Welcome note from our Principal, Joe Kennelly

Faīlte go dtī Scoil Pādraig Naofa, Cregmore. by Joe Kennelly. Principal.

As Principal of Scoil Padraig Naofa, Cregmore, I am delighted to welcome you to view our school web site.

Scoil Pádraig Naofa is situated eight miles east of Galway, in the parish of Lackagh. This is an area renowned for its rich traditions in farming, hurling, music, religious devotion, neighborly co-operation and support.

The school itself is uniquely situated on a crossroads, and is really the focal point of the community. The original school was opened in 1933 and the story of its foundation back then is fascinating. In 1927, a local gentleman, Mr. Richard Mc Grath made serious representation to the then Minister of Education to provide the community with a school. Following much controversy, objections and meetings, Scoil Pádraig Naofa, Cregmore was officially opened on July 3rd 1933. This story is well documented in a fine publication entitled “ Cregmore, the school and its People”, published by a group of parents in 2004.

The original school was demolished in 1978 and a new school was built. Due to increasing pupil numbers, an elaborate, modern extension and enhancement project took place in 2005. Over the past number of years since then, several developments have taken place, including the provision of a new car park and drop off area, the acquisition of a field to the rear of the school and the development of playing pitches and an Astro Turf area, and finally the building of a long awaited and much needed school hall. classrooms and Resource room facility, officially opened on June 21st 2013. In addition, the school boasts a wealth of resources, including maths equipment, IT equipment, PE equipment, Science equipment, an impressive bank of music instruments and the schools most recent acquisition, a suite of Surface RT Tablets which have added a whole new dimension to our interest and knowledge of IT. To day, Cregmore School is one of the fastest developing schools in the Archdiocese of Tuam, with 260 pupils on roll, 14 full time teachers and 6 auxiliary staff. It is hard to believe that in just over a decade, the school has grown in population from just 70 pupils to now over 260 pupils.
Richard Mc Grath certainly had vision.

We have been blessed in Cregmore with tremendous support from our parents, who through a well organised committee have provided much appreciated funding and support to the school community.
The commitment of the school staff , both present and past must also be commended.

Our children are extraordinarily well behaved, well mannered, and a privilege to work with. We also have an extremely dedicated and committed teaching team, who genuinely have the very best interest of each little boy and girl at heart. We are most fortunate to have a very dedicated and professional Board of Management,  by Mr. Pat Forde, a gentleman who has worked tirelessly in promoting and developing the school. Finally, it is widely acknowledged that Cregmore School and indeed the Parish of Lackagh are indebted to an extraordinarily wonderful person, Canon Desmond Walsh, affectionately known as Fr. Des whose loyalty, spiritual guidance and friendship to our school is simply extraordinary, and much appreciated..

We wish to live by our motto, Truth, Honesty, Friendship and Respect, and it is our desire that every boy and girl who comes to school here will have the fondest memories, loyal friends and receive the best education possible.

Mission Statement. Scoil Pādraig Naofa.
Scoil Pádraig Naofa, Cregmore is a co-educational, Catholic, primary school, which strives to provide a well ordered, caring, happy and secure atmosphere where the intellectual, spiritual, physical, moral and cultural needs of the pupils are identified and addressed.

AIMS

To enable our pupils to have full lives as children.
To equip them to avail themselves of further education.
To prepare them to live full and useful lives as adults in society.

While Scoil Pádraig Naofa is a school with a Catholic ethos, it also has due recognition for all other religions.

Scoil Pádraig Naofa will strive to promote, both individually, and collectively, the professional and personal development of teachers through staff development programmes.

The School encourages the involvement of parents through home/school contacts and through their involvement in the Cregmore National School Parents Association.

It endeavors to enhance the self-esteem of everyone in the school community, to imbue in the pupils respect for people and property and to encourage in them the idea of being responsible.

Our School promotes gender equity amongst the teachers and pupils.

Déanfaimid iarracht Gaeilge a labhairt.

Our school motto is ‘Truth, Honesty, Friendship, Respect’


This is our school where we come each day to learn about our world
And about how great each one of us can be
May we all live happily here together
May our school be full of joy and happiness
May love dwell here among us every day
Love of one another
Love of all people everywhere
Love of life itself
And Love of God


Let us remember

That as many hands build a house

So many hearts make a School.

....................................................................................................................................................................

September 12TH 2017


Dear Parents,

Cēad Mīle Fāilte ar ais ar scoil roimh gach aon duine…………….

On behalf of the Board of Management, the teaching staff and myself, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all our pupils, (and in particular our  new pupils), to Scoil Pādraig Naofa, for another school year. We hope all our pupils will enjoy the year ahead and achieve their full potential in a caring, safe, comfortable and supportive environment.

I would also like to welcome our new school secretary, Mrs Margaret Keith and Ms Eimear Dolan who replaces Ms Cairtiona Lennon.

 At the beginning of each school year it is common practice to circulate a general note to all our families, and while the vast majority of the information is repetitive annually, it is important that all parents read it, and in particular the parents of the 36 new pupils who have joined us this year.

*Healthy Eating. Remember that we encourage a Healthy Eating Policy here in the school. Children should not take fizzy drinks, crisps, chocolate or sweets to school.  Each child should get into the habit of taking a piece of fruit / vegetable to school daily and a juice / water. If per chance some little boy or girl forgets their lunch, please do not worry as we always have ample food in our staffroom to share.

*Infant Collection. The infant teachers have asked me to remind you that all children are to be collected on time and from the main drop off zone only. (Car Park). While I appreciate that some parents continue to collect their children from the Grange Road, can I please ask that all other children be collected from the general car park and drop off area and not from the entrance / exit area to the teachers car park.

In fact, no child should ever be dropped off nor collected from this area. (Teachers car park).

*Appointment with Teachers.  Parents who may wish to speak with individual teachers, including Learning Support and Resource teachers, may do so only by appointment. Teachers are more than willing to meet with parents before school starts at 8.50am or after school finishes at 2.30pm. Please respect the fact that teachers should not have to leave their class-rooms and pupils unsupervised. Should you wish to speak with any member of staff, you are most welcome, but please do so by appointment, either by phone (091-799037), or note.

*Starting Time. I wish to remind you once again that our school officially opens at 8.50am each day.

However, staff will be on hand to accept children from 8.40am. The Board of Management (on the instruction of our insurance company and the Dept. of Education and Skills) will not take responsibility for children’s welfare and safety that are in the school grounds before 8.40am.

The school office opens daily at 8.40am and our secretary, Margaret will be available to take calls and answer / deal with school related queries until 1pm daily.

*Early to Bed and a good Breakfast; Please ensure that children are in bed at a reasonable time during the school week and that they have a full and proper breakfast before coming to school each morning.

*Homework; The homework notebooks must be signed every night by parent/guardian when homework has been fully completed and properly checked.

Also, we cannot stress the importance of reading to and with your child every night….. and we are blessed with a wealth of school library books should you wish to borrow some.

*Rules of the School; these are written inside the cover of each homework notebook, (provided to Rang 1 - Rang 6) and should be read through and signed by parents and pupils.  Also, should a child be absent from school there is an appropriate section to sign and present to the class teacher.  Infants should also bring a note of explanation if missing from school.  Remember, we are obliged under The Education and Welfare Act to inform the relevant authorities should a pupil be absent from school for 20 days or more.

I have also been asked by staff members to remind you that we don’t allow children to distribute birthday invitations at school. This can only be done outside school please.

*Uniforms and P.E. gear. All children are obliged to wear their full uniforms each day at school … the only exception being P.E. days. Last year we became aware that there was a huge discrepancy in the style of PE uniforms worn by some children. We request children to wear black tracksuit leggings, (as any other colour is unacceptable) white polo shirt and red sweat shirt. Football / soccer jerseys are not to be worn to school.

The timetable of PE days are as follows.

Monday, Mr. Madden, Ms Coyne.

Tuesday, Ms O' Carroll. Mr Connell

Wednesday, Mrs O Dea.

Thursday, Ms. Crehan

Friday, Mrs Coyle, Ms Walsh and Ms. McCormack.

Only the proper school P.E uniform should be worn on P.E days. (No football / soccer jerseys etc.)

 Labelling. Lost property. Please clearly mark all items of clothing, hurleys, helmets, books, copies etc. 

All books should be covered and each child should have a little basket at school to keep their books neatly in from Rang 1 up. There is a “lost property bin” beside the entrance to Rang 2 and Rang 3 classrooms.

 After School Activities; As per the norm, we will commence organising “After School Activities” in the very near future, including hurling, football, basketball and athletics.

I want to sincerely thank our dedicated staff who assist in the coaching and co-ordination of these activities.

In addition, you can contact Susan should you wish to participate in Irish Dancing 087-2999479, and Alaine for French Lessons, 087-7438810.

 Music; As you are aware, we have a very proud tradition of music here in our school and let me take this opportunity to congratulate all our pupils and past pupils who did so well at the annual Fleadh held recently in Ennis. Maith sibh.

Music lessons will recommence on the week beginning Monday, Sept 18th. (Actual timetable to be verified at a later date). Sincere thanks to Rita for coordinating the music here in our school.

All correspondence regarding music, including the payment of music fees MUST be done through Rita and NOT through the school office and no pupil will be allocated a place until the fee is paid in full as there is huge cost in setting up the scheme.

*School Fees and School Contribution; Thank you  so much for sending in the “class fees” and ‘beginning of the school year contribution’. I genuinely appreciate your commitment to the school, while also appreciating how difficult it is to keep all these payments / contributions made. I also want to stress that while the school fees are mandatory (as they account for payments already made by the school such as Art and Craft materials, Photocopying, Laminating pouches, Printing material, P.E equipment, 24 hour Personal Pupil Insurance, Homework journals, Novels, Text a parent, music resources, update our I.T equipment, computers, laptops, new school I Pads…… etc…….. that the school contribution is voluntary.

The school contribution helps in the day to day running of the school, maintenance, cleaning, heating, electricity, and part repayment of our building loan.

It will be February 2018 before we receive the first financial contribution from the Department of Education for this school year, 2017 / 2018.

We are also running our monthly Silver Circle Draw, and we encourage each family to take a card which has 5 lines at a cost of €2 per line per month. The first draw takes place on Friday, September 29th.

*Staff Meeting. Please note that we will  be closing on Friday next, September 15th at 12.30pm to facilitate a staff meeting. This is also the last day that the new infant children will be going home at 12.30pm.

As of Monday, September 18th the new Junior infants will revert back to the actual school time of 1.30pm.

*Text a Parent; We now use this system a lot in order to communicate messages / news / updates to parents.

On Monday morning next, September 18th we will text all our families at 10am. Should you have NOT received a text from the school by 12pm, please contact Margaret in the office. 091-799037.

Summer Works. Over the Summer months we carried out a lot of work here in the school. New adult toilets, male and female, were built. The hall building was painted internally, plumbing maintenance was carried out on the old part of the school, and finally, much to our delight, we finally built and furnished a Sensory Room. This room is invaluable to our children, and offers a beautiful space of calmness, relaxation, exploration and learning. We intend to also have a silent library / reading room adjacent to our Sensory room, and this is a room where all classes could visit to simply read. I would like to have mats on the floor and cushions and bean bags for the children to sit on. If you have any rugs, mats, bean bags or cushions surplus to requirement, would you please consider donating them to the school. I am also looking for a basic music system to play CD’s. Thank you..

Finally, I wish to thank each and every one of you who continue to support our school in so many different ways.

We were very touched by the number of letters, cards and calls of appreciation received at the end of the last school year. Please accept this as a general “thank you” from myself and all the staff.

We promise to provide a modern, clean, comfortable school for our children …. a school that our community can be proud of.  I want to thank all our staff also who continue to work so diligently and give such commitment to the school and its pupils at all times.

 I want to thank our Caretaker Arthur and Maintenance man Gerry who had the school gleaming for us upon return and our most efficient school secretary Margaret.

I would also like to thank Mr. Odhran O Mahoney and all the members of our Board of Management, Aoife Connolly and members of our Parents Association and our great friend, Fr. Des. Together we work for the good of our school and especially our pupils.

 I want it to be known that we are blessed to have such beautiful children come through the school gates each morning. They are a credit to you their parents and to their community. I cannot stress enough how important it is that we as adults encourage good manners and a level of respect.

Should any parent / group of parents wish to become involved in any school sporting activity, or indeed any activity that would enhance the lives of our children, we would be delighted to facilitate you. The school hall is available for use anytime.

 Finally, we congratulate both the Galway Minor and Senior hurling teams on their recent historic achievements and we sincerely thank Francis Forde who along with team captain David Burke, past pupil Ronan Burke and several other members of the panel, visited us last Thursday. It was a most memorable occasion. Gaillimh Abu.

 I wish you all well……..I hope we all have a very safe, healthy, enjoyable and memorable school year ahead.

 Yours sincerely,

Joe Kennelly. Principal.