Board of Management Meeting: 14th September 2015
Present: Richard Allen (chairperson and patron nominee), Collette Neville (teacher nominee),
Cathal Quinn (male parent nominee), Orla McCoy (principal and secretary) Rabiya Ali (treasurer
and community nominee), Sinéad Wylde (female parent nominee)
Apologies: Shane Mac Curtin (patron nominee).
Richard Allen chaired the meeting.
June Minutes
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
Correspondence:
Orla presented a request from Educate Together to hold a raffle to raise funds for head office.
Principal’s Report
Enrolment
There are currently 218 pupils enrolled.
Staffing
 Mary Delaney has joined the staff as a job sharer with Claire McInerney, 5th class. There are
no other changes in staffing at present.
 We have 2 Fourth year students from Mary I on placement for this term. One is a past
pupil. We will have several past pupils doing work experience with us throughout the year.
Child Protection
POD
o All new families have given details. There are just 2 families remaining. We have letters of
objection on file for both families.
Educate Together:
o There will be an Ethical conference on 20th& 21st November 2015. Six members of staff will
attend.
o We will have to look at our school policies and change the wording from ‘Multi
denominational’ to ‘Equality based’.
o One Day together event. Raffle cards to sell lines for€2 each. From 23 rd October to 20th
November 2015
o One World day will be celebrated on Tuesday 16th February 2016
IT
o There are on-going issues regarding the internet/ lack of.
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o Website security is being checked out by Shane.
Health and Safety
Minor Works/Building Concerns
o Floor in 3rd class. A fantastic job was done during the holidays. We will target the next
worst area to be done.
o Smell in 6th and staff toilet next door to 6th.
o Mats at entrances
o Garden near back gate.
o Ger did an incredible amount of painting and cleaning over the summer. Many thanks
to him for making the school look so great.
o The church group – Door of Hope, would like to set up an assessment to check the cost
of improving the acoustics in the hall.
o School yard project. A grant may be available. Hugh Kelly is working on this as part of a
PTA incentive.
Attendance
o Orla will speak to the parents of any pupil who has missed 25 days or over last year to see if we
can help them to improve their child’s attendance at school.
Punctuality
o There has been an improvement in punctuality generally and it will be monitored and
acknowledged on an ongoing basis.
SEN
o We have received approval for an iPad for another pupil. 3 quotes, as required, have gone to
the DES.
o We haven’t yet heard what our allocation for assessment for this year is.
Students Council
o Elections for the new council will take place soon.
o Vegetables were dug up and shared between the members of the Student Council last week.
More will be ready soon.
Courses
o We have been offered a Challenging Behaviour course for all the staff later this term.
o Ethical conference on 20th& 21st November 2015.
o Orla will be attending a course for principals in Ennis on 20th&21st October
o We have applied to take part in a Discover Science/Maths programme for this school year. We
will hear soon if the school has been selected.
Finance/ WEW
o The main challenge the school is facing is that income is down 20% on last year. Rental and
voluntary contributions are down.
o Not everyone pays for swimming, basketball and book rental etc.
o The photocopier has been giving trouble lately.
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o A new group, Door of Hope Christian Fellowship, is renting the hall side on Sundays. If we can
secure a Saturday rental it will help finances.
o A suggestion was made that from next week the Nuacht will not be available in paper form in
the future. It will only be available on email and on the school website. A new email address,
that clearly states Limerick School Project, will be set up to send the Nuacht out. An A3 copy
will be posted in the foyer and on the windows in yard and at front of school. A lot of copies of
the Nuacht are thrown away or under tables in classrooms. The Board has agreed that the final
Nuacht will go out on a yellow sheet to focus attention on it.
Website
o We have received approval for an iPad for a pupil. 3 quotes, as required, have gone to the DES.
o Antonia is working on the website and is updating it. We plan to enter it into a competition this
year.
o Security – Shane has made contact with someone who will advise us on security on the
website.
Focus on English Literacy and Numeracy
o All teachers are reading through the Literacy plan to ensure the plan is being followed in all
classes.
o On November 2nd, George Boole, 1st professor of Maths in UCC, will be celebrated as the
forefather on the information age. We will introduce the pupils to lessons based on his work
and Boolean Logic.
Other Policies/School Planning
o The ISM team will check the 8 mandatory plans and update them if necessary.
o All teachers have a copy of the Child Protection policy and Anti Bullying policy in their class
folders.
Misc. Events
o Junior Infants attended an interactive drama event at the City Gallery.
o First and Third classes are attending a poetry event – Ridiculous, on 17th September in the City
Gallery.
o All classes will attend Carnival of the Animals on 15th October in Lime Tree theatre. The PTA
has donated €2 per child so the ticket price that each child needs to pay is reduced from €5 to
€3.
o The school choir will start next Thursday 17th September.
o 3rd – 6th classes will have 6 weeks of GAA skills starting on Thursday next.
o LIT have offered a placement student to do PE skills with Junior Infants to 2 nd class
o We have applied for Maths/Science CPD for the staff over the 1st term.
o We’ve been offered a free Hazel tree as part of the Green schools programme. Tree day is
Thursday 8th October.
o We’ve agreed to be a drop off point for collections of items for refugees next week.
o Rabiya has kindly agreed to talk to the classes about the present crisis in Syria.
o We will take part in the Worlds Largest Lesson about Global goals for the future, starting the
week of the 28th September.
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o Parent teacher meeting dates have been set for Thursday 12 th November from 6 – 9.30pm and
Tuesday 17th November from 2.30 to 6pm.
o As part of the 1916 celebrations we will have a flag delivered by the army to the school and a
flag raising ceremony. No date confirmed yet.
o Art work donated to the school. Eileen Kennelly, past principal of LSP, has donated a piece of
art by the late Martin Folan. Martin’s daughter, Marina, attended LSP for a while and Martin
was an Artist in Residence in the school. The piece will be installed in the foyer over the next
few weeks.
AOB
The make up of the new BOM was discussed.
Final arrangements were made for the AGM on 24th September 2015.
Next BOM meeting will be held on Monday 12th October 2015 @ 7.30pm.
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