Parents Association
P.A Meetings / Committee:
We have a number of Parents’ Association meetings each year and these are attended by the Principal/Deputy principal. These meetings are very open and various queries are raised and solutions to these queries are discussed. Many new ideas and suggestions from these meetings have been put into practice.The Parents Association is consulted on school policy documents in advance of publication.
We aim to have 30 parents from across the years groups on the Parents’ Association Committee. Parents are encouraged to contact the Parents Association with general queries in advance of these meetings by email [email protected]
We also attend meetings with the national school Parents ‘Association and meet directly with the principal a couple of times during the year and here we co- ordinate fundraising dates, promote each other’s events, share ideas, initiatives and work together on common problems such as parking etc. We also are involved in the learning committee who source expertise and support from industry etc.for events such as Science, Engineers and Maths week.
Our AGM is held in October each year and activities of the Parents’ Association are outlined, new members are put forward and parents have the opportunity to ask questions and offer ideas and suggestions. Parents are also encouraged to become involved in any way they can by supporting the school in areas such as fundraising, work experience for Transition year students and any expertise or career that they may have that could be beneficial to the school.
Fundraising:
We hold 3 main fundraising events each year. Clothing collection Spring andWinter and Plantagen in November and these raise approx €6,000 per year. Parents Association funds have been used to support the school musical, purchase jerseys for school soccer and gaa teams, provide funds for the breakfast club and recently we donated €10,000 to the upgrade of toilet facilities. We receive fantastic support from the community in these endeavours.
Communication:
This is our biggest challenge. The days of notes home have long been left behind and we have to rely on our teenage children to keep us informed of what’s happening in the school as a result we are often left in the dark.
Texts from the school to parents are the most effective form of communicationbut these can’t be sent daily. To address this problem we have set up our ownFacebook page St Peters College Dunboyne Parents Association .This has been a huge success and thanks to Linda Whittaker who updates this. We also have a parents section on the school website and we would encourage parents to regularly check the website for updates.
Contact us at: [email protected]
School Events:
The Parents Association assist at many events during the year such as Graduation evenings, coffee mornings for new parents, TY Portfolio interviews and many more.
Information/ Talks:
We have provided drug awareness courses for parents in the past and we also have had information evenings on bullying etc. We have also researched the area of school bag weights and have published a document on this problem. Information booklets on the junior certificate have also been produced by the school with the assistance of the Parents’ Association.
