December
Dates for your Diary:
Friday the 29th of November: School closed for General Election voting.
Wednesday the 4th of December: Christmas Market Birr Community School 4th/5th/6th Class
Thursday the 5th of December: Board of Management Meeting @ 8pm.
Saturday the 7th of December: Family Mass @ 7.30pm
Monday the 9th of December: Birr Theatre Show - Infants to 3rd Class
Tuesday the 10th of December: Clothes Collection fundraiser
Monday the 16th of December: School Show for Grandparents/Active Retirement Group
Wednesday the 18th of December: School Show @ 7pm
Friday the 20th of December: Casual Day in aid of Cystic Fibrosis
Friday the 20th of December: School closes @ 12 noon for Christmas break.
Monday the 6th of January: School re-opens
Clothes Collection; I know many of you have been keeping clothes in storage for us. Many thanks for this. We have now organised a reputable company to collect the clothes (we were struggling in this regard). This clothes collection will take place on Tuesday the 10th of December. Those who are dropping in clothes can drop them into the school on the days of the 9th and 10th of December. Items which can go into the bags are re-wearable items of clothing, paired shoes, handbags, belts and soft toys. Please No duvets, pillows, ripped or soiled clothes. Please spread the word of this collection among family, friends and neighbours. All support is much appreciated.
Family Mass: Please take note again of the contents of a letter which you received from Fr. Reddan in the past month. The family mass for December will take place on Saturday the 7th of December @ 7.30pm in Seir Kieran’s church. All families from the school are invited and are indeed encouraged to attend this mass. At this mass, the enrolment for the celebration of the sacraments of First Holy Communion (2nd Class) and those who are due to celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation in 2026 (4th and 5th classes) will take place.
Book Fair: We had a very successful Book Fair on the week beginning the 20th of November. In total books to the value of €947.50 were sold. This means that the school will receive €473.75 in book credits (50% of the sales) to buy books. Mile buíochas to Ms. Birmingham for organising all.
Swimming Lessons
Swimming lessons for children from 1st to 6th class will begin on Thursday the 16th of January and run for 5 weeks. The final lesson will be on Thursday the 13th of February.
Swimming lessons for children in Le Chéile will begin on Wednesday the 15th of January and run for 5 weeks. Further details will follow.
Birr Community School Christmas Market: On Wednesday the 4th of December; 4th, 5th and 6th classes will attend a Christmas Market in Birr Community school. They will travel by bus to Birr during school hours. If each child can bring in €5 each, to go towards the cost of the bus. Each child can bring a maximum of €10 on the day, if they wish to purchase some goods from the stalls.
Birr Theatre: The boys and girls from Junior Infants to third class will travel by bus to Birr Theatre & Arts Centre on Monday the 9th of December to see ‘Santa and the Three Little Pigs’. The Junior and Senior infants are to be collected from school at their usual time. Those who haven’t sent in €15 for the show, please do so as soon as you can, (The Board of Management are paying for the bus).
Cumann na mBunscol Table Quiz: Well done to Tadhg, Cormac, Darragh and Stephen who represented the school in a recent Cumann na mBunscol table quiz.
Christmas Show: Our Christmas Show will take place in the Parish Hall on Wednesday the 18th of December. Proceedings will get underway @ 7pm. Juniors – 1st class will be performing a play entitled ‘Snowman at Sunset’, while 2nd – 6th class will be performing a play entitled ‘Christmas Peter Pan’. Over the coming days we will be looking into our wardrobe to see what costumes we possess. As always, you are asked to ensure your child is organised with regard to the costume details they are furnished with. You will be given ample time to organise costumes, so please have your children ready with their costumes when requested. We will write to you closer to the time with specific details for the night of the show. On the night of the Christmas Show, we always hold a raffle at the interval. Families have always kindly donated something (chocolates, perfume, biscuits etc) to this raffle and this has enabled us to make up hampers to raffle on the night. If you could send in donations of prizes before Wednesday the 11th of December, it would be much appreciated. We ask you when you are donating prizes, to be mindful that we are trying to create hampers, so a variety of items suitable for Christmas hampers would be appreciated.
On the night of the show, there will be no fixed admission charge. If you wish to make a donation at the door, it is much appreciated.
Clareen Active Retirement Group/Grandparents: Members of the Clareen Active Retirement Group and Grandparents are invited to a showing of the show on Monday the 16th of December. This will begin at 11am. I am writing to the Active Retirement Group to notify them of this. Please bring this to the attention of Grandparents who are not part of Clareen Active Retirement Group as they are also welcome on the day.
Incoming Infants for 2025: Children who are due to begin Junior Infants in Seir Kieran’s NS in September 2025, are also invited to attend the showing of our Christmas Show on Monday the 16th of December at 11am. If you know of any parent who falls into this category, you might tell them to contact Gerardine in the office and she will furnish them with an enrolment application form. Alternatively, an enrolment application form can be downloaded from the school website by clicking on School Information and then by clicking on the Enrolment tab.
Casual Day: A Casual Day will take place on Friday the 20th of December. Every year we hold a Casual Day to raise funds for an organisation/group which is doing great work. This year the organisation/group we are supporting is Cystic Fibrosis Ireland. Cystic Fibrosis Ireland does fantastic work to support those and the families of those who have Cystic Fibrosis. So, on the day of the 20th the children can come to school dressed casually (a Christmas jumper would be nice, if they have one). Any small donation they bring in on the day will be collected and this will then be given to Cystic Fibrosis Ireland.
Parents Association and Christmas
As always, our Parents Association have organised a special guest to visit our school on the last day of this term which is on Friday the 20th of December. We appreciate them going to such effort.
Parents Association AGM: This will be held in December. You will be furnished on details of this in the next week.
Students Council: A student’s council has been set up in the school. The two areas the Students Council will be working on to begin with are the Environment and Sustainability (Green Schools) and Wellbeing.
Christmas Cards: We ask that pupils not to bring Christmas Cards into school into friends. There will be lots of Christmas spirit in school in the lead up to Christmas and we will be all sharing warm Christmas wishes amongst one another. Christmas cards only lead to more litter (envelopes etc.) and sometimes unknowingly, someone can be left off someone’s Christmas card list and this can cause hurt.
On behalf of both myself and the staff, I wish you all a Happy Christmas and all the best for 2025. We are very thankful for the support and cooperation we received from you in the past year and we look forward to working with you again in 2025, in the very best interests of your children.
Nollaig Shona Daoibh agus Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Daoibh go léir.
Friday the 29th of November: School closed for General Election voting.
Wednesday the 4th of December: Christmas Market Birr Community School 4th/5th/6th Class
Thursday the 5th of December: Board of Management Meeting @ 8pm.
Saturday the 7th of December: Family Mass @ 7.30pm
Monday the 9th of December: Birr Theatre Show - Infants to 3rd Class
Tuesday the 10th of December: Clothes Collection fundraiser
Monday the 16th of December: School Show for Grandparents/Active Retirement Group
Wednesday the 18th of December: School Show @ 7pm
Friday the 20th of December: Casual Day in aid of Cystic Fibrosis
Friday the 20th of December: School closes @ 12 noon for Christmas break.
Monday the 6th of January: School re-opens
Clothes Collection; I know many of you have been keeping clothes in storage for us. Many thanks for this. We have now organised a reputable company to collect the clothes (we were struggling in this regard). This clothes collection will take place on Tuesday the 10th of December. Those who are dropping in clothes can drop them into the school on the days of the 9th and 10th of December. Items which can go into the bags are re-wearable items of clothing, paired shoes, handbags, belts and soft toys. Please No duvets, pillows, ripped or soiled clothes. Please spread the word of this collection among family, friends and neighbours. All support is much appreciated.
Family Mass: Please take note again of the contents of a letter which you received from Fr. Reddan in the past month. The family mass for December will take place on Saturday the 7th of December @ 7.30pm in Seir Kieran’s church. All families from the school are invited and are indeed encouraged to attend this mass. At this mass, the enrolment for the celebration of the sacraments of First Holy Communion (2nd Class) and those who are due to celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation in 2026 (4th and 5th classes) will take place.
Book Fair: We had a very successful Book Fair on the week beginning the 20th of November. In total books to the value of €947.50 were sold. This means that the school will receive €473.75 in book credits (50% of the sales) to buy books. Mile buíochas to Ms. Birmingham for organising all.
Swimming Lessons
Swimming lessons for children from 1st to 6th class will begin on Thursday the 16th of January and run for 5 weeks. The final lesson will be on Thursday the 13th of February.
Swimming lessons for children in Le Chéile will begin on Wednesday the 15th of January and run for 5 weeks. Further details will follow.
Birr Community School Christmas Market: On Wednesday the 4th of December; 4th, 5th and 6th classes will attend a Christmas Market in Birr Community school. They will travel by bus to Birr during school hours. If each child can bring in €5 each, to go towards the cost of the bus. Each child can bring a maximum of €10 on the day, if they wish to purchase some goods from the stalls.
Birr Theatre: The boys and girls from Junior Infants to third class will travel by bus to Birr Theatre & Arts Centre on Monday the 9th of December to see ‘Santa and the Three Little Pigs’. The Junior and Senior infants are to be collected from school at their usual time. Those who haven’t sent in €15 for the show, please do so as soon as you can, (The Board of Management are paying for the bus).
Cumann na mBunscol Table Quiz: Well done to Tadhg, Cormac, Darragh and Stephen who represented the school in a recent Cumann na mBunscol table quiz.
Christmas Show: Our Christmas Show will take place in the Parish Hall on Wednesday the 18th of December. Proceedings will get underway @ 7pm. Juniors – 1st class will be performing a play entitled ‘Snowman at Sunset’, while 2nd – 6th class will be performing a play entitled ‘Christmas Peter Pan’. Over the coming days we will be looking into our wardrobe to see what costumes we possess. As always, you are asked to ensure your child is organised with regard to the costume details they are furnished with. You will be given ample time to organise costumes, so please have your children ready with their costumes when requested. We will write to you closer to the time with specific details for the night of the show. On the night of the Christmas Show, we always hold a raffle at the interval. Families have always kindly donated something (chocolates, perfume, biscuits etc) to this raffle and this has enabled us to make up hampers to raffle on the night. If you could send in donations of prizes before Wednesday the 11th of December, it would be much appreciated. We ask you when you are donating prizes, to be mindful that we are trying to create hampers, so a variety of items suitable for Christmas hampers would be appreciated.
On the night of the show, there will be no fixed admission charge. If you wish to make a donation at the door, it is much appreciated.
Clareen Active Retirement Group/Grandparents: Members of the Clareen Active Retirement Group and Grandparents are invited to a showing of the show on Monday the 16th of December. This will begin at 11am. I am writing to the Active Retirement Group to notify them of this. Please bring this to the attention of Grandparents who are not part of Clareen Active Retirement Group as they are also welcome on the day.
Incoming Infants for 2025: Children who are due to begin Junior Infants in Seir Kieran’s NS in September 2025, are also invited to attend the showing of our Christmas Show on Monday the 16th of December at 11am. If you know of any parent who falls into this category, you might tell them to contact Gerardine in the office and she will furnish them with an enrolment application form. Alternatively, an enrolment application form can be downloaded from the school website by clicking on School Information and then by clicking on the Enrolment tab.
Casual Day: A Casual Day will take place on Friday the 20th of December. Every year we hold a Casual Day to raise funds for an organisation/group which is doing great work. This year the organisation/group we are supporting is Cystic Fibrosis Ireland. Cystic Fibrosis Ireland does fantastic work to support those and the families of those who have Cystic Fibrosis. So, on the day of the 20th the children can come to school dressed casually (a Christmas jumper would be nice, if they have one). Any small donation they bring in on the day will be collected and this will then be given to Cystic Fibrosis Ireland.
Parents Association and Christmas
As always, our Parents Association have organised a special guest to visit our school on the last day of this term which is on Friday the 20th of December. We appreciate them going to such effort.
Parents Association AGM: This will be held in December. You will be furnished on details of this in the next week.
Students Council: A student’s council has been set up in the school. The two areas the Students Council will be working on to begin with are the Environment and Sustainability (Green Schools) and Wellbeing.
Christmas Cards: We ask that pupils not to bring Christmas Cards into school into friends. There will be lots of Christmas spirit in school in the lead up to Christmas and we will be all sharing warm Christmas wishes amongst one another. Christmas cards only lead to more litter (envelopes etc.) and sometimes unknowingly, someone can be left off someone’s Christmas card list and this can cause hurt.
On behalf of both myself and the staff, I wish you all a Happy Christmas and all the best for 2025. We are very thankful for the support and cooperation we received from you in the past year and we look forward to working with you again in 2025, in the very best interests of your children.
Nollaig Shona Daoibh agus Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Daoibh go léir.