Back to School News August 20th 2022

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope you and your family are well and enjoyed the lovely weather during the summer holidays. We now look forward to the return of our pupils to school on Wednesday August 31st. School gates open from 9.10am and school begins at 9.20am sharp. Junior Infants finish school at 12pm for ten school days and thereafter at 1.55pm. Senior Infants finish school at 1.55pm each day. All other classes finish school each day at 2.55pm. More information regarding your child's teacher for the new school year and classroom will be sent to you next week. 

Great News on School Lunches - Monastery NS will be providing FREE Hot Meals to all our pupils in the coming school year. We will be setting this up in early September and hope to be operational by mid October. Parents and guardians will have an App where each week they can select their child's hot meal from an extensive healthy menu. In the interim please continue to send a healthy lunch and drinks with your child each day. Please remember that one small treat is permitted on Fridays!

School Office - Our school office is open next Monday August 22nd from 10am to 2pm each day. You can call in person to school secretary Mrs Woods or telephone 041-6852641 or email officeardeemns@gmail.com if you have any queries. 

School Booklist Expenses - thank to you all our parents / guardians who have already paid these expenses. Some fees are still outstanding and a reminder will be issued to parents / guardians today. Please pay these charges via the school Eolas App or School Online Payments or by phone and card to the office as soon as possible. You can also pay these fees in person with cash / card at the school office this week. If your financial circumstances have recently changed and you are unable to pay these fees please contact the school office for advice. A Book Grant Application Form is available upon request. Class Booklists are also available on the parents' section of our school website 

School Uniform 2022-2023 - Junior Infants will have a new school uniform and new school tracksuit this school year. There are small changes to our school uniform for senior infants to 6th class and options regarding our school tracksuit. All are available from our local retailers here in Ardee. Full details of our school uniform 2022-23 are on the parents' section of our website and I have also attached a school uniform letter I previously sent to you in June 2022. 

School Payments Online and Eolas App - a very high percentage of our parents and guardians use our School Online Payments facility or the school Eolas App. The parents and guardians of new enrolments should now strongly consider registering for School Online Payments - see www.monasterynsardee.ie/parents/payments/  Then using the same login details download and use the school Eolas App - see https://www.monasterynsardee.ie/parents/eolas-app/ 

School Calendar 2022-2023 - Our school calendar for 2022-23 is available here - https://www.monasterynsardee.ie/parents/calendar/ 

Contact Details - if you have changed your address, mobile contact numbers, email address or need to amend other contact details please contact our school office. Please note it is important to have a minimum of a second contact person in case your child is ill at school and we are unable to contact you. 

Coeducation Begins - For the first time in the 132 year history of our school boys and girls will start school together on Wednesday August 31st. This is a very special and exciting day for our school community. Our new Junior Infants will be in two tiny classes giving them the best possible start to their education. They will also have their own dedicated large yard with wonderful play facilities. We still have some enrolment places available and our enrolment application form can be downloaded from our website or by contacting our school office. 

I look forward to seeing all of you soon. In the meantime, if you have any queries please contact the school office. 

Kind regards, 

Mr Jim McGee, Principal.