20th August 2026

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all feeling ready and excited for the return to school on Tuesday, 1st September 2026. Pupils Senior Infants to 6th start school at 9am and Junior Infants start at 10am. (more info for Junior Infants)

We’ve had a few phone calls and emails over the past week, so I thought it would be helpful to share some of the most frequently asked questions here for your information.

Calendar:

As part of the on-going rollout and enactment of the redeveloped Primary School Curriculum, there will be 5 designated curriculum and training closure days during the course of the 2026/27 school year. We have been notified that our first school closure day is on Wednesday, 9th September for Child Protection Training. We will notify you of further closure dates as soon as they are confirmed. We appreciate school closures are inconvenient for families. Please understand these closures are not optional for schools.

School attendance is very important for your child’s learning and development. Please schedule any family holidays during the official school closures, which are clearly marked in yellow on the calendar. Thank you for your continued support! ( School Calendar 2026/27 )

Uniform:
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, all children should wear the grey formal uniform. If the weather allows, some children may prefer to wear plain navy shorts, which is absolutely fine. On Friday, all children can wear their school tracksuit. Your child’s teacher will confirm each class’ designated tracksuit days in due course. If there has been any problem getting the uniform, please don’t worry, we have spares! ( Unifom Policy )

Books and Supplies:
All school books and copies are already in your child’s classroom, labelled and ready to go. Your child only needs to bring a suitably sized school bag, a well-stocked pencil case, a bottle of water and a healthy snack for little break. We are still in the process of setting everyone up on The Lunch Bag app. If you are set up please start to order as normal. All new pupils will be given unique instructions on how to set up the app. Junior Infant lunches will begin on Monday, 14th September.

Free School Books & Your Child’s Direct School Costs 2026/27:

If you have not paid, a Way2Pay reminder bill for the €52 Student Direct Costs will be raised on your account shortly.

As part of the Free School Books Scheme, all schoolbooks, workbooks, copybooks, classroom resources, shared books, photocopying, and Art & Craft materials will be provided free of charge to every child in Irish primary schools.

However, there are some additional costs not covered by this grant.

Your child’s annual school costs for the 2026/27 school year will be €52 per child, which covers:

• €6.32 – Irish Public Bodies (IPB) Student Personal Accident Insurance.

• €10 – Text-a-Parent & Aladdin communication tools

• €35.68 – School Tour*

*The €35.68 school tour fee covers the cost of your child’s annual school tour in May 2027. Due to significant increases in bus transport costs we are taking a different approach by collecting for the school tour at the start of the school year to allow for early planning and booking. Thank you for your continued support in helping us provide a rich and well-organised school experience for all our pupils.

Ard Rí CNS is a cash-free school, and we are proud to maintain the highest standards of financial compliance. Way2Pay is a Bank of Ireland online payments application. If you have not paid a  Way2Pay bill for the €52 Student Direct Costs will be raised on your account shortly. Please note that there is an option to pay these costs in installments if required.

Nut-Free School:
Ard Rí CNS is a nut-free school due to allergies. Please ensure that your child does not bring any nuts or nut-based products to school, including in snacks and packed lunches. We appreciate your support in keeping all our pupils safe.

School Bus:

We are delighted to be working with Philip Barrett and his driver Geoff again this year. The route will run as before, collecting and dropping at Old Road Athlumney, SuperValu Johnstown, along Metges Road at Priory, Millbrook, The steps at Spire View/ Chestnut Court (Old Johnstown Village), Cois Glaisín, Limekiln, Baker Hall and Academy Street. This is a private service and costs €30 per child per week two-way, €20 per child per week one-way or €50 for two children in the same family per week. Preference will be given to two-way passengers. If you are interested, please fill in this form:

School Bus Survey: Ard Rí CNS- School Bus Service

School Swimming:
School swimming lessons for all pupils from 1st to 6th Class will begin on Tuesday, 15th September, and will run for 6 weeks. Children attend swimming during the school day. We will provide further details on our first week back. ( Swimming Policy )

Extra Curricular Activities:

We are delighted to bring you a range of extra-curricular activities again next year:

Creative Keyboards are now enrolling for keyboard classes at Ard Rí CNS starting September 2025. For all info and bookings: click here

Primary Pals Homework Club for Junior and Senior Infants will run from 1.40-2.40 and Primary Pals Plus will run from 2.40-3.40, Monday to Friday. For all info and bookings please call Jana on 0863445115. These clubs are available for Junior Infants from Monday 14th of September.

Study Mates Homework Club for pupils 1st to 6th will run from 2.40-3.40 Monday to Thursday starting back Monday 7th of September. For all info and bookings please email Niamh and Angela on [email protected]

Class Teachers:

I am pleased to announce we begin the school year with a full complement of staff. I am delighted to welcome back Charlotte McLoughlin, Lauren O’Brien, Aoife McCluskey, Áine Carr and Emma-Jane Blake. These teachers have all worked at the school previously. New to the team, I warmly welcome Megan Whyte, Laura Kearns and Alan Muldoon. Katie Doran joins our SNA team. We welcome you to the community and we look forward to working with you all. See below the complete list of class teachers for 2026/27:

*Junior Infant parents will receive a text next week to let them know which class their child will be in.

 

We are really looking forward to welcoming all our pupils back to school and to a fantastic year ahead. Please remember, if you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to get in touch. Together, we will make sure every child feels safe, happy, and excited about learning.

Thank you for your continued support and for being such an important part of our school community.

Warm regards,
Darragh

---

June 2026

Here is the start of our Return to School ’26 Blog! You will find out all you need to know in one place. We will update the Blog during this week and over the summer… nearly there!!

Free School Books & Your Child’s Direct School Costs 2025/26:

As part of the Free School Books Scheme, all schoolbooks, workbooks, copybooks, classroom resources, shared books, photocopying, and Art & Craft materials will be provided free of charge to every child in Irish primary schools.

However, there are some additional costs not covered by this grant.

Your child’s annual school costs for the 2026/27 school year will be €52 per child, which covers:

• €6.32 – Irish Public Bodies (IPB) Student Personal Accident Insurance (more info)

• €10 – Text-a-Parent & Aladdin communication tools

• €35.68 – School Tour*

*The €35.68 school tour fee covers the cost of your child’s annual school tour in May 2027. Due to significant increases in bus transport costs we are taking a different approach by collecting for the school tour at the start of the school year to allow for early planning and booking. Thank you for your continued support in helping us provide a rich and well-organised school experience for all our pupils.

Ard Rí CNS is a cash-free school, and we are proud to maintain the highest standards of financial compliance. Way2Pay is a Bank of Ireland online payments application. A Way2Pay bill for the €52 Student Direct Costs will be raised on your account shortly. Please note that there is an option to pay these costs in installments if required.

Each child will require a well-stocked pencil case:

Calendar (click here)

School attendance is very important for your child’s learning and development. Please schedule any family holidays during the official school closures, which are clearly marked in yellow on the calendar. Thank you for your continued support!

Extra Curricular Activities:

We are delighted to bring you a range of extra-curricular activities again next year:

Creative Keyboards are now enrolling for keyboard classes at Ard Rí CNS starting September 2025. For all info and bookings: click here

Primary Pals Homework Club for Junior and Senior Infants will run from 1.40-2.40 and Primary Pals Plus will run from 2.40-3.40, Monday to Friday. For all info and bookings please call Jana on 0863445115

Study Mates Homework Club for pupils 1st to 6th will run from 2.40-3.40 Monday to Thursday. For all info and bookings please email Niamh and Angela on [email protected]

School Bus:

Geoff’s school bus has been confirmed for next year. The bus serves Athlumney, Johnstown, Old Johnstown Village, Limekiln, Baker Hall and Academy Street. Spaces are limited. Please email [email protected] to secure place. 

Enrolment: 

Enrolment has been very strong this year. There are still places available in some classes. Our teacher allocation depends on pupil numbers. If you know of any one looking for a school place or if your child will not be returning to school with us please email [email protected].

School Uniform:

Our supplier is Geoghegans, Trimgate Street, Navan. For full information on our uniforms: click here Our Parent Association also makes pre-loved (second-hand)  uniforms available. LABEL EVERYTHING!