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Parents Association AGM 2020

Parent’s Association AGM

Chairperson’s Report

As you may or may not know we have had to cancel our AGM meeting due to COVID-19 restrictions.  Instead I am writing to inform you of what we would have covered in the meeting instead.  I do realise that this is unconventional and hopefully it will only be for this year’s meeting.

What is the parents’ association?

The parents’ association is made up of all parents and guardians of each child in the school.  Once your child in enrolled in the school, you are automatically a member.  The aim of the parents’ association is to promote the interests of the students in co-operation with the principal, teachers, students and board of management.  The parents’ association is overseen by a committee of around 12 parents/guardians.  2 members of the committee also represent the board of management at the meetings.  Meetings are usually held every Tuesday of each month.  None committee members are welcome to the meeting by informing the Chairperson prior to the meeting that they wish to attend and the reason for their attendance.  None committee members will be asked to leave once their query has been answered.  If none committee members have a query but, do not wish, or are unable to attend the meeting, then they are welcome to present their query to any member of the committee to bring up at the meeting.

Recap of this years’ events.

This years’ events had to be cut short due to the Coronavirus lockdown and school having to close in March 2020.  Evan so we were able to fit in a few fundraising events before this all happened.  All profits made from the fundraisers are set out in the treasurer’s report.

Halloween Toy and cake sale – This is an annual event is in conjunction with 6th class.  All the students were able to come to the hall and buy toys and cakes which were all kindly donated by the parents of the students.  The children were also able to dress up in their fabulously scary Halloween costumes.  Thank you to all who helped out on the day and to everyone who donated toys, cakes or raffle prizes. 

Mr Duggan’s leaving party – Although this wasn’t a fundraising event it was an occasion where the parents’ association came together to say goodbye to the former head teacher.  A massive thank you goes out to everyone who donated food and their time for this.

Carol concert refreshments – This year a carol concert was put on in the church involving the school choir and Muintir Bhaire Men’s Choir.  A big thank you to Maureen O’Donovan who organised the whole concert, it was such an enjoyable evening had by allThe parents’ association provided teas and coffees after the event and a big thank you to Lynda Whelton and Lorna Drinan who helped out on the night.

Christmas cards – These are the cards that your children design each year for you to purchase.  Thank you to the children for all their fabulous drawings and also to the parents who purchase them.  These funds are vital to allow the parents’ association to provide the school with the extra support they need.

Wish tree cards – These cards are sold around the town and then a mention is read out on Christmas Eve at mass. 

Tree of lights night – Thank you to everyone who turned up to support us this year in the torrential rain.  We had a visit from Santa and hot chocolate and homemade biscuits were handed out to all the children.  A special thank you for Dermot Ward for leading the carols.

Panto – The parents’ association paid for the buses for the children to go to the pantomime helped along by a generous donation from Nellie from the ‘Little Way’ charity shop.

Crazy hair day – This was a new event for this year which the children enjoyed so may be able to do the same again this year.  Thank you to all the children who came to school with their crazy hair, there really were some fabulous styles.

Quiz night – This was a great night and a great turn out especially as the weather was not very good.  Thank you to Margaret McSweeny for providing the questions and for being our quiz master on the night.  Thank you also to Schull harbour hotel for providing us with the venue and to everyone who came out to support us and to all who donated a raffle prize.

Confirmation – Luckily we were just able to help out with the tea and coffees at this year’s Confirmation before lockdown happened.  Thank you to all who helped with this and for the donations of cakes and biscuits.

Cancelled Events

We did have many more events planned for the rest of the year but due to Covid-19 we were unable to do them such as; The Spring Toy and Cake sale, 1st Holy Communion, The Fun Run, Schulls got talent and many more.

Purchases

This year the parents’ association has raised money to buy new Science equipment, Cycle sense for 6th class pupils, Martina French Tin Whistle lessons, Numicon Starter Apparatus, some storage boxes for the classrooms and Hoodies for the 6th class graduation.  Thank you to Angelique Power for designing and printing the 6th class hoodies.  All purchases are set out in the Treasurer’s report.

Thank yous

I would just like to thank the current committee for their constant hard work over the last 12 months and for supporting me in my first year as chairperson. 

Thank you to Nellie from the ‘Little Way’ charity shop for her very generous donations throughout the year.

Thank you to the local businesses for letting us advertise and for their generous donations of raffle prizes.

I would like to thank Marian Lannin and Margaret Dukelow for their time on the committee the past few years.

Also a big thank you to Des O’Brien for all his hard work as former Chairperson and to Nora O’Donnovan  for all her time and hard work as the PA’s treasurer.

Finally a massive thank you to Miss Drinan, Paula and to all the staff at the school for allowing us to run as we do, support us in our events and for putting up with my constant phone calls and messages.

There have been so many people involved in organising each and every event this year and I sincerely apologise if I have missed anyone from my thank yous.  Please know that I am very grateful for all the help and support everyone has given me in my first year and I hope to carry on again this year.