Dear Parents & Guardians,                                                                                                                                                                                          

We are approaching the end of September and I wish to thank you for your cooperation and support.   Classes have settled back extremely well and it has been brilliant to watch our new Junior Infants adjust to life in such a busy school. The children appear very happy and have experienced many learning experiences since 31st August. 

Some reminders and notices

Medication: Parents, please advise the school if your child has any medical issues about which you need to alert the school and for which indemnity and information forms will need to be filled out. I would also remind parents that medication already in the school may be out-of-date and may need to be replaced. 

Nut Free Zone: As several of our children suffer from a nut allergy, please remember that Milford NS is a nut free zone. We ask that you do not send nuts / nut extracts or nut products in any form to school in your child’s lunch box and especially on treat days. This would include, amongst many others, products such as Nutella, peanut butter, chocolate spreads that contain nuts, cereal bars with nuts, etc. If you are unsure, please check the food label as ingredients can change and are not always obvious in the main packaging description. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.

Entry to School Building: In the interest of health and safety, we are continuing to restrict entry to the school building except for people who have an appointment.  If you need to collect your child early, drop off a lunch, etc please ring the buzzer or phone 061339123 at the main entrance (next to the Afterschool) and Rose, our school secretary, will attend to your request.

Reminder to Label: Please label all your child’s clothing and belongings.  Quite a number of uniform items have been handed into the school already this year.  Unfortunately, the clothing items have no name labels attached.  

Attendance Policy:   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.  Please remember to explain all absences in writing (Aladdin App and/or by emailing office@milfordns.ie).

Dogs: In the interest of Health and Safety, the Board of Management of our school has requested that parents refrain from bringing their dogs (excluding service dogs that have the correct vest / harness / badge) into the school grounds.

Aladdin Communication App: Aladdin Connect is our preferred way of communicating with parents. End of Year Reports, Standardised Scores, attendance information, money payments and school notices are available to view on the portal either through the internet (link on school website) or via the Aladdin App (free to download).  Please contact the school via office@milfordns.ie or via 061339123 if you have trouble receiving messages or notices on Aladdin.

Update Contact Details: If your contact details (landline, mobile, email, address) have changed in the last year please contact the school as soon as possible with the correct information.  You can also update your contact details via the Aladdin Connect App.   Aladdin now offers the facility to add a profile photograph for each pupil. We see this as an opportunity to help staff to know each pupil by name.  With a school population of 480 pupils and 45 staff it is a challenge for staff to recognise everyone.  We will circulate a permission in relation to this on the Aladdin app in the coming days.

Online Payments: Classroom Requisite fees may now be paid via the school Aladdin School App / Portal.  If families prefer to pay the amount in installments please let us know and we can guide you through the process on the Aladdin system.  If paying in cash please place the money in a sealed envelope labelled with your child’s name.

Covid19 Protocols: The majority of the DE / HSE requirements in relation to pods, bubbles and close contacts have been relaxed.  We will continue to encourage hand sanitising upon entry and  handwashing in advance of eating.  Children should not attend school if they are feeling ill or if they have any Covid symptoms.  

Unfortunately, the Department of Education (DE) has removed the staff substitutions arrangements that were in place for the previous two years.   It is a budgeting decision made by the DE which will impact schools every week.  What it means on the ground is a return to the splitting up of classes as was the case two years ago. 

Sports Activities: The autumn sporting season has commenced and football training is up and running. Many thanks to our very dedicated teachers who give voluntarily of their time and expertise to coach and organise teams, and accompany children to matches at this very busy time of the year.  The coaches of the teams are as follows:

• U11 Girls Football  – Ms. Hannah O’Sullivan & Mr John Nelligan
• U13 Girls Football  – Ms. Sarah Hayes & Ms. Caoimhe O’Neill
• U11 Boys Football – Mr. Kevin Daly & Mr. Diarmaid Moore
• U13 Boys Football  – Ms. Celine Munnelly, Ms.Áine Fitzpatrick and Mr. Brian Kelly
  

Morning Club: The Rise and Shine morning club has a few remaining spaces available for September – June 2023. The morning club is supervised by Ms. Emma Dolphin and Ms. Geraldine Mitchell and runs Monday to Friday from 7:50am – 8:45am. Please contact emma.dolphin@milfordns.ie with any queries.

Shakin’ with Shakespeare: The “Shakin’ with Shakespeare” club has been running in Milford NS for 15 years. The pupils who have taken part over those years have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Shakespeare, and studying some of Shakespeare’s well known plays.  The next term of Shakin’ with Shakespeare commenced on Tuesday September 20th 2022, and will continue on Tuesday afternoons. Please contact Ms. Murray if you are interested.

3rd Class Guitar: Ms. Angela Reidy and Ms. Caoimhe O’Neill are taking on new students from 3rd Class for guitar lessons.   Please email: caoimhe.oneill@milfordns.ie if you are interested and we will send on the details.

Debate Team: 6th Class pupils are enthusiastically participating in the Milford NS debate club.  The pupils meet every Friday afternoon to hone their debating skills with their peers.  A huge thank you to Ms. Sandra Larkin, Ms. Linda O’Meara, Ms. Emma Newe and Ms. Elaine Gallagher for all their efforts in running the club. 

Junior Infant Enrolments 2023: The Application Process and Admission’s Notice for Junior Infants 2023 will be published on our school website next week.  The school will begin accepting applications for Junior Infants for September 2023 from Monday, 3rd October 2022.

Meeting the Teacher: Parents can arrange an appointment to meet their class teacher (or SEN teacher) through the school secretary (061-339123), by writing to the teacher, via email at office@milfordns.ie 

Parent to Parent Communication: Parent ‘WhatsApp’ groups have become increasingly popular in recent years.  Similarly many parents are on social media sites and communicate with each other regarding their children – this can be great for birthday invitations, play dates etc. We remind parents that if they have a complaint or an issue they should call the office to make an appointment to meet with their child’s teacher. Please follow the Parental Complaints Policy which may be viewed on our website. We also remind parents that information or photos about children should not be shared on any social media. 

Parent / Teacher Meetings: Parent / Teacher Meetings will take place this year during the week starting 21st November.  Your child’s teacher will circulate further information in relation to the meeting after the mid-term break.

First Holy Communion:  The date for First Holy Communion is Saturday, 13th May 2023.

Environmental: Our Wildlife expert, Geoff Hunt will be in residence next week with classes to explore the themes of “Trees, Leaves, Seeds and Insects”.  The pupils have great experiences exploring the habitats of our surrounding environment.  Geoff will also return in the spring and summer terms.

College Placements: During this term, we are very pleased to welcome college students Henrike Hirsch, Siobhán Shinnick and Susie Treacy.  Henrike is completing her college placement whilst Susie and Siobhán are completing their final teaching practice.

New Staff: A warm welcome also to Ms. Emer O’Riordan, Ms. Rachel Uhlemann, Ms. Emma Newe, Ms. Niamh O’Connell, Ms Rachel Hinchy, Mr. Kevin Daly and Ms. Sarah Hayes who have all joined our substitute teacher supply panel.  

Request for Lego – The SEN department in our school would be very grateful if any families would be able to donate Lego which is not being used anymore to the school. The department is particularly interested in any size Lego sets which come with manuals, but all Lego would be gratefully accepted. If possible please send the Lego in a bag or box with your child and they can give it to the class teacher. Alternatively there will be a storage box labelled Lego inside the front door of the school and you can drop the Lego in there. We really appreciate your support.

School Building Upgrades:  A big thank you to the members of our Board of Management who have worked extremely hard to secure funding from the DE for the following building upgrades:

• replace the school roof
• build permanent rooms (replacing temporary teaching rooms)

The work on the school roof will soon begin and the building of the new rooms is at design stage.
 

Parents, please refer to the school website for most school information  – www.milfordns.ie. 

Le gach dea-ghuí

Diarmaid Moore

Principal