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. Some of the highlights of the year include:
Sept: The school opened its doors to fifteen classes and 25 teachers, 3.5 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 Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and Fridays which brings in much needed revenue for the school. The board continued to work on maintenance issues in the school and approved new maintenance contracts for electrical, heating and fire safety. Eddie agreed to represent the board on the Kishoge Community College BOM. The board were very happy to note the improvement in school attendance in the previous year. There was a report from the staff on all the summer courses undertaken by the teachers. The board keeps a fund aside every year to support teachers undertaking further study. The board approved some improved fencing around the school which is now evident and has made a great addition to our play areas and the overall aesthetic of the school. Congratulations to Alan, Gráinne, Eddie and Maeve who all undertook postgraduate study. Sinéad has also trained as a maths recovery teacher.
Oct: In October the board got down to working on the opening of our second ASD class in the school. In the first two meetings of every board the child protection, anti bullying, critical incidents and code of behaviour policies are reviewed by the board. This is a statutory requirement. The board were happy to note that the lands owned by Castlethorn at the entrance for the school had been cleared away. The principal met with local representatives to secure playing fields for the school and that they would be included in any future developments.The school sent out voluntary contribution letters to the school community. These contributions are vital to the running of the school and pay for maintenance and other shortfalls we have in government funding. Money raised by the school and PTA also goes to support staff in training programmes and further study which is very beneficial to all the children and ensures that the best methods and practice at Lucan East ETNS. The accounts for LEETNS were certified by an independent accountant. The school published its self evaluation report for the teaching of literacy which can be accessed on the school website.
Nov: The Board thanked all the parents who had committed to the school’s voluntary contribution scheme. This money pays for upkeep and maintenance of all equipment in the school. As the school has grown the amount and nature of all the equipment has increased immensely. There is no point having this equipment if it doesn’t work and our maintenance contract with our ICT, Utilities and safety companies ensures that the children and staff have the best educational experience every day. The board also heard the progress made on the common enrolment system which four of the five ET schools are cooperating on. The board worked on a roofing issue in the older part of the school. Work with the department on this is ongoing. Gemma Stokes was appointed as our Home school teacher. The board would like to thank Gemma for all her work at Lucan East. Over the summer we were lucky enough to receive notification that we will have a full time HSCL teacher appointed to the school for the 2015/2016 school year. 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. Members of the board/staff and PTA attended the annual Educate Together ethos conference
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 reviewed the parking procedures in the school and drafted a letter which would be issued to parents who were parking inappropriately. The board were happy to lend their support to “fix it Friday” a new problem solving initiative that was being rolled out across the school. The school has really worked hard to improve achievement in this area. The staff were also working on embedding assessment for learning methods across the school. The PTA were congratulated on their organisation of a valentines disco. There was a GAA week, Chess championship, Drama Feis which the children all excelled in. We celebrated with David his achievement in representing Ireland in the World cup.
Jan: The board spent the entire year working on an updated enrolment policy. 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. It was agreed by the board that this was the last year that the board would be able rent a room to the after school club as the school will be at capacity for 2015/2016. The board agreed that it would open a second outreach class in 2015. A days training on low arousal behaviour techniques was accessed by staff in the outreach and and the board got great feedback from the staff on this. The three year maths plan was presented and discussed by the board.
Feb: The board updated the financial software package that the school uses. Plans were made to facilitate payment for parents online. This cuts out on paperwork and other administration and will free the school office up to do other important work. The board thanked the PTA for all it had done during the year to date. Teachers in the infant classes developed the introduction of AISTEAR which is a learning through play based programme. They visited other schools and planned for and bought resources for the programme. This programme will be fully rolled out in all infant classes in the 2015/2016 academic year.
Mar: We celebrated “Seachtain na Gaeilge” We visited our neighbours from Gaelscoil Eiscir Riada in what has become an annual event between the two schools. The board recognises that only 55 cars can fit in the ball courts at any one time and asks that parents be patient when collecting their children particularly at the 2.20pm collection. The board would like to thank parents for the marked improvement in the numbers walking and cycling to school. 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. We were lucky enough to be one of the first schools in the region to receive the digital school of distinction award. Eddie attended training on the ET quality assurance framework. The board also looked at an attitudinal survey on problem solving which the staff had conducted with the children. The board ratified our enrolments for outreach and mainstream Junior Infants.
Apr: The board held interviews and appointed new SNA’s for our outreach classes. The staffing schedule was planned for by the board. The staff received training on google products by Fintan the PTA co chairperson. The board offered a vote of thanks for the PTA for all their work on:
- The graduation breakfast
- Clothes collection
- 5th/6th class breakfast
- Copper trail which raised €1400
- PTA newsletter
The board were pleased to support a homework club in the school also.
May: The Educate Together AGM took place in May and the board were represented. Educate Together is the patron body for the school. The board ratified our draft enrolment policy and set about recruiting teachers for the next academic year. The school also keeps detailed attendance statistics and the level of good attendance has increase in the school from 86% in 2008 to 95% in the last calendar year.
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 second graduating class with a wonderful graduation ceremony. 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 two permanent and two temporary teachers.
BOM: The BOM met 11 times from Sept 2014 to June 2015 . 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.
Green committee:
A plan was designed for a school garden. This will be developed further this year.
The school received its second green flag focusing on energy conservation.
Gardening day.
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:
Communication: We set up a weekly enewsletter which is sent out by email every Friday. This cuts down on paper and means that parents are kept up to date with happenings in the school. There is an increased click rate for the enewsletter which proves its message is getting out there. We hope to build on this for next year. The board thanked all the staff for all their hard work in updating the school website. which is an invaluable tool for keeping all members of the school community informed about what is happening in the school. The school also set up a twitter feed and a vimeo account. Next year we hope to update all parent email addresses and use this method of communication more.
English classes for Parents, art classes for parents, teaching your child to read workshop
Maths for fun: parents working on fun maths activities with children. This involved a four week training course followed by six weeks working with the children. Chess with the older classes and tournament: This year our chess team won the all Ireland community games title. This was an amazing achievement for the team and the board congratulated the coach Simon for all his hard work in this venture.
Olympic handball team set up and competed in five blitzes.
Literacy in Junior Infants
Aistear play based learning in Senior Infants
PE stations in 2nd class
Chess Rang 3
Garden Rang 4
Monopoly – Rang 5
Hurling
Football
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.
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.
Emmanuel Bourdin (Chairperson and Patron’s Representative)
Eddie Fox (Principal and Secretary)
Daniella Buda(Treasurer and Community Representative)
Neysa Tormey (Parents’ Representative)
Richard Dillon (Parents’ Representative)
Margaret Leonard(Teacher’s Representative)
Elaine Harris (Patron Representative)