Please go to the Garden tab under Parents' Association to learn more about the soup making in the school!

AGM - The Parents' Association AGM will be held in the school towards the end of September - the date is to be confirmed.  There will be an address from the Principal and Vice Principal, followed by a summary of all the work done by the Association in the previous year by Valerie Byrnes, our current Chairperson.  As you know the parents help out with a number of activities throughout the year. Some activities raise funds for the school such as the Christmas Cards, Cash for Clobber and the second-hand uniform sale. Others activities add an extra dimension to the school curriculum as in the running of the library, the school garden, soup making and swimming, none of which can function without parental input. We also provide refreshments for new parents on the school Open day and  for the Grandparents of 1st class when they come in for Grandparents' day.  We help the school  attain and keep Green Flag status through facilitating the Walking Bus.  We help to organise, with the parents of 3rd class, the Holy Communion party, which has been a great success over the last six years. We provided pizza for the Confirmation classes after they have made their Confirmation and party bags for the children of the choir who sing at the Communion and Confirmation ceremonies. We also help with the book rental scheme.
As you can see this is a fairly wide ranging and extensive body of work, some aspects  are ongoing such as the library, others are one off events. Please come along to the AGM to see how the Parents' Association has an impact on school life.
At the AGM we will be looking for new committee members and (for those who can't commit to being on the committee) volunteers to help with our various projects/events. The committee meets approximately once a month. It is the aim of the PA to have representatives on the committee from each class so that the whole school is represented, and we would like to have around 18 members in total. Over the last few years this has been increasingly difficult, however we understand that not everyone has the time to commit to being a committee member. However we would ask that you try to attend the meeting if you can and show your support for the amount of work that is being done in the school. Thank you.

To Parents of 1st and 3rd class,

For the last two years we have run a very successful get together for the children making their Holy Communion and their families, and the children in second class who are not making Communion are also most welcome with their families. We decorate the school hall and bring biscuits and bakes and serve tea, coffee and soft drinks. The party takes place after the communion service in St. Joseph's Church in Bushypark school hall. This year, due to the large numbers of children involved there are two services at 10.30 and 12, so we will be running two parties consecutively and we ask parents of children in 1st and 3rd class to help out. If you are available to help out on the day then please get in touch by emailing your name and phone number to stjamesnsparentass@gmail.com.

All help is much appreciated. Thanks.

The AGM of the Parents' Association will be held in the school on Tuesday 27th September at 8pm. This is a chance to hear what the Parents' Association did last year, any funds raised and how the money was spent. The Parents' Association help out with, the school library, the garden and the walking bus. We run the swimming lessons in Leisureland. Last year we hosted coffee mornings for new parents on the Junior Infants Open Day and on Grandparents Day and raised money through Cash for Clobber, The Christmas Table Quiz and through the very successful Christmas Cards. We also held a Communion party for all the children of second class in the school hall with the help of parents from 1st and 3rd class. We hope to be running all of these events again this year. The new school garden was another successful venture which resulted in many of the children involved from 1st - 4th class bringing home strawberries (their favourite), potatoes, carrots and other vegetables. Please support us as we are reliant on new volunteers each year as people move on as their children change school etc.
Please come along to the AGM if you can and consider joining the Parents' Committee. We meet at the beginning of the month on a Monday or Tuesday in the Westwood Hotel at 8pm. It is important that all classes within the school are represented on the committee, but we need new members to do this. If you feel you cannot commit to this then perhaps you might be able to volunteer for the library, garden or helping out at coffee mornings. All help is much appreciated.

On Tuesday 20th September a note went home about the AGM and asking for volunteers. Please fill this in if you can help out in any way and put it in the Parents' Association box in the school foyer.

The Parents Association will be holding its AGM in the next few weeks. Please come along to hear about what the association does.

There will be a coffee morning in the next few weeks to welcome new parents, please keep an eye out for more information.