Parents Association Meeting January 16th 2025

ENS Parents’ Association Meeting Minutes
Date: Thursday, 16th January 2025
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: ENS Staff Room

Minutes Taken By: Lorna Ganda

Meeting Attended By:
Lorna Ganda
Shayla Hilpert
Saphina Nandawula
Brian Troy
Claire McCarthy
Eileen Tobin
Nileptha Magallage Sergeant
Kat O’ Shea
Marcin Grochowski
Mariusz Cwirko
Fiona Eason

Agenda:
● Welcome & Apologies
● Christmas Concerts / Raffle Feedback
● Garda Vetting
● Upcoming Events
● Subcommittee Updates
Welcome & Apologies / Open Comments:
● Thank you to PA members who translated and proofread the Welcome Package into
Brazilian Portuguese and Polish. The school now has these documents as a PDF file
to share with families joining the school.
● A wall mounted storage folder will be purchased and mounted on the wall at
reception to hold some of the printed Welcome PAckages (in english) so they’re
readily available to anyone who comes into reception.
● Michael O’Brien is stepping off the committee but will remain on the Vision, Mission,
Values subcommittee to see it through. We thank Michael for his service.
● It was confirmed by the school that sixth class children who are not making their
Confirmation will have school as normal on Friday, 21st of March.
● Holy Communion mass will be at 11am on the 17th of May.
● The current balance in the PA bank account is €1421. €250 will be withdrawn from
that to be donated evenly between 5 clubs in the school leaving a total of €1171.
Christmas Concerts / Raffle Feedback:
● Thank you to everyone who helped during the Christmas concerts, serving
teas/coffees, selling raffle tickets, cleaning up etc.
● Approx 2 litres of milk was used per show so that gives a rough idea of the uptake
and footfall.
● €2120 was made on the Split The Pot raffle which was split 4 ways, 2 ticket winners,
the PA and Clare Crusaders, each getting €530.
● We used a cash record sheet for counting money in between sales which worked
well. We will continue to use it for upcoming events.
Garda Vetting:
● It has been determined by the diocese that Garda Vetting is not required for PA
committee members and therefore has been removed from our constitution.
Upcoming Events:
Winter Wonderland Disco: (24th January)
● 19 volunteers are scheduled to help out which is amazing numbers allowing for us to
set up two separate tuck shops, have the snow machines manned at the entrance,
slush puppy machine as well as two/three people being available to take photos, get
groups together (especially 6th class) for their grad preparations etc.
● All tuck shop goods are stored at the school having previously been purchased for
the original date in December (changed due to weather warning).
Photo Day: (31st January)
● Will take place on the 31st of January this year. Was previously booked for
November but there was a lot happening at the school so it was postponed.
● Photo Day for the next school year has already been booked for the 30th of
September in order to have it done before the festive activities approach making the
term busy again.
● PA will continue to book photo day in consultation with the school.
Flag Day: (8th February)
● We have reduced the number of locations this year and possibly hours (to be
confirmed depending on uptake of volunteers).
● Fiona has volunteered to organise the rota again this year, thank you Fiona.
● The new Aldi (Kilrush Road) have given permission to stand outside their premises
(no letter required from head office). Ryan’s centra also confirmed. Waiting to hear
back from other locations approached.
● We will be collecting donations towards accessible playground equipment this year.
Scholastic Book Fair: (12th – 18th February)
● Theme is ‘Reading is Magic’, we have some DIY decorations for the foyer and are
working on a ‘staffing roster’ for opening hours based on volunteer’s availability.
● The roster will be posted into the main WhatsApp group for anyone who isn’t in the
‘Book Fair’ WhatsApp group to sign up to help out.
● An email has been written to inform the teachers & SNA’s of the Book Fair and how
we intend to run it with some requests from them, this message will be forwarded to
Brian Troy who will forward it to the school staff.
● A portion of books will be purchased by PA and donated to the Children’s ARC Unit
at UHL. They have accepted the donations and specified the need for younger
children’s ages (preschool) and teenage appropriate books.
● There will be a polling booth for the children to cast a vote when they visit the book
shop which will determine the genre of books that are donated to the ARC Unit.
Bingo:
● Friday, 9th of May confirmed at this evening’s meeting. Time to be confirmed.
● We will try calling the bingo ourselves this year instead of hiring somebody to do so.
● Equipment can be rented and bingo books can be purchased from the same
company.
● Sign up sheet was sent round for the different jobs that will need to be assigned to
make bingo happen. Any empty slots will be forwarded to the wider school
community (parents and school staff).
Subcommittee Updates:
Sixth Class Hoodies:
● Charging the same as last year, €24.00.
● Payment link for hoodies will be made available tomorrow (Friday 22nd) and will be
available until Friday 7th February via Aladdin Connect app.
● Emails have been sent to all sixth class parents/guardians regarding the hoodies
(cost, process, dates etc).
● Eileen & Lorna will go to the school on Wednesday 22nd of January (confirmed by
Brian at this evening’s meeting: with sample sizes for the children to try on, give out
order forms and get the ‘25’ template signed.
● The top 4 colours chosen by the children this year were: Carolina Blue, Black, Royal
Blue and Sports Grey.
● We intend to place the orders on the evening of Friday 7th of February.
Sixth Class Survey (Class Shuffle):
● A number of PA committee members worked closely with school management to
come up with a survey for the sixth class children after experiencing the class shuffle
leaving 5th class, going into 6th.
● The survey asked children about how they felt when they found out about the shuffle,
how they feel now after experiencing a full term in their new classes, to give some
advice to the current 5th class who may also experience this shuffle and also some
advice to the school staff on how they could help this experience.
● 70 sixth class pupils responded to the survey. They responded anonymously in order
to give them the opportunity to express how they truly felt without having to put their
name to what they were submitting.
● The survey responses came back mostly positive. Shayla made a child friendly flyer
aimed at current fifth class pupils to have a look at and get an insight as to how the
current sixth class have coped with the change. This flyer was presented at this
evening’s meeting and has also been sent to the school to use it as they please.

Next Meeting: The next PA meeting will be on Thursday, 6th of March at 7.30pm

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