Parent’s Council

Dear Parents and Guardians – On behalf of our Parents` Council, I would like to invite you to our AGM which will be held in the School Assembly Area on Tuesday 27th September at 8PM.

Our Guest Speaker is Pat Courtney, Anti-Bullying Co-Ordinator with the SPHE Programme of the Department of Education and Skills. The theme of his talk is “Bullying in Secondary Schools and what Parents need to know”.

I hope you will join us for what will be an interesting and informative evening.

This marks the final meeting of the present Council and many thanks go to those people who have given up their time to represent the Parents of Students in St. Mary`s over the past year.

All parents are very welcome to attend. Tea and coffee will be served.

We meet on the first Tuesday each month and welcome new members. The first meeting of the new Council will be held in the School Library on Tuesday 4th October at 8pm.

As a Parents` Council, our function is to highlight issues of interest and concern to all Students and their Parents. It is very important, particularly in these times of economic recession and scarce resources that Parents are kept informed of the effect that cutbacks will have on students at second level and ensuring that they are not being made scapegoats for any government decisions.

Policies on a wide range of areas such as school enrolment, substance misuse, school rules, etc are put in place with our advice being taken on board. These topics along with many others are regularly discussed at our monthly meetings. We are delighted to see the successful implementation of our Parents` Text Messaging Service and redesign of School Website this year which has kept all interested parties up to date with activities going on in the school.

We are involved in lots of activities during the school year such as the Christmas Student Quiz, 5th Year Prefect Interviews, T.Y. Street Collection, the end of year 6th Year Graduation Mass and Graduation Dance. This year was very special – together with your financial support and the support of the Board of Management – under the guidance of our Deputy Principal, Ms Dolores Mullins – we established a new School Garden. The boys now have a fabulous “living space” where they can meet their friends, have their lunch and just enjoy a piece of nature within the safety of the school environs.

I would invite you to take a few minutes and admire our new Student Amenity Area when you can.

I would like to thank you – existing parents and guardians – for your ongoing interest and support. Without your Voluntary Contributions each year we would not have the facilities we have – Astroturf, Computers, Garden, etc.

To our new Members – Welcome! We hope that despite the many demands on your time, that you will find the time to join a really great team of Parents on our Council. We work closely with Mr Brady and Ms Mullins to promote good relations between Parents, Students and School Authorities at all times.

Aisling Monahan
Chairperson