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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

Well done to our pupils who received gold, silver and bronze attendance awards for the school year 24/25.

A graduation ceremony was held for our 6th Class pupils on Friday 20th June. Parents, staff and pupils were in attendance. They were also treated to a take away on Thursday 19th June. Thanks to our Parents Association for providing this.

Dear Parent(s),                                                                                                                         

As we enter the final two weeks of this school term, we wish to advise you of the following events and important dates:

End of Year Reports: These are now available to view on Aladdin. Please inform the office if you would like a hard copy printed.

Gaelic Blitz: Boys & Girls in 5^th and 6^th Class took part in a Gaelic Blitz in St. Mary’s GAA grounds last Monday with other schools in the locality. A lovely, fun morning was had by all.

Sixth Class Graduation: We will hold a short graduation ceremony on Friday 20^th June from 2:00pm – 2.45pm in St. Patrick’s Hall. Parents of sixth class pupils are welcome to attend on the day.

School Calendar 2025/26: Our school calendar for next year has been finalised and has been forwarded to all families. It is also available to view on the school website and a hard copy will be sent home this week. We will reopen on Thursday 28^th August 2025.

Booklists: All school books, copies and folders will be covered once again under the Primary Schoolbooks Scheme. We ask parents to purchase all stationery/pencil case items. A list will be forwarded this week.

School Policies: Our Child Safeguarding Statement and our new ‘Bí Cineálta’ anti-bullying policy will be reviewed and ratified at our next Board of Management meeting. These are available to view on our school website www.drumkeenns.net under ‘Policies’ section.

Uniform Swap Shop: Reminder of our school uniform swap shop taking place in St. Patrick’s Hall on Saturday 28^th June 10am-1pm. Donations can be dropped off at the school until midday June 25^th. Pupils may wear their own clothes on Tuesday 24^th and Wednesday 25^th of the last week to allow time to organise any donations.

Lost Property: We have a large number of school jumpers in our lost property box outside the office. If your child is missing a jumper, please check the box. Any unclaimed items will be forwarded to the swap shop. With warm weather approaching, please ensure all school jumpers are clearly labelled with your child’s name.

Parents Association: The ice-cream van will visit the school this week. 6^th Class pupils will be treated to a take-away this week also. Thank you to our Parents Association for covering the cost of these lovely treats!

School Closure: Our school closes for the Summer Holidays on Wednesday 25th June at 12pm.

Class Allocations 25/26:  

Junior Infants (18) – Ms. Browne

Senior Infants and First Class (13 & 13) – Ms. Gallagher

Second Class and Third Class (17 & 10) – Ms. Haughey

Fourth Class (18) – Ms. Henderson/Ms. King (Job Share Arrangement)

Fifth Class and Sixth Class (15 & 9) – Ms. Scanlan (Principal)

Special Education Teacher – SET –  Mr. Tooher (Deputy Principal)

Special Education Teacher – SET –  Ms. McGlinchey (Assistant Principal II)

Le Meas,   

Ms. Scanlan

All classes enjoyed a multisports session with Ricky and Conan from R9 Sports Coaching!

As part of the Peaceplus Programme 3rd and 4th Classes travelled to Letterkenny Activity Centre for their school tour. They took part in archery, foot golf, maze tunnel and high ropes. They were also treated to a delicious hot lunch!

We finished off our Wellbeing Week with a visit from ‘Party Animals’. The children enjoyed seeing and petting all the animals!

Well done to 4th Class pupils who were presented their medals and t-shirts today from Ann Slevin of Finn Valley AC. They have been completing a mile of running/walking everyday for the past few weeks! Well done to you all!

Well done to our 5th and 6th Class pupils who took part in the Ukelele Concert in An Grianán Theatre on Thursday 22nd May. They were fantastic!

Dear Parent(s),     

Sacraments: Well done to all 2^nd Class pupils who made their First Holy Communion on Saturday 17^th May. We thank Fr. Kelly for making the service very special for the children and to Ms. Haughey for preparing the children so well. Our school choir, led by Ms. Deery, and Kathy O’Hara on guitar, provided some beautiful music throughout with some very notable solo and group performances. We would like to thank our First Class parents and Parents Association for setting up and providing refreshments in the hall afterwards.

Peaceplus Activities: Details and permissions for remaining Term 3 Peaceplus activities, including school tours, will be sent via Aladdin Connect. The cost of the tours will be covered by the programme. Infants -2^nd Class will visit Castle Adventure Farm on Tuesday 3^rd June. 3^rd and 4^th Class will visit Letterkenny Activity Centre on Thursday 5^th June and 5^th and 6^th Class will visit Wild Atlantic Adventure Camp in Clonmany on Tuesday 3^rd June.

Athletics: Well done to all our pupils who participated in the Finn Valley Athletics competition on the 7^th May. We came home with lots of medals, with 21 pupils qualifying for the county finals tomorrow, 21^st May.

Ukulele: Pupils from 5^th– 6^th class will be taking part and attending a concert on 22^nd May in An Grianan Theatre, Letterkenny.

Wellbeing Week: Takes place from Monday 26^th May – Thursday 29^th May.The children will take part in a yoga session, mindfulness activities and a visit from ‘Party Animals’. Our student council have also organised a Pyjama Day for Wednesday 28^th May. Wellbeing Homework will replace written work for the week. 

Active School Week: Takes place from Monday 9^th – Friday 13^th June. Sports Day will be held on Friday 13^th June (weather permitting).

Relay 4 Life: We would like to thank all our students for doing the One 4 One at One Challenge here in the school.  We would like to thank Louise Hayden for volunteering to help with this Challenge. A total of 92.50 euro was raised.

New Infants Open Day: We will be having an open day for our new Junior Infants on Tuesday 10^th June at 10am.  Our new entrants will have the opportunity to visit their classroom and meet their teacher. Parents/Guardians are invited to attend as there will be an information session with principal and class teacher.

End of year Reports: Summer reports and class organisation will be distributed on Thursday 12^th June.

Upcoming School Closures:                                                                                Friday 30^th May and Monday 2^nd June: Bank Holiday Weekend.

Friday 20^th June: Sixth Class Graduation.                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Wednesday 25^th June: School closes at 12pm for the Summer Holidays.    

School Opening Times: The school building opens at 9:10am to receive our pupils, our official start time of the school day is 9:20am. We ask that all pupils are in school by 9:20am for morning activities.

Drop off/Pick Up: We remind parents to use the one-way system, around the back of the hall and drop off when driving along the school wall or at the school gate. Please be mindful not to block the entrance to the back of the hall if parking at collection times.

Le Meas,     

Ms. N. Scanlan