Summer 2025

Summer Holidays

School closed on Friday 20th of June for the summer holidays and will re-open on Thursday 28th of August for the new school year.

Comhghairdeachas! Well done to our 6th Class pupils; Emily, Eva and Simon who celebrated their graduation on June 12th with a special three-course meal, kindly facilitated by Ms. Watson. It was a memorable occasion to mark the end of their primary school journey. We are incredibly proud of each of them and will miss them dearly. We wish them all the very best as they begin an exciting new chapter in secondary school this coming August. Go n-éirí an bóthar libh!

Breakfast Club & Afterschool Club Breakfast Club & Afterschool continue to be a big success and we are delighted with our tutor, Teresa Nally. We thank you all for your co-operation and continued support of both excellent services. Breakfast and Afterschool clubs will commence on Monday 1st of September 2025

Discover Primary Science and Maths Award Congratulations to all the pupils and co ordinator, Ms. Watson as Rahara N.S. was awarded another SFI Curious Minds Award. Our Log of Evidence was evaluated and we have met all the criteria for the Gold Award. Ms Watson provided evidence of children's engagement with STEM in the areas of: Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths as well as a STEM Showcase. Well done on a tremendous achievement and for adding another plaque to our wall! On Friday June 13th our pupils were very excited to attend a virtual SFI curious minds STEM awards ceremony where our award was announced!

Sports Day Our sports day took place on Wednesday June 18th. We had a fantastic day. Rinka facilitated an hour workshop with the children for sports day in our school and we ended the day with a delicious take away from Supermac’s!

Hot School Meals We are please to inform you that our school has been deemed eligible for The Hot School Meals Scheme for the 25/26 academic year. However, we would like to notify you that the necessary procurement documentation from the Department of Education and the School Meals Procurement Unit has not yet been made available. This documentation is essential for us to proceed with arranging meal providers and finalising logistics of the scheme. As a result, there may be a delay in the commencement of Hot School Meals on the return to school on August 28th. We will keep you updated with any new information and provide a confirmed start date for the school meals as soon as it is available.

French Lessons French lessons took place in Term 3 for pupils with our tutor Lesa Rice through the Primary Languages Initiative. The children are getting a fantastic opportunity to sample a new language & culture. We are delighted that we have once again been selected to take part in the ‘Say Yes to Languages’ initiative. Our school has been selected to participate in Term 1 of the module which will run from the end of September to February 2026.

Standardised Tests Standardised tests were administered to all pupils from 1st - 6th class at the end of May. The results of these were recorded in your child’s school report and were sent home.

Sports

• The Senior girls had a super day out in Oran for their Cumann na mBunscol 5 a side Camogie Blitz on May 9th. They qualified for the Camogie semi-final which took place on May 20th.

• The senior room took part in the Hurling blitz in Four Roads on April 30th.

• Athletics lessons took place in Athlone TUS and finished on May 13th. We look forward to attending again next year.

• The Senior Room took part in a 5 a side Gaelic Blitz in Oran on May 15th. We won 2 out of 3 games and there was a show of fantastic skills on the day. They qualified for the semifinals. • All pupils took part in Athletics in Athlone TUS for 6 weeks.

• Karl was our Gaelic & hurling coach and training took place every Monday.

• Senior pupils took part in the football semi-final in Ballyleague on May 29th.

• The senior room took part in our first ever Rounders blitz in Michael Glavey’s, it was a super day out and a great experience.

• The senior room had a great day out in Naomh Dominic’s on June 13th for a Gaelic blitz with all the schools in the parish. Thank you to Ollie Lennon for organising.

School Tour All pupils had an amazing day on our school tour in Baysports on Monday June 16th. We started off with some fun at Mote Park Playground, then headed to Baysports for a day packed with adventure. From rafting, paddle boarding & kayaking to the Waterpark, Bushcraft & Team Building activities – there was never a dull moment! Definitely a day to remember!

Roscommon Arts Centre We had an incredible day today at Roscommon Arts Centre on May 2nd where we had the pleasure of attending the show Wind in the Willows. The performance was fantastic & everyone in attendance had a truly memorable experience. The children were captivated by the show and had a great time experiencing live theatre with cast members from all the local post primary schools.

Rahara Junior Tidy Towns Rahara Tidy Towns visited our school during National Biodiversity Week to make each pupil an official member of Rahara Junior Tidy Towns. They also gave the children a leaflet explaining their new role. Pupils were invited to create a logo and slogan for Rahara Junior Tidy Towns which were collected from members of Rahara Tidy Towns. To support our school garden, they donated tomato, strawberry, and beetroot plants, along with pollinator-friendly seeds to sow in the school grounds. Well done to Carly who was the winner of the Junior Rahara Tidy Towns Logo and Julia who was the winner for the Junior Rahara Tidy Towns slogan. They are delighted with their Smyths Voucher that they received from Rahara Tidy Towns. As part of their biodiversity plan, they donated a colourful bird nest box to every pupil to bring home. Each colour nest box is designed to attract specific birds: Blue – blue tit, coal tit, wren, great tit, tree sparrow Purple – house sparrow Green – starling Yellow – robin, blackbird, wagtail We hope that the children enjoy watching the birds using the new nest boxes over the summer. A heartfelt thank you to Rahara Tidy Towns for their continued support of our school throughout the year. Not only have they shared their knowledge with the children, particularly around diversity and biodiversity, but they’ve also given generously of their time and effort to improve our school environment. From cleaning our school shed to tidying and power-washing the parking area, their hard work has helped make Rahara a cleaner, litter free and more environmentally friendly place for everyone. We truly appreciate all they do for our school and community.

Wellbeing Week We had a wonderful Wellbeing Week full of fun, friendship and fantastic activities! The children embraced the spirit of the week with enthusiasm and joy. Highlights included a Kindness Café, cosy Teddy Bear Picnic, extra sports, a competitive camogie blitz for the senior girls, creative STEM challenges and a colourful non-uniform day. The week also featured plenty of playtime with jigsaws, construction activities and opportunities to simply enjoy being together. It was a lovely celebration of wellbeing, teamwork and positivity across the whole school.

English Evaluation Inspection We had our English Evaluation Inspection on May 13th. A sincere thank you to all families for promptly returning the consent forms – your support is greatly appreciated. We’re happy to report that the inspection went well!

Cash for Clobber We will have a cash for clobber collection in the new academic year. A date has yet to be confirmed.

Staff for 2023-24

Aoife Mc Gowan – Principal and Junior Room teacher

Niamh Watson – Deputy Principal and Senior room teacher

Kathy Dolan – Shared Special Education Teacher (SET)

Oliver Connaughton – Principal Release cover

Elana Quinn – EAL teacher

Ms. Lynda Pearce – Secretary

Mr. Padraig Lohan – School Cleaner

Ms. Teresa Nally - Morning and Afterschool facilitator

Mrs. Mc Gowan will take her Principal Release Days every Wednesday in the new academic year. Mrs. Dolan will visit our school every Tuesday & Thursday.

Free Primary Schoolbooks Scheme Schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks will be provided to very child free by the school. However, there will still be a requirement for parents to buy some additional items for children to use at school. Parents received an email with the list of items that your child will need on their return to school on Thursday 28th of August.

Communication Please check out our website www.rahara.com for updates as well as our Facebook page. If you need to contact the school please email: raharans@gmail.com or principalraharans@gmail.com

Note from Principal I wish to express our appreciation to all the parents who have helped and suported us all year. I am especially grateful to the parents and the PA for all their hard work on promoting our school and organising fundraisers. I wish to thank the Board of Management for their loyalty, dedication and hard work. Finally I would like to express my appreciation to all the staff, both teaching and non-teaching, for all their work and dedication. I know they work tirelessly for the happiness, safety & education of all the pupils in Rahara NS. We wish you all a safe & happy Summer Holidays!