Dear Parents & Guardians,

As many of you have noticed payments for photocopying, art & craft and book rental were not included on booklists in June and you were not asked for them at the beginning of September. The reason being that the Board of Management has been doing a comprehensive review of school finances and decided to defer requests for all payments until such a time as the review was complete and a strategy for the future developed.

Each year the school receives funding from the Department of Education and Science towards the running costs of the school. However the amount received is not enough to cover all the day to day costs, wages, upkeep of the building and also provide the resources required to ensure the children have the best possible education we can provide them with. For the school year 2009/10 the Board of Management expects to spend approximately €93K on administration, utilities, maintenance and personnel while the known funding from the Department and elsewhere comes to approximately €94K. The Board of Management intends to spend in the region of €50k on the children this year.

In the past in order to generate extra income families were asked to pay €40 towards art & craft and photocopying plus €20 for book rental. A Voluntary Contribution of €125 per child and €200 for families with more than 1 child was also asked for. All of these payments were voluntary and varied from year to year in the amount of revenue they generated. Any other funding for the school came from fundraisers, some generous donations and rental of the school premises.

At the conclusion of its review the Board proposes a plan based on three principles.

1. Extra funding is necessary if we are to provide the children with the best educational opportunities we can.
2. Costs to families must be reasonable and go directly towards children’s needs.
3. Fundraising is the responsibility of the whole school community.

It is proposed that the Voluntary Contribution in its present form be abolished. Individual payment requests for art & craft and photocopying and book rental would also cease. In the place of these payments the Board would ask for a single Voluntary Family Contribution of €130 regardless of the number of children from any one family attending the school. The Board would then allocate the money from this payment directly to budgetary areas relating to the needs of the children. The proposed breakdown is as follows.

Art & Craft €25 (x 190 = €4750)             The figure of 190 is approx. how
Photocopying €20 (x 190= €3800)           many families there are in the
Book Rental €23 (x 190= €4370)             school.
24hr Insurance Cvr € 7 (x 190= €1330)
Ed resources €55 (x 190 = €10450)

This payment of €130 per year is equivalent to €2.50 per week for a year. The Board also proposes to pay for 24 hour insurance cover for all of the children in the school. If all of the 190 or so families in the school made this payment it would generate an income of approximately €24,700. The Board proposes to make this payment as simple as possible. Families can pay in the same way as has been done up to now, that is the monthly envelope, plus, a direct debit can also be set up.

As the Board has budgeted €50K to be spend on the children this year we are left with a shortfall of €25,300 to be generated through fundraising activities. The Board proposes to set up a dedicated Fundraising Committee. It would comprise of members of the Board of Management, Parents Association and other volunteers willing and motivated to take up the challenge. From time to time other members of the school community would offer to assist with the organisation of particular events.

It is hoped that this new proposal will be well received by you and that you will contribute as generously as you can knowing every cent generated will go directly towards providing for the children. This is a great opportunity to grow as a community and take on the challenge together. Thank you for taking the time to read this and we look forward to working closely with you over the coming year.

Best regards,

Peter Sloane. Chairperson Board of Management.

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