Meeting Report: 7 October 2024

Present: 

S Boland O’Brien, E Harpur, S O’Donoghue, A Kelly, E Mooney, L McAuley, E Danaher, C Callan, Mia O’Doherty, Yue Huang, Daixum He, Catriona Larkin, Edel Cullen, Dympna Monaghan, Sheena Mooney 

Apologies: 

N Carty, Diarmuid O’Dowd 

Minutes  

The minutes of the last meeting were proposed by Claire Callan and seconded by Eleanor Harpur. 

Expression of thanks 

Sinead Boland O’Brien extended her thanks to the outgoing parents council board for their commitment, hard work and dedication.

Matters arising: 

Careers night is scheduled for 18th November and will be aimed at 4th-6th year classes. The fair will be a joint venture between Loreto and CBS. Parents who are interested in participating and speaking to the students are invited to volunteer.

A discussion was had regarding the Parents Council sponsoring a potential prize of a set of driving lessons to be raffled on the night.

Introductions 

As there were several new members attending, introductions were made by everyone present. 

WhatsApp Group 

The purpose of the Parents Council WhatsApp group is for reminders, apologies and planning school events, submitting proposals for the agenda etc. Members are reminded that it should only be used during normal working hours. 

Financial Report 

Our current balance is €2657.06 

Arrangements will be made with the bank regarding change of signatories on cheques etc to reflect new officers. 

Order of Malta 

Traditionally, the Parents Council has funded a training session for 1st years, re First aid, CPR etc, provided by the Order of Malta. Siobhan O’Donoghue advised that the Order of Malta is currently participating in the ‘Restart a Heart campaign’ and is offering to attend schools to provide training to pupils and staff. ‘Restart a heart day’ is Wed 16th October. 

A discussion was therefore had re alternative funding activities for the Parents Council. Potential ideas included healthy vending machines, sandwich toasters etc, in an effort to alleviate or reduce some of the lunch time queues. This will be looked into further. 

Graduation Pin 

This discussion was postponed until the next meeting 

Book Club 

A brief discussion was had re the book club. This was started in the Parents Council as part of the ‘well read initiative’ being promoted in the school, which aims to promote reading for pleasure. Lisa Mc Auley will arrange the provision of books for interested members. 

AOB 

  • The new board appointments were outlined by Sinead. These will be included in the next schools newsletter. 
  • School Planning Group:  This group meets every Thursday from Oct to May and is scheduled to start again on Thursday 17th Oct at 15.10. Various school policies will be reviewed over the course of the year and interested parents are invited to attend.  
  • A discussion was had regarding the RSE curriculum within the SPHE class. Two parents raised parental concerns that the content was not age appropriate and felt that parents were not adequately consulted.  

Siobhan O’Donoghue outlined that the booklists for the coming year are published in May and parents are encouraged to inform themselves about the chosen books. She advised that Loreto have decided to adopt an ‘opt in’ policy and that parents will be asked to consent or otherwise to their daughters participation in this class and that dates of classes will be advised in advance. Any parent can choose that their daughter can ‘opt out’ of this class. Any concerns can also be discussed at parent teacher meetings. 

Two parents felt that other parents were unaware of the ‘opt in’ policy and requested that a meeting be arranged for all parents to discuss the RSE programme.

Next Meeting: Monday 4th November