‘Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí’
Parent's Association
This school has an active Parents’ Association which works closely with the Board of Management and they support the school in many ways. They meet once monthly/termly during the school year.
The parents association in our school work with the principal, staff and board of management to build effective co-operation and partnership between home and school.
The role of the parent’s association is set down in the Education Act 1998 as follows:
A parents association shall promote the interests of the students in a school in co-operation with the board, principal, teachers and students.
The Education Act also sets out two broad tasks for a parents association which are:
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To advise the Principal or the Board on matters relating to the school
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To adopt a programme of activities which will promote the involvement of parents in the operation of the school, in consultation with the principal.
To operate effectively as a Parents Association you need to have mechanisms in place whereby you can establish the views of the parents and pupils on matters relating to the school. In this way you can select activities that will promote parental and student involvement.
While all parents of pupils of a school are members of the parents association, the majority do not need to be involved in the day-to-day activities of the association. Usually the parents association will elect a committee who manage the responsibilities of the parent association of behalf of all the parents. The size and formation of the committee is usually determined by the size of the school and the amount of activities to be undertaken.
The following are some of the activities in which our Parents Association involve themselves:
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Organising information/social events for new parents to the school
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Arranging talks on topics of interest to parents, e.g. guest speaker on parenting/discipline etc
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Providing support/organisational input to major school events, e.g. communions, confirmations, sports events etc.
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Channelling parents views on school policy issues to the Principal/Board
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Helping to organise and supervise extra curricular activities
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Organising Fund Raising Events for the school