Parents' Association

The Parents' Association (PA) of

St Patrick's GNS, Hollypark

Our Mission Statement

The mission of the Parents’ Association (PA) is to support the school in maintaining, improving and expanding upon the range and quality of facilities, services and activities available for the students at our school.

Hollypark PA Committee 2024/25

The PA committee is comprised of class reps from all classes in the school and meets monthly during the school year to plan fundraising activities and organise beneficial events for students and parents.

During the school year 2023/24 the PA raised €14,394 and the funds were used for the ongoing refurbishment of some of the older classrooms and corridors.

During the 2024/25 school year the main fundraising target for the PA will be the refurbishment of the school hall. The hall is a very important space for all of our students and is used daily for activities including PE and choir, and on an ongoing basis for assemblies, after-school activities, shows, the book fair, STEM week events, cake sales, Christmas events and parents’ evenings. The whole school will benefit greatly from improvements and modernisation of the hall’s facilities and décor.

Contact us at: hollyparkPA@gmail.com

Upcoming Fundraising Activities

Raffles

The PA organises raffles throughout the year in conjunction with fundraising events and receives great prizes donated by parents and local businesses. If you would like to donate a prize for a raffle, please contact hollyparkPA@gmail.com with details. The PA greatly appreciates the continuing support and generosity of our prize contributors in running our fundraising raffles.

Recent Fundraising Activities

Pre-loved Uniform Sale

A sale of pre-loved uniform items was held in the school tunnel ahead of the new year and raised €1027.00! Thank you to all of the parents who donated and purchased items.

Hallowe’en Costume/Jersey Swap and Sale

The PA hosted a very successful and useful costume/jersey swap and sale before Hallowe’en. In addition to being a sustainable event and teaching the students about reusing resources and a circular economy, €597.00 was raised! Thank you to all the parents and students who donated costumes/jerseys and purchased items on the day.

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards were extremely popular this year with a big jump in sales compared to last year, bringing in €2483.00!! Thank you to all our parents who purchased cards and well done to all the girls for their hard work and creativity in designing them. We're sure your family and friends will all be delighted to receive your personalised cards this Christmas.

Coin Drop Fundraiser

Our Coin Drop Fundraiser was a great success. Thank you to all the girls and their families for digging deep, clearing their homes of all teh coins they could find and diligently bringing in the loose change all week. There isn't a 5c coin to be found in Foxrock/Blackrock! Midweek spot prizes were awarded to the following classes:

Junior Infants: Ms Sweeney
1st Class: Ms Codd
4th Class: Ms O'Shea
5th Class: Ms Conlon

The overall winners at the end of the week were Ms Burns Dooley's Junior Infants. Given the huge number of coins collected, counting took a bit longer than expected, but hearing the cheers from each class when Ms Gunning announced the winners made it all worthwhile!

The grand total raised was €3287.00!!! The monies will be used to buy different resources needed at all class levels immediately benefitting all students including materials to support the new Primary Maths Curriculum, art supplies, hoola hoops and beanbags for PE, buddy benches and flagpoles for our hard won school flags.

Pre-Loved Occasion Wear Night

A fantastic night was had at the Pre-Loved Occasion Wear event. There was a great atmosphere and many happy shoppers on the evening. A total of €1260.00 was raised. Select unsold items from the night are available via the Facebook group 'What She Wore' using #Hollypark GNS to filter the search. We would also like to thank all of our generous sponsors who provided raffle prizes for the event.

Pre-Loved Christmas Jumper Sale

Thank you to everyone who donated their pre-loved Christmas Jumpers and hats in all colours, patterns and sizes. We had lots of satisfied customers picking up additions for their festive wardrobes and €233.00 was raised.

Upcoming Events

Christmas Charity Appeal

Our Christmas Charity Appeal this year is for 'Feed Our Homeless', a Finglas-based charity. This charity is on Dublin streets every night helping homeless people and they also support families living in emergency accommodation. We are asking for gift bags for children living in emergency accommodation. The charity has requested that we cover specific age ranges separated into class groups:

Junior & Senior Infants: Gift Bags for age 3-5 years
1st, 2nd & 3rd Classes: Gift Bags for age 8-12years
4th, 5th & 6th Classes: Gift bags for age 12-16 years

You can choose to do a gift bag for a girl or a boy. Please send the gift bags into school with your daughters during the week Monday 9th - Friday 13th December. There will be drop boxes available in each classroom.

CyberSafeKids Talk

CyberSafeKids is an Irish charity which has been empowering children, parents, schools and businesses to navigate the online world in a safer and more responsible way since 2015. The school has organised 'Talks for Schools' for our parents on Monday 17th February. You can learn more about their talks at Corporate, Schools & Parent Workshops & Talks - CyberSafeKids, including their Gadget Guide for Christmas!

Recent Events

Fiona Forman: Raising Resilient Children

Despite the poor weather, there was a good turnout for Fiona's highly informative talk. Feedback from those in attendance was excellent. The PA organised tea/coffee and biscuits on the evening. Fiona very kindly shared her slideshow with us, available at:

No Smartphone Voluntary Code

The PA had a very positive response to its ‘No Smartphone Voluntary Code’ initiative, in conjunction with Gen Free: Free to be Kids.

94% of all parents/guardians responded and 91% agreed not to give a smartphone device up to and including 6th class. These results surpass many other schools that have participated in the initiative so far.

This is an ongoing project that we hope will support parents/guardians throughout their daughters' primary school years. It will be relaunched annually to our new Junior Infants and any other new entrants to our school.

6th Class Hoodies

The 6th Class Hoodies have arrived! These are much treasured and a privilege for our 6th Class girls. We hope our students enjoy wearing them this year and beyond!

Full List of PA Members/ Class Reps 2024/25

Complaints

The PA and class reps are NOT a forum for complaints against the school or any individuals therein. Any such complaints should be handled through official school channels. Please see POLICIES | Hollypark for the full set of school policies, including child safeguarding, code of respect and code of behaviour.