Dear Parents & Guardians,                                                                                                                                                                                           

First term is coming to a close and we are looking forward to our Christmas holidays.  Thank you for your cooperation and support this year.   School will close for the Christmas holidays on Wednesday, 21st December at 11:55am for Junior & Senior  Infants. 1st Class – 6th Class will finish at 12 Noon.  Uniforms are not compulsory on this day.  Children may even wear festive clothing if they wish and bring one treat to eat with their small lunch (Milford N.S. is a Nut Free Zone).   

Wishing you a very happy and peaceful Christmas.

Go raibh síocháin na Nollag agus na Bliana Nua  faoi shéan ‘s faoi shonas ort ‘s ar do mhuintir!

Diarmaid

Some news & notices…

Christmas Shoebox Appeal: A huge thank you to the whole school community for your generosity with the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox appeal. We created 300 shoeboxes in total. Well done everybody.  A special word of thanks to Ms. Laura Hynes for organising the Shoebox Appeal.  

Football: Congratulations to all our fantastic football teams who trained and competed in matches this autumn. We are very proud of them all. Congratulations and thanks also to their very dedicated and committed coaches and to all the teachers (Ms O’Neill, Ms. Hayes, Ms. Munnelly, Mr. Kelly, Ms Fitzpatrick, Ms. O’Sullivan, Mr. Nelligan and  Mr. Daly who gave so generously of their time this autumn to training our children.

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. Selections will take  place shortly  for the Fitzpatrick Cup competition, which starts on Tuesday January 10^th and will run on Tuesdays and Thursdays through January between 3pm and 4pm on the Astro-Turf in U.L.  

Congratulations:  

• Congratulations to our past pupils Evan O’Connell and Jack Oliver who both represented Ireland in the recent Under 20s Rugby International versus Italy. Ireland won the match on a scoreline of 39 points to 12 points.  We are extremely proud of their achievements and wish them the very best in upcoming matches.
• Congratulations also to our past pupils (Joseph Fitzgerald, Max Ivory, Ben Hayes, Shane Toomey, Bryan Canny, Jamie Porter, Donnacha Ó Dalaigh and Simon Griffin, who played on the Monaleen Hurling Team that was recently crowned Munster Intermediate Champions.  It was a proud occasion for our school to welcome back our past pupils with the cup two weeks ago.  The journey continues after Christmas. We wish the team the very best in the all Ireland final in Croke park on January the 14th when the team play against Tooreen of Mayo.

Thank you: A big thank you to the Absolute Hotel and also to Total Cleaning Supplies for sponsoring two brand new sets of jerseys for our girls’ and boys’ teams.  We are very fortunate to have such wonderful and generous companies supporting our school.

Enrolments 2023: The closing date for enrolments for Junior Infants for September 2023 is January 16^th 2023.  The admission form may be downloaded from our school website. 

Milford NS Parents’ Council Notices

• AGM: The Parents’ Council AGM took place on Wednesday, 9th November 2022.  The AGM was very well attended and we are pleased to announce that a new committee has been officially formed for this year.  Our school would not be where it is today without the support and dedication of successive Parents’ Councils, Boards of Management, and the wider parent community, whose extraordinary voluntarism and active citizenship helped overcome many obstacles in providing us with the structures and facilities for an appropriate learning environment, and who have pioneered initiatives and worked assiduously on behalf of parents and pupils alike.  Sincere words of gratitude to James O’Shaughnessy (Chairperson), Julianne Phelan (Secretary) and Keith Murray (Treasurer) for accepting positions on the Parents’ Council Committee. 
• Christmas Bag Packing:  Our Christmas fundraising event this year took place on Saturday 17th December in Dunnes Stores Childers Rd. A huge thank you to Mr James O’Shaughnessy, our Chairperson for coordinating the event, Jennifer McCarthy for securing the bag pack with Dunnes Stores, to Irene Kenzie for arranging the buckets, and labels and helping coordinate the tills on the day and to Mr. John Nelligan for his incredible efforts in helping to organise the event.  To all the members of the Parents’ Council, thank you very much for all your support and efforts in making sure the fundraiser was a success.  Sincerest words of gratitude to the volunteers who donated so much of their time on such a busy Saturday.  Your help,  assistance and support are hugely appreciated.  The total amount collected is €2237.50.

Meitheal: A Meitheal was traditionally when neighbours came together to help each other. In the same spirit, we hope to organise a Meitheal in Milford N.S. at various times during the school year. Parents have always been a wonderful support to our school.  Cake sales, book fairs, school shows, fundraising events, swimming helpers, garden helpers, walk to school volunteers are but a few of the events that parents have helped out with in the past.   If you have a skill or trade or area of expertise that you would like to offer to our school please let us know either by email (office@milfordns.ie) or phone call (061-339123).  At the moment, we are looking for people to share their carpentry skills with us to fix new table tops on our 4th Class tables.  If you are interested and can help us with this project after  Christmas, please let us know via the office contact details.  Ní neart go cur le chéile!

Student Council 2022/2023: The new Student Council for the upcoming school year has been established. The newly elected members displayed great enthusiasm and commitment in their meetings this term. We are sure they will continue the excellent work of the previous Student Council in having a major impact on the school community. Well done to everyone involved. Many thanks to Ms. Yvonne Newman, Ms. Laura Hynes and Ms. Gemma Ryan for coordinating the Student Council Activities. 

Science Week: Science Week was held from Nov. 14^th – 18^th. Science Week is an opportunity to highlight to the children the fascinating worlds of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).  Children from Junior Infants to Sixth Class had a wonderful week of predicting, observing, recording and participating in some fantastic scientific experiments. The amazing world of science was visible throughout the school. Thanks to Mr. Kelly and Ms Griffin for coordinating all the activities.

Christmas Events: Congratulations to all the boys and girls in Milford NS who performed so wonderfully recently during their Christmas Shows.  The atmosphere in the church was warm and full of Christmas cheer.  The children really enjoyed themselves and sang their hearts out. They were incredible.  We are so proud of them all. Maith sibh!  We saw over the last few weeks that it takes the help of all our teachers, staff, pupils and parents to run Milford NS Christmas events.  A heartfelt thank you to everyone. These things don’t just happen by accident. It is a result of sheer hard work, dedication and most importantly, teamwork.

Swimming: Swimming will begin in 2023 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.

Important Dates:

• Our next Board of Management meeting will take place on 20th December.
• Christmas Holidays: School will close early on 21st December.  The staggered times are as follows:  11:55 am closing for Junior Infants and Senior Infants. Noon closing 1st Class – 6th Class
• School will reopen again on 5th January 2023.
• The closing date for Junior Infant Admissions for the school year 2022/23 is 3pm on Monday, 16th January 2023.