Newsletter 21st October 2026
Admission to Junior Infants September 2027
Applications for Junior Infants 2027 are now being accepted -
please see link on the website.
Daly Exercise After-School Club!
Daly Exercise will deliver a structured five-day afterschool activity programme for all pupils at St. Patrick’s GNS starting from 1.20pm (Infant Collection Time) – 2.20pm with the option to extend collection until 3.20pm.
This after-school club will start on Monday 2nd November.
BOOKING LINKS
Children are welcome to wear Halloween costumes to school on Friday!
Please be mindful that children will be playing in the yard during break times so they will need proper runners/shoes!!
DIOSCÓ OÍCHE SHAMHNA
Táimíd ag súil go mór leis an discó iontach seo!
Buíochas do na tuismitheoirí atá á eagrú!
STEM WEEK HPGNS
Class Challenges, Creative Posters & STEM Week Fun
Over the last week, science came alive right across the school. Our 6th Class girls hosted their annual Science Exhibition, presenting impressive projects that inspired our younger classes to dream big. Meanwhile, every individual class got involved in their own hands-on STEM challenges throughout the week. Be sure to check out our photo gallery to see all their fantastic work!
A Huge Thank You to Our 6th Class STEM Committee
STEM Week could not have been such a resounding success without the extraordinary leadership and dedication of our 9 member 6th Class STEM Committee:
Juliette Conmy, Emma O'Brien, Aoife Plunkett, Elsie Wyse, Lucy O'Malley, Rachel Hyland, Sophie Redmond, Kate Wang, and Annabel Ashley.
These nine girls played a massive role behind the scenes every single day. Throughout the week, they:
Broadcasted the STEM Radio every morning to keep the entire school informed and excited.
Collected and sorted all the estimations from students for the jelly jar competition.
Organized clipboards and Maths Trail sheets for PE sessions with Mr. Daly out in the yard.
Coordinated the Dream Space Ambassadors and set up the ThinkPads for coding sessions.
Helped manage the Queen of the Tables finals, keeping accurate records of all participants and winners.
Warmly welcomed parents into the school for our STEM Parents Morning, where guest speakers visited several classes to share insights into their real-world STEM careers.
Hollypark is so proud of all our students for their hard work, curiosity and team spirit last week. Thank you to everyone who made it such a memorable celebration of STEM!
Paper Tower Challenge
Games Challenge
Paper Airplane Challenge
Smarties Graphs!!
SPAGHETTI TOWERS!
Our STEM Week was packed with energy and friendly competition across all year groups, featuring:
Creative Engineering Challenges: Designing, building, and testing with everyday materials to learn resilience and problem-solving.
School-Wide Maths Activities: Daily Maths Chat Challenges, "Principal’s Problems" over the intercom with Ms. de Fréin, "Guess the Jellies in the Jar," and live quizzes on Maths Week Ireland TV.
Interactive Competitions: Queen of the Tables, Loop Games, Maths Trails, and Tráth na gCeist.
Poster Competition Winners
THEMES WERE....
STEM in the garden
Space
Buildings
Amazing Inventions
STEM saves the planet
The world of the future!
Lucy O Sullivan
Mila Cafolla
Fiadh Quinn
Siún Heraghty
Sadie Rhatigan
Lauren McGrath
WELL DONE GIRLS!
STEM QUIZ WINNERS!
We had a super quiz in the hall last Thursday! It was very close but here are the winning team!! Team 25!
Jelly Jar Winners!
The Junior Jelly Jar had 83 jellies and the Senior Jelly Jar had 256 jellies!
Super estimating girls!
STEM CAREER TALKS
We would like to extend a big THANK YOU to all of the parents and guardians who so generously gave their time to take part in our STEM Careers Talks last Friday.
The girls had such a wonderful and engaging day listening to you share your experiences, learning about the many different career paths available in STEM and having the opportunity to ask questions.
It was fantastic to see their curiosity and enthusiasm and I have no doubt that you have inspired many of them to consider a future career in STEM.
DANCE DAY HPGNS
This school year, we are placing a special focus on the Dance strand of the PE curriculum and what an exciting day we had today! We are also hoping to achieve our third Active School Flag this school year.
We were delighted to welcome an incredible range of dance workshops, led by the National Youth Ballet of Ireland, Faye and Carla (Irish dancing) and Hannah Mae (Hip Hop). The girls had a fantastic opportunity to explore different styles of dance, develop new skills and experience the joy of movement.
It was also wonderful to welcome some of our past pupils back to the school. They generously shared their experiences and offered fascinating insights into the world of dance, inspiring the girls with their stories and passion.
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to everyone who contributed to making this such a memorable and inspiring day. Your time, enthusiasm and generosity helped create a truly special experience for the girls.
Take a look at some of the highlights from our fantastic day below!
CHRISTMAS JUMPER SALE....preparation!
Members of the 6th class Culture Team met with the Parents Association last Friday morning to plan the Christmas Jumper Sale.
If you happen to find any pre-loved Christmas jumpers/ accessories at home please put them aside as they will collect them on Friday 6th November at drop-off time. The sale will take place on Friday 20th November at 8.00am in the school hall.
Well done girls!
Industrial Action
We will keep you updated- thank you for your ongoing understanding.
Halloween Camps
Neurodiversity Ireland are running Halloween Camps during the midterm. Please find link here
Gaeilge i Hollypark!
We place a strong emphasis on the learning of Irish in Hollypark. Gaeilge is very much a living language amongst our school community!
The girls in the older classes participate in the Fáinne initiative which focuses on spoken Irish. As well as all of the initiatives which we have embedded over the years we have now been chosen to participate in the CLIL- Content Language Integrated Learning Project. We will be working on completing some orienteering tasks through Irish - very much focused on the language of directions etc. Rang Naíonáin Bheaga (Junior Infants) Rang Naíonáin Mhóra (Senior Infants) Rang a cúig agus a sé (5th and 6th Class) will all be working together on this initiative!
For your interest please see link here to the
Is féidir liom, is féidir linn- Action Plan for Irish in English Medium Schools.
Please note the following Catechism Class facilitated by Foxrock Parish.
October Nature Spotter Sheet!
Please take the time to spot some of these signs of nature in our
local parks and green areas.
The hot meals are very popular with our children.
However, please check in often with your child about their lunches and if possible involve them in choosing their hot meals.
Please take the time to chat to your child about their hot meals.
Ask the following:
Are you enjoying your lunch?
Are you eating your lunch?
Would you like to try something else/new/different?
Tesco Blue Tokens!
Great news we have been selected for the Tesco Community Fund collection in Tesco Honeypark. Please support this worthwhile cause if you shop in this store!
Thank you to Adrian on the PA for his work on this.
6th Class Subject Leaflets
Department of Education and Youth
The Department of Education and Youth has created new subject and career leaflets
for all 6th class pupils, their families and their teachers.
I shared this with 5th and 6th class families yesterday. These leaflets explain the
subjects your child can choose for Junior Cycle and give short, easy to understand
information on each one. You can find the leaflets by scanning the QR code below.
Parking in the parish centre!
Parents are invited to park in the parish carpark during drop off and collection times. We appreciate the parish facilitating us as we encourage the girls to walk to school.
School Calendar / Féilire 2026/2027
The 2026/2027 calendar is available here.
Dates Term One
Please note extra school closure to accommodate
Curricular Area: STEM Training for teachers 8th December.
Hallowe'en Disco | Thursday 22nd October | 3rd - 6th class |
Hallowe'en Dress Up Day | Friday 23rd October | Whole school |
Midterm break | 26th October - 30th October | Whole School |
PT Meetings | Week beginning Monday 23rd November | SI - 6th Class |
No After School Activities for one week to facilitate PT Meetings | Week beginning Monday 23rd November | Whole School |
SCHOOL CLOSURE | Tuesday 8th December | Whole School |
Last day of Term One (early finish) | Tuesday 22nd December | Whole school |
First day of Term Two | Wednesday 6th January | Whole school |
Start & Finish Times
Start Time | Finish Time | |
Junior Infants until 9th September | 8:40am | 11:30am |
Junior Infants from 10th September | 8:40am | 1:20pm |
Senior Infants | 8:40am | 1:20pm |
1st & 2nd Class | 8:40am | 2:20pm |
3rd- 6th Class | 8:40am | 2:20pm |
FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY REASONS...
NO DOGS ALLOWED ON SCHOOL GROUNDS PLEASE!!
Smart Phones and Smart Devices
The Hollypark GNS community strives, in line with best practice, to create a calm and safe sanctuary, free from the distractions and potential complications posed by social media and the use of personal smart devices. To this end, Hollypark GNS is a smart device free campus. Children are not permitted to use phones/smartphones or smart watches whilst on school grounds (including the yard and the astro pitch).
We strongly support our PA No Smartphone Voluntary Code.
5th and 6th Class
Children in 5th and 6th class who need to bring a device to school in order to facilitate their journey to and from school must seek written permission from Ms. de Fréin by completing and signing a Phone Request Form. [Please see our school's Acceptable Use Policy, Appendix A (page 16)]. If given permission, children must hand the device to their teacher at the beginning of each day, and they may collect it when they are going home. The school takes no responsibility for these devices during the day.
Homework/ Obair bhaile
Homework should be within the capability of the attentive child, based on work already done. Homework enables parents to follow their daughter’s progress.
Homework should always be checked, and the journal signed daily by parent/guardian.
Homework is assigned for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday evenings and is not assigned for the weekend.
Recommended Times for Homework
Junior/Senior Infants: Class Teacher will advise.
1st/2nd Class: 20 – 30 minutes
3rd/4th Class: 30 – 40 minutes
5th/6th Class: 40 – 60 minutes.
These are suggested times. In practice, the time taken will depend on each child.
If parents feel a child is taking an excessive amount of time to complete work, they should discuss this with the Class Teacher.
Please click here for Homework Tips.
Headlice!!
PLEASE KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON YOUR DAUGHTER'S HAIR OVER THE COMING WEEKS.
We have had numerous reports of headlice throughout the school.
REMINDER!
One Way Traffic System
After School Activities 2026/27
Please contact providers directly for all update.
Details can be found here
Birthdays this week (up until 30th October) in Hollypark!
Lá breithe sona daoibh go léir!
Birthdays up to the 30th October!
Alice O'Keeffe
Rhea Close
Evie Cahill
Zoe Egan
Rachel Hyland
Ada Delaney Aherne
Eleanor Whelan
Lydia Rhatigan
Elena Walsh
Aoileann Ruddy
Nicola Kelly
Kate McKenna
Hailey Ryan
Isabella Cronin
Johanna McKimm
Matylda Szmargara
Caoimhe Higgins
Grace Russell
Phoebe Barrett
Quinn Murphy
Advertising on our school newsletter
If you would like to place an ad on our school newsletter, please email Suzanne at the office hollyparkgns@gmail.com for further details and pricing.
HPGNS
United in Friendship, Together We Strive!
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