Services

The school offers a variety of services to pupils and parents alike. Each is aimed at improving the communication between the school and the parents as well as providing additional support to parents in other ways.

SMS (Texting) Service

Gaelscoil Philib Barún operates a free SMS texting service for parents to alert them about various school-related issues such as half days, school holidays, meetings, outings and notes. The service caters for different categories of pupils within the school such as School, Naoínra, Under 10’s Boys/Girls etc. The services is operated in conjunction with the Irish Primary Principals Network and any parent that has provided the school with a mobile telephone contact number is automatically included in the service. For further details, contact Suzanne De Bhíal.

Electronic Mailing List

The school website provides a facility for interested parties to be kept informed about school-related event via e-mail. To join the mailing list, simply enter your e-mail address in the box provided on the right-hand side of the website and click the Submit button beside it.

Irish Language Refresher Course

Gaelscoil Philib Barún offers an Irish Language course to the parents of its pupils. The course runs once per year for a term and is targeted at complete beginners. Attendees also have the option to do an exam through NUI Maynooth and obtain a European Certificate in Irish. An intermediate course is available subject to sufficient a demand.

The courses usually take place on Thursday mornings from 9:15am to 10:15am.

After School Service

Gaelscoil Philib Barún offers an after school care service designed to assist working parents. It is available Monday to Friday from 12:00pm - 3:00pm and is co-ordinated through the Naoínra. It costs €3 per hour and is available for as little as one hour per week up to a maximum of 15 hours per week.

An early morning service is also available for parents wishing to drop their children to the school early. It runs from 8:30am - 9:00am, costs €2 per hour and is also co-ordinated through the Naoínra.

Supervision of the playground is also available from 8:45am to 9:00am each morning.

Bus Services

A number of local bus operators provide services that cater for Gaelscoil Philib Barún. These include:

• Ken Carey whose route includes Fenor, Annestown, Boatstrand, Dunhill, Cullencastle and the Glen Road. Contact 086 2654514 for further details.