Parents update march 2024.pdf
Hi All,
It has been a crazy busy time in our school recently. With many of the sporting competitions finishing up as we move into exam season, I would like to thank your continued support in helping us create a school that strives to do its best for its students. Some recent highlights are mentioned below.
Inter Schools Musical competition.
Over 70 students took part in the prestigious Old Wesley Inter schools’ music competition. After weeks of practice Pipers Hill won medals and commendations in Choir, Band and individual competitions. Thanks to Ms Roche and Ms Byrne for their dedication and support.
Intercultural week.
March 4th to 8th was intercultural week where we shone a spotlight on the many different cultures that make our school such a vibrant and diverse space. The highlight of the week was the intercultural Food fair and the wear your jersey/ clothing day. Thanks to parents for supporting and Ms G Brennan for organising. Also thanks to the Irish Dept. for their work around Seachtain na Gaeilge.
Junk Kouture
Piper’s Hill College competed in the regional final of Junk Kouture last week. One group got through to the final in the Helix in May. This will be the first time for the school to get to the final stage. Well done to Lauren Hogan, designer and creator, and Evan Jones, model.
Sport
It has been a really busy time for all the sports teams of late. Well done to the first year boys soccer team who topped their group only to lose out in the semi-finals. Our first and second boys and girls Basketball teams have also been busy over the past weeks. Best of luck to our u16 Boys GAA team who play in the south Leinster final next weekend. Also our Volleyball teams have made it through to regional finals. We also have Camogie and Hurling competitions coming up.
TY Trip to Berlin
70 TY’s and 7 teachers are currently enjoying a trip to Berlin. We hope to make this an annual trip.
UPDATES/NEWS/SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
FREE School Books and Classroom equipment for Junior Cycle students
While some of the finer details have to be still ironed out all students in First, Second and Third year will have all of their eBook’s, workbooks, English novels, journals, most stationery, calculators and some other classroom equipment e.g. Art packs, Graphics packs paid for from August 2024. Last year in anticipation of this move we provided free eBook’s for the current first year students. We will continue to use eBook’s as we are a 1:1 iPad school. Those students going into Second Year and Third year will also benefit from this. Please see attached information from the Department of Education here
Senior Cycle Books- There has been no decision made by the Government to extend to Fifth and Sixth year yet. We will continue to offer a book rental scheme to those parents who request it. In TY we do not require students to buy books. The TY cost covers the wide range of TY activities including the outdoor activity trip and various events including. We ask students to use their iPad in TY as this is where they can access teacher generated content. The school also supplies class sets of Books in certain core subjects.
Uniform Review
We are currently reviewing our Uniform Policy. We will try to do a complete review every 3 to 4 years to ensure buy-in from different groups around our decided policy. We have consulted different groups within the school, and we would like to get your input on this please. Please fill in the attached survey. Your input will be key in helping us decide what if anything needs to change. We will have a raffle of 5 family passes to the Cinema for those who complete the surveys. This survey has only 5 main questions and should take 3 minutes. SURVEY HERE
Attendance Survey
We like all schools have been asked as part of a government initiative to look at school attendance and make it a priority. We agree as we can see a direct correlation between school attendance and student achievement and Well Being. We are trying a number of initiatives to help support parents/ Guardians and young people to make it to school. We know the reasons for non-attendance can be varied and often very genuine. We want to gather as much information to help us create a clear picture of the situation in our school. Again we will have a draw of 5 Family passes to the Local cinema . To be in the draw please complete the survey here. This is a longer survey . There are 45 tick box answers- 4 to 5 minutes to answer.
Calendar Reminder
Please see attached calendar for 24/25 there is still two days for staff training to be added but we have not been given dates yet from Dept. of Education
https://www.phcol.ie/Content/2024/3/qa60-schoolcalendar20242025landscape_Parents_copy_feb2024.xlsx__School_calendar_20242025_UK_1.pdf
Once again thanks for your continued support
Tom McDonald and Pipers Hill College Team