PARENTS-STAFF ASSOCIATION

Section 26 of the Education Act 1998 promotes the establishment of a Parents-Staff Association (PSA) open to all parents of students in any given school. 

At ETSS Wicklow, all parents and guardians automatically become members of the PSA

The National Parents' Council provides a lot of important information to support a new PSA: https://www.npcpp.ie/information-for-parents/

In October, parents and guardians met in order to elect a committee to run the PSA throughout the academic year.

At this meeting, a calendar of further meetings for the year was decided and the new committee hopes to provide opportunities for training courses of interest to parents and guardians during the year: https://www.npcpp.ie/training/. Staff members have agreed to attend committee meetings to create the strongest possible links between the work of the association and the school. 

We believe that a strong PSA is essential to the work of the school and we rely on parental support. The parent representatives on the Board of Management report back to the PSA and request as needed members of the PSA for working groups developing policy documents. The PSA also supports school events and we hope to see as many parents and guardians as possible attending special occasions and helping with fundraising initiatives. There will also be special events during the year to provide a social platform for parents to get to know each other. 

Follow this link to read the PSA Constitution. 

Reports from Meetings

Agreed Reports from PSA Meeting held on 19th Mar 2024;

New School Campaign- PSA Draft Letter & Student Council Letter

  • As discussed in last meeting, couple of parents have shared their inputs to Raguram, based on that the letter has been amended.  Following points also discussed in the meeting; concerns over specialist classrooms and their capacity, PE Hall leaking and black mould to be added to the letter and changing rooms off limit due to the presence of mould, include pictures of flooding and black mould and visuals of the limited facilities. Address of school and Secondary school added to the letter. Hard Copies to be sent to local TD’s and the Department of Education.  

  • Letter from Students: Sarah met with the students about the amendments for their letter to TD’s. They are currently working on their video version with Grace, and this is nearly ready to send out. Tara suggested having the kids on Eastcoast FM to discuss their video.  

Staff Liaison Report  

  • Ceire delivered the staff report.  

Board Of Management Report

  • Sarah delivered the BOM report. Student council are looking for fundraising initiative such as a book drive to buy books for a library space. Advisory Board of study TL21 in conjunction with Blackrock Education centre – focus on differentiation in the classroom. Student advisory board had great ideas to put forward for this as well. Peer Observation Week discussed and the professional development that this offers all staff. Feedback from the WSE was excellent about the teaching and learning in the school. Erasmus plus funding secured by Esther and Sheena which is excellent. Attendance drives taking place in the school – focusing on each class group.  

AUP Policy

  • Parents happy with amended proposed sanctions for mobile phone use in school. The Student Council were also consulted about this. Parents/ Guardians, students and staff will be made aware of this new AUP policy once it has been ratified by the Board.  

School Fundraisers

  • Lions Club Table Quiz – €900 raised from the two quizzes – thank you to Margaret for organising this. Next Table Quiz scheduled on Sat. 23rd March. MUN Volunteers – Ceire to send around a list for volunteers for WICKMUN.  

Lotto Fundraiser

  • Very lucrative for the school, and well managed by the company and would have great benefits for student experiences. PSA in agreement, request to limit signage around the school promoting it. Awaiting approval of Board of Management.

A.O.B

  • School won a prize of €20,000 in ICT grant announced and there will be a ceremony to present this in April, Jack Conan will hopefully be in attendance.  

Next PSA Meeting Date Thursday 9th May 2024  


Agreed Reports from PSA Meeting held on 18h Jan 2024;

  • Previous meeting minutes have been approved by PSA (proposed by Tara Crawford and seconded by Eilis Ginty)

  • Based on the assessment done by Craig on bus leasing it was agreed that this is not feasible.

  • The draft letter on behalf of PSA has been prepared by Raguram and distributed to everyone.  Whoever wishes to add more points are asked to send their inputs to Raguram to add in to the draft.   

  • 3 set of jerseys have sponsored by 3 different businesses/organizations.

  • The school lotto draw system was introduced by the ‘OurFundraiser’ company representative Nicola McGinley. The service fee is 23%. 77% goes to the school issued at the end of the month, there is no set time for the lotto system contract and there are no penalties to cancel membership. A lot of other schools using this company- funds raised are high for the school.  It can easily be cancelled by participants on the screen where they pick the numbers. Concerns raised over the moral aspect and impact on voluntary fund.

  • The staff liaison report was delivered by Craig.

  • Sarah presented the updated report from the Board of Management. Niall Wall presented the board about a potential site for the permanent school site. Revised Assessment policy and input from the Student Council on it. Pilot program with Dep. Of Education: Digital portfolio for formative student assessment. A proposal of a school trip to Iceland in October 2026 has been presented by Robert- 4 days, 3 nights approx. 1100, cost reduced for higher numbers of students attending.

  • Suggestions were made by the PSA to the Student Council letter for TD’s.

  • Proposed changes on the Code of Behaviour were highlighted and accepted by PSA.

  • Proposed changes on the Attendance Policy were highlighted and accepted by PSA.

  • Proposed changes on AUP policy were highlighted, concerns over confiscation of phones overnight. Agreed to come back to this at next meeting.  

  • School Fundraisers- Lions Club Table Quiz the school had 13.5 tables improvement on last year. The proceeds from the Winter fare were 1061.81 Euro- a big improvement on last year.

  • Parent Surveys WSE- school will send out surveys to the parents tomorrow on behalf of the Inspectorate. Please complete.

Next PSA Meeting Date on 17th Mar 2024.