Board of Management Lucan East ETNS annual report 2015-2016
Dear Pupils, Parents, Staff and members of our Community,
The following is a report on the work of the BOM of Lucan East ETNS for the past year. We will give a brief synopsis of the year’s event and the successes and challenges for the school. A big effort is made by the school and the board to publish updates and information about the school on the school website and on twitter. It is part of our green school strategy to cut down on the use of paper as a community. Some of the highlights of the year include:
Sept: The school opened its doors to sixteen classes and 27 teachers, 6.5 special needs assistants and 451 children. The board worked on making revenue for the school through renting out the school premises. Currently the school is rented out on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays which brings in much needed revenue for the school. The board continued to work on maintenance issues in the school and in particular the roof in the newer part of the building which we have been liaising with the department about. Eddie agreed to represent the board on the Kishoge Community College BOM. The school said goodbye to Gráinne Mc Manus and thanked her for all the sterling work she had undertaken as teacher and deputy principal in the school. We wished Gráinne well in her new role as principal in the school. We looked at the school’s action plan for maths as well as the school’s attendance strategy which the board was pleased to see had maintained its improvement. All teachers in the school had engaged in continuous professional development (CPD) over the summer in a wide range of areas. A gate was installed over the summer to make a football area for 5th and 6th classes as well as ensuring that 1st and 2nd class yard was more secure. As part of our ICT strategy all our equipment was maintained and new equipment bought. The school signed up to the Gaelbhratach flag initiative which is a two year programme to promote the Irish language in the school. Rebecca Doyle was appointed as Home School Community Liaison teacher. The role works to support parents to help their children achieve better outcomes in school. The board congratulated Maeve Collins on progressing to the second year of her masters in special education studies and Alan Deegan on the completion of his masters in education.
Oct: In October the board looked at the school code of behaviour and it was agreed there would be a review by the staff of the code in the next academic year. Four teachers attended the Educate Together ethical conference which was funded by the board . The new PTA committee had been appointed and the board wished them well for the year ahead. The board were happy to engage the services of an occupational therapist and speech therapist who would work with children in our outreach and mainstream classes. The school accounts were certified by the accountant employed by the school. The board reviewed parking at the school and it was agreed that a parking consultant would be sought to review the current situation. This happened towards the end of the year and resulted in the implementation of the double yellow line and yellow box in the avenue up to the school, The school started on the two year “Gaelbhratach” Irish flag programme aimed at raising awareness the quality of teaching and learning in Irish throughout the school. The emphasis this year was on spoken Irish..
Nov:
The board looked at the school’s plans in literacy and numeracy. It commended the staff on the ongoing work in the school. The board also supported a skipping workshop that took place in the school. A parental reading programme started in Junior infants which was a great success. The board also congratulated the Olympic handball teams for all their hard work at the tournament for schools in north Kildare and Dublin. Our handball coach is Eva Herceg who has really raised the skill and awareness of this sport in the school over the last few years. We also started work on the book celebrating the first eight years of the school’s existence. The board of management were delighted to support this project. Parent teacher meetings were held in December. The board thanked the PTA for organising the disco at the mid term break.
Dec: The school celebrated the winter concert with the rest of the school community and the board congratulated the staff on a great show. Funding for school lunches was reapproved and the board was delighted that this funding was available to parents. The board approved procedures for when there is inappropriate parking in the school. It was agreed that the school would close early on January 27th 2016 for training on the new language curriculum. Parents were notified about this before the christmas break. This was the first meeting of the new board of management. The new board thanked the old board for all their help and support during the handover. There was a visit by Educate Together CEO Paul Rowe who presented awards at the friday assembly. The school celebrated science week, held a photo competition and the Dublin team visited with the Sam Maguire trophy. The winter raffle was a great success. The school took part in the Peace Proms concerts with 5th class flying the flag for Lucan East. There was an internet safety talk hosted in the school which followed up on workshops and a questionnaire which the children had worked on in class. 4th class learned the guitar and the school took part in the South Dublin cross country races. Every week in assembly a different class performs a poem, song or drama in Irish as part of our Gaelbhratach work.
Jan: The board updated the enrolment policy for our outreach classes. It was not envisaged that there would be any new spaces in this section of the school this year. There was a report on the Aistear curriculum which is the play based approach we are working on in the infant classes. The children started studying philosophy within the Learn Together programme. New guidelines and legislation have been released by the department and the school is working with other Educate Together schools to formulate a joint enrolment policy for our schools in the area. Olympic handball coaching was given to children across the school and a school team was set up and played matches against a number of teams in the Lucan and Leixlip areas. We have also set up Gaelic teams and continue to offer a broad and balanced range of extracurricular activities. The school committed to updating the library and library books and thanked Linda for all her work on this. A bedtime reading club for senior Infants was organised by Rebecca and was a great success. The school increased the security in the school by purchasing automatic doors for the front entrance. We also started a parenting programme in the school. The first programme had 10 parents who really enjoyed the experience. Parents were informed that the school accounts are available on the school premises for them to see.
Feb: The board thanked all the teachers and children for representing the school so well at the peace prom concerts and rehearsals.3rd and fourth classes took part in hockey lessons at Weston Hockey club The board reviewed the CCTV policy and the data protection policy The principal discussed the setting up of a soft play area in the yard and applying for funding for it. Sixth class took part in the voting process which simulated the election and teachers and students learned about the intricacies of the proportional representation system. The school had a great day of story story and laughter will storyteller Niall De Burca. This the beginning of our Seachtain na Gaeilge (Irish language week) celebrations in the school.
Mar: We celebrated “Seachtain na Gaeilge” We were visited by our neighbours from Gaelscoil Eiscir Riada in what has become an annual event between the two schools. The school engages the services of a school mentor. These services are funded partly by parents and school rental. It has been hugely beneficial to the school community to have this service at our disposal. The PTA had organised a copper trail and a disco which were enjoyed by all and raised much needed funds. New chromebooks arrived to add to our ICT equipment. The staff received inservice training in science. The board reviewed and ratified the child protection and anti bullying policies. The school celebrated the commemoration of 1916 with a lovely ceremony which was attended by all parts of the school community. Throughout the year the school has tried to increase the usage of email, twitter and texts as part of our green school initiative to reduce the use of paper. The board is fully supportive of this.It investigated getting a school app and more work on this will be done in the next academic year. The board has also applied for charitable status which means that it can claim back any tax paid on donations of more than €200. The health and safety policy was reviewed and modified with the help of an outside company. The school continues to use the parent portal which facilitates online payments as well as giving parents access to all their children’s reports and attendance data.
Apr: The board has continued to support the school garden which is used by all the children and staff in the school. We also supported a visit by a willow weaver who came to 4th class. As part of the parental involvement programme 3rd class parents came in to learn chess. There have been similar programmes in every class across the school all year. The school library was given a complete revamp. A grandparents day was held and was a great success.The board were pleased to support a homework club in the school.
May: The new Garda vetting procedures for schools were discussed and a plan formulated for their implementation. The PTA were thanked for all the work they had done towards making the summerfest a fantastic day.
June: We had a very successful sports day and sponsored walk which were great days for our community. The board heard a report on the progress of the literacy and numeracy strategies in the school. The school celebrated its third graduating class with a wonderful graduation ceremony along with the launch of “Le Chéile le Chroí” (Together with Heart). This book celebrates the first eight years in the school’s existence. The event was attended by all the previous BOM chairpersons and a presentation was made to the most recent chairperson Emmanuel Bourdin for all his service to the school in the previous four years. Paul Rowe paid tribute to the school community for all their efforts in making a great school. We held a joint meeting with all the committees for our final BOM meeting of the year and the student council attended. The school went through a rigorous recruitment process during the summer months and employed four temporary teachers. Niamh Byrne was appointed Assistant Principal following a recruitment process and began in this post in July.
BOM: The BOM met 13 times from Sept 2015 to June 2016 . Representatives of the BOM also attended ET National Forum meetings, the ET AGM and other ET events.
School Committees: The school has many different committees that help in the running of the school, the BOM interact and support all of these committees and are very grateful for all the work people put into these voluntary groups. It is wonderful to see, that even though parents, teachers, staff and pupils are so busy with other aspects of their lives that so many give so freely of their time.
PTA – The board thanked the PTA for all their work on behalf of the school during the year.
Health and Safety
- New Health and Safety signs erected around the school and its environs.
- The school safety statement was revised by an outside agency and was approved by the Board of management.
- New fencing erected around the basketball court.
- Fire Drill completed twice per term
- Frequent Health and Safety Inspections carried out in school and its environs.
- Emergency evacuation chairs secured for school. Staff trained in the use of these chairs.
Students Council:
The student council was set up and has regular monthly meetings. Karen is the teacher with responsibility for the student council. They were very visible throughout the school last year and hope to build on their success next year.
Extra-curricular Activities: The after-school programme is continuing to develop.
The classes are organised by teachers and are subsidised by the school. There are a wide range of activities to suit every child and the diverse nature of our school.
Staff Training:
The Professional Development Fund is funded by the BOM this year the board helped to fund staff members undertaking Masters research in Education as well as other post graduate work. Staff were also supported and carried out training in a wide range of areas. The board hopes to expand this fund in future years.
Other areas:
Finances
As always the funding we received from the government did not cover all the costs of running the school and we are so grateful to parents and the PTA for all the fundraising efforts that helped us pay all of these costs. The money raised was used in the following ways:
- Astro play area
- Library books
- Line markings for yard
- Car park signs and lines
- ICT equipment
- Peace proms
- Le Chéile le Chroí book
- Maths equipment for across the school
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the BOM for all their hard work over the last year on behalf of all the students and parents in the school.
Meena (Chairperson and Patron’s Representative)
Eddie Fox (Principal and Secretary)
Daniella Buda(Treasurer and Community Representative)
Nicola Kuss (Parents’ Representative)
Donal Bergin (Parents’ Representative)
Aoife O’Riordan(Teacher’s Representative)
Elaine Harris (Patron Representative)
Richard Dillon (Community Representative)