Monthly Archives: September 2025

On Tuesday 16th September, 25 of our pupils proudly represented the school at the Finn Valley Schools Cross Country Competition. The event brought together children from many local schools.

The course conditions were tough on the day, with plenty of mud and challenging ground to test every runner. Despite this, our pupils showed great resilience and gave their very best from start to finish.

We are especially delighted to celebrate one of our runners who earned a medal – a brilliant achievement in such a competitive field. Well done!

A huge congratulations to all 25 children who took part. You represented our school with pride and and enthusiasm. We are very proud of you all!

Dear Parent(s),

Welcome: We would like to extend a warm welcome back to all our pupils, staff and parents. A special welcome to our 19 Junior Infant pupils who have made a great start to their primary school days, and to our new pupil in second class.

Attendance: Our annual returns for 2024/25 have been submitted to Tusla. Approximately 16% of our pupils were absent for more than 20 days. Whilst this is an improvement on previous years, we will continue to implement some school wide initiatives to improve attendance again this year.

Aladdin Connect: All parents are asked to ensure they have access to Aladdin Connect. All communication, permissions and collection of monies will be carried out through this platform. We ask all parents to download the Aladdin Connect App.

Parent Teacher Meetings: These will be held on Thursday 13th November 2025 from 2:30pm – 6pm. School closes for all children at 2pm on the day. Bookings will be completed through Aladdin Connect.

Christmas Concert: Our school concert will take place in St. Patrick’s Hall at 12pm on Thursday 18^th December.

School Closures: Our school will close on Friday 13^th March and Friday 5^th June to facilitate staff training in the new Primary Curriculum Framework. These dates have been added to our school calendar which is available to view on our website www.drumkeenns.net

Beginning of Year Mass: There will be a beginning of year mass on Tuesday 30^th September at 10am in St. Patrick’s Church. We invite parents, grandparents and friends to join us in celebrating our school mass as we begin our school year.

Primary School’s Cross Country: The Primary School Cross Country will take place on Tuesday 16^th September in the Finn Valley Centre. Well done to all those that took part in our trials last week. Permission slips have been sent home with those who have qualified. We will have a total of 6 teams representing our school.

Healthy Eating: Our hot lunches will begin on Monday 15^th September. Instructions on placing orders have been sent out. Please ensure all orders for next week are in by Thursday 11^th September.  We remind parents of our healthy eating policy in school. This is available to view on our school website. We encourage all children to eat healthily. One small treat is permitted on a Friday.

School Uniform: Our uniform consists of bottle green jumper/cardigan with school crest, yellow polo shirt and dark grey trousers/tracksuit bottoms/skirt/pinafore. Plain grey shorts may be worn in warmer weather. Please ensure all jumpers are clearly labelled with your child’s name. Full school uniform should be worn at all times unless otherwise specified.

Student Council: Our student council will be formed next month; elections will be held in each classroom from 1^st–6^th class.

Swimming: Children in 3^rd-6^th Class are taking part in swimming lessons every Monday for 6 weeks. Thank you to our Parents Association for funding the cost of lessons.

Ukulele Lessons: We will begin ukulele lessons in Term 1 for pupils in 4^th-6^th Class. Information on ukulele rental/purchase will be sent out via Aladdin.

Rinka: Pupils in Junior Infants-3^rd Class will take part in ‘Rinka’ classes every Thursday for 6 weeks. Thanks again to our Parents Association for covering the cost of this.

Sports Scholarship: We extend congratulations to our past pupil Caitlin McBrearty who has secured a Sports Scholarship to Deele College for the 2025/2026 academic year. A fantastic, well deserved achievement!

School Payments: All payments for the school year can be made to the office or via Aladdin: Family contribution, swimming, pupil insurance etc. Thank you to all those who have contributed.

*Collection & Drop Off: The school opens at 9:10am each morning and children proceed immediately to their class. Children are not supervised before this time. Bus children depart school at 2:50pm, car collection at 3:00pm and those walking/cycling leave the school when traffic has dispersed. We encourage parents to use the one – way system round the parish hall when collecting or dropping off. Any pupils who need to be picked up early from school, please report to office and child will be brought over from their classroom.

Le Meas,

Ms. N. Scanlan