Category: School News

School Re-opening

School will reopen for pupils on Wednesday 30th August 2023

October Mid-Term Break

School closed Monday 30^th October to Friday 3^rd November incl.

Reopens Monday 6th November

Christmas Holidays

School closing on Friday 22^nd December at 12.00pm

School closed from Monday 25^th Dec to Friday 5^th Jan incl.

Reopens Monday 8^th January 2024

St. Brigid’s Day Bank Holiday

School closed Monday 5^th February

February Mid-Term Break

School closed on Thursday 15^th and Friday 16^th February incl.

Reopens Monday 19th February

St. Patrick’s Day Bank Holiday

School closed Monday 18th March

Easter Holidays

School closing Friday 22nd March at 12.00pm

School closed from Monday 25^th March to Friday 5^th April incl.

Reopens Monday 8^th April

May Day Bank Holiday Weekend

School closed Friday 3^rd May to Tuesday 7^th May incl.

Reopens Wednesday 8^th May

June Bank Holiday Weekend

School closed Friday 31^st May and Monday 3^rd June incl.

Summer Holidays

School will close on Wednesday 26^th June 2024 at 12.00pm

This calendar is also available on the school website www.kilmurry-ns.ie

Dear Parents,

Enrolment

Enrolment is open for 2023-24 school year. Please email secretary@kilmurry-ns.ie or call 061-367623.

Learning from the Extremes – EU Project

There is great excitement in the school with our Learning from Extremes EU Project. We received €10,000 from the EU to purchase IT resources. So far, we have purchased 7 new ipads and 6 new laptops. We will also be getting Lego Robotic Kits when they come back in stock. The Lego kits will introduce our pupils to coding.

As part of the project, we are developing a nature trail on the school grounds. We are lucky enough to have a wide variety of native trees on our grounds. We hope our nature trail will highlight the beautiful surrounds of our school! Sophie and Matthew tell us more:

Lately, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th have been writing about the school’s nature trail. We were split into groups, and we started writing about native Irish trees on the school grounds.

There arer trees such as Oak, Sycamore, Cherry Blossom, Alder, Silver Birch on the school grounds. We used sites that helped us. The sites we used are Celtic mythology and Tree Council of Ireland.

We enjoyed this experience, and it is great to get to use the new iPads and laptops to research and type our work.                                             

By Sophie and Matthew.

KILMURRY NATIONAL SCHOOL

ANNUAL ADMISSION NOTICE IN RESPECT OF ADMISSIONS TO THE 2023/24 SCHOOL YEAR

Dear Parent,

SPHE Curriculum Evaluation 

As you may be aware, we had a subject inspection in September in Social, Personnel and Health Education (SPHE)

I want to congratulate the whole school community on a very successful report. We were particularly happy that the inspector identified the very high levels of interest, motivation and participation of our pupils, and recognised the warm, affirming and inclusive atmosphere of our school.

The Inspector’s report is attached for you to read.

Learning from the Extremes

Kilmurry NS are one of only 15 Irish schools who have been accepted for the EU Learning from the Extremes Project. As part of the project, we will receive a €10,000 grant for IT! This will allow us to buy 7 new iPads and 6 new laptops.  We will also buy ‘Lego Robotic’ kits which will introduce coding skills to our pupils. It is an exciting project to be involved in and we will keep you updated.

Ms Freeman’s Says Farwell!

After 36 years of dedicated service to Kilmurry NS, we are saying good-bye to Ms. Freeman and we wish her all the best as she moves on to a new stage in her life. Ms Freeman was Deputy Principal and we acknowledge her huge contribution to school and parish over the past 36 years. She witnessed many changes in the school and she had a hugely positive influence on the children of Kilmurry.  She showed exceptional kindness to her pupils and her caring nature shone through the school community. We are indebted to Ms. Freeman for the sharing of her talents and gifts so freely with us all.  We wish her the very best in her retirement. The school community is working to mark this big step!

Deputy Principal

Ms Freeman’s retirement left a vacancy at Deputy Principal. Following an interview process, the Board of Management has appointed Ms Orla Brady as our Deputy Principal. Orla is a very experienced teacher and school leader. She will be joining us from Crusheen NS where she is currently acting Principal. Orla will teach 5^th/6^th class.  

We would also like to thank Ms Michelle Fogarty who has been acting Deputy Principal in addition to teaching Junior and Senior Infants. Michelle has done a great job promoting and leading many initiatives in the school. We are very grateful for Michelle’s leadership in the school and we look forward to continuing to work with her.

Dear Parents,

As we come to the end of the summer term, we look back at some of the events and initiatives that have been going on this year.

STEPS -Engineering Project

STEPS Young Engineers Award encourages 3rd and 4th class pupils to explore the world of engineering by developing an engineering project that would help improve their local community.

With the help of our past pupil, Cathal Roche, 3^rd and 4^th class designed some excellent projects and presented them via Zoom. One of our projects, The Helpful Hand, made it all the way to the National Finals!  There was great excitement in the class and the whole school was very proud of their achievement.   Kielan, Zoey, Harry, Donncha, Molly and Elsie tell us more about it:  

3rd and 4^th class took part in the STEPS engineering program. Over five hundred schools took part this year. Cathal Roche, a past pupil, helped us with our projects. Our class was divided into four groups; Life Savers ,The Potato Union, The Super Six and The Dream Team. Our group, The Life Savers designed the Helpful Hand. This is a device that helps elderly and disabled people to reach objects more easily. We got through to the final. The best part about STEPS was getting to work with our friends.

Intel Mini- Scientist Competition

There was great rejoicing in Kilmurry when it was announced that Joe, Zack, Heidi and Aishling had achieved second place in Ireland in the National Intel Mini Scientist Exhibition.  Schools from all over the country competed in the early stages of this event with the winners qualifying to take part in the Mini Scientist Grand Final event.

The whole school community was hugely proud of them and delighted they continued the school’s long history of success in the competition. The Clare Champion visited the school and the report on the success and picture featured in last weeks paper!

Dear Parent/ Guardian,

A sincere thank you for your dedicated and continued work in adhering to our Covid-19 control measures in the school. We have been very successful in our fight against Covid and this is in a huge way due to the great work done by you and your family in complying with the control measures.   We appreciate also that many families have taken extra precautions to keep our school safe. Thank you for your consideration, responsibility and respect for our whole school community.

As always, there is a great Christmas spirit in Kilmurry N.S. with lots of festive things happening! There are lots of sightings again this year of Santa’s robin and even rumours of a zoom call with Santa himself!

We hope you enjoy reading this Christmas Newsletter and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram.

Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise daoibh go léir!

KILMURRY NATIONAL SCHOOL

ANNUAL ADMISSION NOTICE IN RESPECT OF ADMISSIONS TO THE 2022/ 22 SCHOOL YEAR

Admission Policy and Application Form

A copy of the school’s Admission Policy and the Application Form for Admission for the 2022/ 23 is available as follows: –

22^nd November 2021

Dear Parent(s),

Minster for Education Norma Foley TD and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly TD have confirmed arrangements for a new system of antigen testing of asymptomatic close contacts in primary schools. It is envisaged that this system will be in place ‘on or before 29^th November’.