Minutes of
St Brigid’s Schools Parents Association AGM
held on 6th October 2010
Chairperson’s Welcome & Report
Pippa Quigley opened the meeting & welcomed the principals of both schools, Board members and all parents. She introduced the agenda for the meeting.
Secretary’s Report
Sandra Polley read the minutes from the 2009 AGM. These were proposed & seconded with no amendments.
Treasurer’s Report
Mairead Lyng presented the accounts, which were proposed & seconded with no amendments.
Principal of Girls School Address
Aedeen Sweeney thanked the PA for the invite to the AGM & for all their fund raising efforts.
The Girls had a great sporting year with success at the Santry athletics and the GAA teams are doing very well. The Senior Team got to the Final of the Shield in Croke Park. The Tennis Team got to the semi-final of the Leinster League. Hockey is now available to 3rd Class upwards, taught by Emma Meir.
Music is very important in the School and we are lucky to have a wonderful choir who were
featured by The Irish Times. The orchestra have cellos that can be used by girls who would like to play the cello but may not have access to one.The standardized test results were very good and a pilot scheme is to be introduced for
the first standardized test for Irish.
The Parents Association were thanked for their organisation of the Christmas fair. Themoney raised went to acquire 9 interactive whiteboards, Dell Laptops and and laptops for the
girls. It was mentioned that the upkeep for the computer equipment is very
expensive. Thanks to Liam Stapleton and Ger Kirwan for their expertise & help.
Money raised from the fair was also spent on activities and trips organised for every class.
The Green Flag theme this year is Climate Change.
The Primary Science & Maths award is to be renewed this year.
The WOW(Walk on Wednesday) days were a great success.
The launch of the Cycle to School Project was attended by Ciaran Cuffe.
The cycle class did not go ahead due to the long spell of bad weather.
Eamonn Ryan visited the school to see the garden. He was very impressed !
Mary Hannifan visited the 5th Class pupils and spoke to the girls.
Swimming after school was dropped due to low uptake.
Talks on Internet Safety (with particular focus on internet bullying) and Preparation for Secondary School are being prepared for the 6th class girls.The wearing of Silly Bands has been banned in the school as they are considered inappropriate.
Work on the school was completed over the Summer including work on the roof, prefabs, lighting and fire alarms.
A student council is to be set up.
3 Junior Infant classes have started and are well settled in.
A notice was given that the pupil teacher ratio might increase for the schools in the nextbudget.
There are 19 classes in the school with 4 learning support teachers and 3 special needs assistants.
There will be 2 Junior Infant classes for the next 3 years.
Thanks given to huge parental support for the school and to Pippa Quigley in her role as Chairperson and welcome to Joanna Ross as incoming Chairperson.
Principal of Boys School Address
Pat O’Connell thanked the PA for the invite & all fund raising efforts.
The Christmas fair was a huge success this year and special mention given to Joanna,
Yseult, Claire and Debbie for all their efforts
The school received 16,800 euro which went towards the purchase of whiteboards, digital
cameras, wireless mouse and keyboards, 17 new computers, the updating of the class libraries, the boys dance class module, The Magic of Music and Simply Music programs.
Ger Kirwan is retiring as the fathers representative on The Board of Governors and there would be a meeting to elect a new fathers representative.
The 2009\2010 academic year was a fantastic year.
The sports evening was a great success.
The boys tennis team won the Leinster league.
The senior GAA team got to the final of the Shield in Croke Park.
The school had great success at Santry athletics and the South County Dublin cross country running .
There is an active exercise policy with the teachers and children.
A thank you to the parents who run the Rugby Club.
Swimming is part of the curriculum for 1st and 2nd classes.
Music is also well represented in the school along with Art, Drama and Fun Irish.
Thanks again to Ger Kirwan for organising the Internet Safety talk.
There will also be a drug awareness forum along with the Garda community program.
The boys also collected over 2,000 euro for the Guide Dogs Association and a collection of football jerseys for Malawi.
The Intel Mini Scientist Competition will be going ahead for the 4th class boys.
An astronomy show is also to be organised.
Mention of no football jerseys allowed in school. School uniform only.
Building work went on over the summer with complete refurbishment of the hall floor and a new heating system.
The 3rd Class won the Dublin section of Incredible Edibles and the prize was a trip to the Zoo.
There was a Seachtain Na Gaeilge concert which was very enjoyable.
A special mention to the parents who helped in the IT department.
There are 16 mainstream classes with 6 learning support teachers and 10 special needs assistants.
Special mention to Dara Ann Kerrigan for all her help and support regarding children with special needs.
Chairpersons Report
Pippa Quigley reminded everyone that help is always appreciated no matter how small. She also mentioned that PA meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of the month in the staff room at the Boys school. She thanked the committee and the school for all their help and support during her time as Chairperson and wished Joanna well as Incoming Chairperson.
Any Other Business
Election of new committee members.
Joanna Ross as new Chairperson proposed and seconded.
Claire Walsh as new Vice Chairperson proposed and seconded.
Sandra Polley as new secretary proposed and seconded
Anne Deegan as new treasurer proposed and seconded.
