the Rewards", focused on a number of important issues facing parents of children of all ages including modern technology and social media, constructive communication, and how to build a more positive and affirming relationship with our children.
STEM Week Workshops
The PA part-funded two exciting workshops for STEM Week in March — Pedal Power and Lego Robotics
Grandparents Day - January 2020
Grannies and Grandads of Scoil Mhuire girls were invited to the school to celebrate Grandparents Day. A huge thank you to everyone who baked and bought platters, plates and boxes of delicious food. Families were extra generous this year, we had 4 tables full of food —sausage rolls, frittata, sandwiches, muffins, cakes, buns and biscuits galore. One student stayed up till late making three different treats!
It was worth the effort as we received many lovely compliments from the grandparents, some of whom had spent considerable time travelling to Sandymount especially for the occasion. There was a huge turnout this year, the place was full with visitors and the PA volunteers were kept busy pouring cups of teas and coffees for most of the time. We enjoyed the morning nonetheless, there was a lovely warm atmosphere in the hall. Grandparents’ Day is an event that epitomizes the ethos and values of the school and we are glad to be part of it.