SCHOOL NEWS in Brief…..

17^th December 2015

From the Principal’s office:

A reminder that the Christmas concert will take place tomorrow, here in the school as follows:

9.30am: Junior Infants, Senior Infants, Rang 1 and Rang 2
11oc: Rang 3, Rang 4, rang 5 and rang 6.

Our theme this year is NEW YEAR. Thanks to everyone who supplied decorations for the hall. They look really amazing. You can take your decoration home to enjoy after the concert.

Thanks to Brian Nolan, (James’ dad) who has updated all the class pages and the childcare page on the website for you to enjoy – just go to www.rmds.ie and click on the classes. To encourage you (and the children) to read the updates, and the newsletter, see our quiz below! We have small prizes for the first 10 correct entries opened on Monday morning!

RMDS NEWSLETTER QUIZ

Write the answer to these questions on a sheet of paper with your name and class and post it into the QUIZ BOX at the gate/outside the office by Monday Dec 21^st at 8.45am.

The first ten correct answers picked from the box win a PRIZE!!

Where did Junior Infants go on their trip this term?
Whose mum came in to Senior Infants to talk about thanksgiving?
What country did Zoe from Rang 1 move to in September?
Name one activity from the Rang 2 maths stations.
Where did Rang 3 celebrate World Tree Day?
Where did Rang 4 go on the 8^th of December?
What did Ms. Ormiston do on the day that the class went to Beauty and the Beast and to St Patrick’s Cathedral?
How much profit did the Rang 6 business groups make at the Christmas Fair?
Name one event organised by the Green School Committee this term ?

10. What is the name of the new Chairperson of the Board of Management?

School closes for the Christmas vacation on Tuesday 22^nd December at 12 midday and re opens on Wednesday 6^th January 2016

Thank you all for your generous response to our Focus Ireland appeal. Special thanks to Neil (Rowan, Lara and Aimee’s dad), Stephanie (Ruth and Patrick’s mum) and Laura Pearson who delivered the hampers to the Focus Ireland office for us.

Last chance in the morning to collect any lost property before Christmas.

Joan Whelan

From The Green School Committee:

Bring a cup and leave no trace - As you know we at RMDS are committed to the goals of green living. We are making an effort in various ways to reduce our carbon footprint for the sake of the environment.

One new venture this December is to encourage as many parents as possible to bring a reusable cup for your cuppa at the concert interval.

We would love to see a reduction in the number of single use disposable cups we use in the school. This is one definite way we can show that we are making a difference and fulfilling some of the aims of ‘ Leave no Trace’.

(If you forget to bring a cup don’t worry, you will still get tea or coffee from our cups. But we will be delighted with anyone who can help get this trend going in our school and maybe even beyond!!!)

Thank you from RMDS Green School Committee.

From the Board of Management

The new Board of Management took office on 1st December for a four year term. We held our first meeting on 8^th Dec and have distributed the roles as follows:

William Connor

Patron nominee, Chairperson, Garda Vetting, PA/ Patron liaison

Henrietta McKervey

Patron nominee, Recording secretary, Extra Curricular activities

Joan Whelan

Principal /Secretary to the Board

Paul Fairbrother

Staff nominee, Maintenance/ Safety Officer

David Harney

Parent nominee, Childcare / Vountary Contributions

Clodagh Keher

Parent nominee, Treasurer

Gerry Murphy

Community nominee, Enrolment/Educate Together

Maurice Devitt

Community nominee, Hall rental/Insurance/ Caretaker liaison

We are presently involved in the handover process with the retiring members. We look forward to keeping you up to date with developments as the New Year progresses. We wish you all a Happy Christmas and every good wish for 2016

Will Connor, Chairperson

From the Patron (Executive)

All Irish primary schools are required to have a patron. The patron owns the school, provides suitable premises, and is responsible for oversight of the Board of Management and of the ethos of the school. In Ireland, in most schools, this function is carried out by religious institutions. In the case of RMDS, the patron of the school is a limited company, the Ranelagh Multi-Denominational School Association (RMDSA). The executive committee serves as the directors of this company. The RMDSA arranges an AGM every year and elects an Executive Committee to discharge its functions.

Recent Progress and Initiatives - 2015

Following a review of governance in May/June of this year, led by the Executive and involving representatives from the Board of Management and the Parents Association, the Executive has been busy implementing a programme of change to refocus its attention on its core patron roles of:

Board of Management oversight
Fostering and supporting School ethos
Building provision and maintenance

A number of initiatives have been completed in 2015:

We organised and facilitated the election of parent representatives to the new Board of Management in November under Emma Lane-Spollen’s leadership. We also developed a high quality panel of community representatives available to serve on the Board.
We established an ethos sub-group under Kathryn Heslin’s leadership that will work with other school bodies and the teaching staff to set a 3-year plan for ethos in the school.
We set up a building sub-group led by Colin Newman, with technical input from Conn McCluskey, charged with developing a planned maintenance programme for the school and calculation of the required sinking fund we need to maintain the building .
Finally to create the capacity to deliver these patron activities we have worked with the Board of Management and the Parents Association to put together a new fundraising committee.

The Executive also hosted a social event for all three school bodies to say thank you to the outgoing Board of Management members for all their hard work and dedication, often unseen, in the school over the past 4 years. Newly elected members of the Board were also invited and thanked for volunteering their services to the school.

Volunteers and Fund Raising

As a school, we have expenditure plans in terms of school running costs, and the development of a sinking fund for building repairs which are in excess of our Department of Education funding levels.

We rely on fundraising events and the generosity of our parents to fill this funding gap – typically around €50K - €60K. With such a small school community (about 166 families) we continually need new volunteers to become involved with the various fundraising events run through the year. If you would like to help out please speak to Joan at the gate or any of the Board of Management, PA or Executive Group members.

Members of the Executive

Kevin Hewston (Chair)
Margaret Bluett (Secretary)
Niall Ó Donnchú (Treasurer)
Susan O'Connell
Naomi Masterson
Kathryn Heslin
Colin Newman
Emma Lane Spollen
Column Gleeson
Cormac Callinan

From the PA

We have had a great start to the year! The weather held off in September for the Welcome Back Coffee Morning, and it was very well supported! Real coffee it turns out is a great enticer! In October we helped organise the RMDS Charity Collection in aid of the refugee crisis. We were blown away by the donations - over 350 hygiene packs!

The RMDS Quiz night was a great success in November. We had over 20 teams, with each class well represented! In the end, it was a Sing-out which determined the winners! Well done to all who took part - particularly, those teams who won the class prizes for 4th, 3rd, 1st and Senior Infant classes.

The PA as always were a massive support to the Christmas Fair - all of the parents were! A huge team effort, so well done to all involved, be it through food donations, stall volunteering and attendance on the day!

The PA are looking forward to an equally active second term! We will kick off with the information evening in January when we will welcome an IT expert to the school to guide us in Internet Safety in the home. We are also busy planning the much anticipated Cinema Night in February. We will combine our second coffee morning with the World Book Day which will take place in early March 2016. This year we will be encouraging parents to bring and exchange a book too! Keep an eye on the Calendar on the Website for event dates. We usually meet the first Tuesday of the month, and are most welcoming of newcomers!

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas!

The PA Committee

From the Christmas Fair Committee:

Last chance to purchase a mug at the concert on Friday or online before then. Please go to the school website, www.rmds.ie, click on the contact button and scroll down to the Easy Pay school items and activities button. Cash can also be left in the office. The mugs will be given to your child to take home. There are a small number left in SI, R4, R2, R1. A great stocking filler and present for grandparents!