The school Guidance Counsellor is available throughout the year to both students and parents.  She is responsible for career advice, for administering the Transition Year Life skills, Programme and liasing with outside agencies, Colleges, Parents, Headmaster and staff.

The Main Aims of the PTA are:

1. To promote and maintain good communication between the Board of Management, Staff and Parents.
2. To provide opportunities to discuss matters of common interest.
3. To organise activities to promote the welfare of the School and its students.

Membership of the PTA:

All parents of current students are eligible for membership.  The Principal – Mr. Schmidt, teaching staff, matron and members of the Board of Management are deemed to be members.  An annual subscription per family is determined at the AGM.

Committee of the PTA:

The committee consists of 15 members: parents elected at the AGM in October and four members of staff, including the Principal.  The committee elects a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Treasurer, Secretary and Public Relations Officer.

Meetings of PTA:

An AGM is held before the end of October each year.  Parents are notified two weeks in advance of it.  The quorum for the AGM is twenty, and for committee meetings is seven.

The PTA committee usually holds 2 meetings per term.

Activities of PTA:

Over the last few years our fundraising activities have included:

1. Lotto – This is our biggest fund raising activity and we are very grateful to all those who participate in it.  We would ask that all DGS parents consider joining.  The lotto is based on the numbers drawn from the Irish Lottery on the first Saturday of each month.  The subscription is €15 per month/€180 per annum – 60% for the school, and 40% in prizes to a maximum of €3000.  In the last six months over €4000 has been paid out.
2. Quiz nights – where parents and children try to out-do each other with their levels of general knowledge.
3. Wine Tasting – over the last two years we have had two very successful wine tasting evenings, which not only raised much needed funds, but were very social evenings.  Hopefully this event will continue annually.
4. Black and White Night (PTA & Student Council) – 2006 was the first year this event took place and was so successful that there is another themed night being organised this year. Hopefully this also will become an annual event.  The funds raised from this go to a charity of the students’ choosing.

Traffic Sub-Committee:

Following the AGM in 2006, where the traffic issue was raised by concerned parents, and discussions at the committee meetings, it was decided that a traffic sub-committee would be established.

The first objective of this sub-committee is to assess the risks that the traffic, both within and outside the school grounds, pose to the students of both DGS and Le Chéile.  Following on from this, a strategy to deal with these problems will be developed.  We hope to involve both schools and Meath County Council.

Parents will be kept informed of developments.

Contact Details:

The PTA Secretary can be contacted through the school office.