ABOUT THE PARENTS ASSOCIATION
The Parents Association at Canal Way Educate Together National School gives a voice to parents within the school community to actively participate in the development and running of the school. As a parent/guardian, you are a member of the Parents Association (PA) and each class has a representative in the Parents Association Committee (PAC). You can find a list of this year’s class reps below.
Every year, the PAC raises money through various events to support our school. With the funds raised, the school can buy new materials, equipment and resources for the children to enhance their educational experience such as yard furniture, hall storage, etc…
We want our school to be inclusive and without financial pressure. However, if you are able, we kindly ask you to support our fundraising efforts with your donations.
WELCOME PACK
Welcome to all the new families joining our school community. You can find useful information about the school and the area here: WELCOME PACK.
Did you know there are around 35 different languages spoken in our school community?
WHAT WE DO
AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
Our role includes organising after school activities and other events. Go to AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES.
SMARTPHONE FREE VOLUNTARY PACT
You can read and see the results of the 2025/26 pact here: SMARTPHONE FREE VOLUNTARY PACT
SCHOOL POLICIES
We support the Principal and the Board on policy issues and incidents that may require a review of school policy.
FUNDRAISING
We also have a vital fundraising role. As with all primary schools, Canal Way receives funding from the Department of Education. However, this funding is not enough to cover all the expenses of a busy, thriving school such as ours, and we have to rely on the generosity of parents to help bridge the gap between the grants we get from the DES and what it actually costs to run our school.
The PAC generally has a fundraising target for the year for projects and improvements selected by teachers and children. This could range from materials for subjects to outdoor furniture for the yard or storage for the hall.
Various events are organised throughout the year to reach this target, such as the Winter Quiz, Winter Cards, social quiz, sponsored walk and the popular Summer BBQ. See progress and last year’s results below.
WHAT’S THE PAC?
The Parents Association (PA) includes all parents/guardians at Canal Way Educate Together School and each class is represented by a class rep in the Parents Association Committee (PAC). Class reps meet regularly, approximately once a month during the school term, to discuss and work on various projects including fundraising events, after school activities and policies.
The PAC is always looking for fresh ideas and volunteers to help with events. Getting involved is a great way to meet other people in the Canal Way community and to support the school we are proud of.
If you have any questions or suggestions you can email us at: [email protected]
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
There are many easy ways you can help the PAC, these are some ideas:
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Take part in fundraising events
These include events such as the winter family quiz, pub quiz, winter cards, coffee mornings, sponsored walk and Summer BBQ
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Volunteer your ideas and/or your time
We are always looking for ideas for fundraising events and volunteers to lead or help running them. Whether you’d like to organise a specific initiative or assist existing events, contact your class rep to let them know.
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Purchase Canal Way hoodies
A percentage of the purchase of Canal Way hoodies and beanies goes towards the PA fundraising target. You can buy yours here: CANAL WAY HOODIES.
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Register your children for after school activities
We organise a great range of after school activities for the school community but did you know a percentage of after school activities fees also contribute to our fundraising efforts? Consider signing your children up to after school activities at the school. You can find a full list here: AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES.
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Donate whenever you can
Consider making a donation to the school if you can, or if your employer has a charity donation option as part of their corporate responsibility policies, consider putting forward our school as a recipient. You can donate here: FUNDRAISING 2025/26.
NEWS
EVENTS COMING UP
THE GREAT BAKE SALE 2026
After the great success of the first Canal Way Bake Sale, bakers big and small can look forward to the 2026 edition taking place on Friday 13th February.
Get in touch with your rep to let him/her know if you can help on the day and if you will be baking.
THE CANAL WAY COOK TOGETHER BOOK
Send us your recipes by 15th February!
With over 35 different languages registered as part of our diverse school community, this is a fun project to celebrate the cultures, heritage and food traditions from Ireland and all over the globe that are part of Canal Way. Submit your recipes and images/drawings on this form: HERE
WINTER QUIZ | THANK YOU!
A huge thank you to everyone who donated prizes, took part, bought raffle tickets, etc… in this year’s winter quiz! A fantastic €3037 was raised on the night and great fun was had!
SOCIAL NIGHT 2026
Thank you to Colm O’Regan for hosting the first Comedy Night social evening for parents/guardians at the Patriots Inn in Kilmainham in May. It was a fantastic night out, with plenty of laughter and we hope to have another social night in the Spring.
SPONSORED WALK AND FUN RUN | MAY
The Sponsored walk and run for Canal Way generally takes place in May. For the 2025 editions, over €2400 were raised by walkers and runner of all ages, well done everyone!
CANAL WAY SUMMER BBQ | JUNE
The school’s biggest event of the year takes place towards the end of June.
FUNDRAISING GOALS
Our fundraising goal for 2025/26 is €14000 to be used for improvements and equipment for the upper yard, new IT equipment and art murals for the main yard.
Our fundraising target for 2024/25 was €12000 to be used for Maths resources for senior classes, jerseys for the school team and markings/games for the yard.
See the fantastic results and how it was achieved:
Here you can see the results for the previous school year:
In addition to our fundraiser, a total of €5500 was purchased this year at the Book Fair, which gives the school a €3000 credit to buy new books for the children. Thank you all!
Results from the Survey of Parent/Guardians May 2021
Summary
What is the Parents Association about and what should it be doing? We wanted to know what parents/guardians thought. We invited you to tell us and 177 of you did. Thank you!
This is the first time a survey like this has been carried out among the parents/guardians. It has been a challenging time for everyone in the school but the responses were mostly very positive, offering support to the work of the association and giving very useful comments and suggestions as to how it can play its part even better going forward.
While a small committee (the Parents Association Committee – PAC) meets monthly to plan events and share ideas, importantly the Parents’ Association is made up of every parent/guardian in Canalway Educate Together School. We hope this survey will become an annual part of the work of the association- finding out what it can do to support each other, our children and the school.
Key Messages
- The Parents’ Association and the Parents’ Association Committee are a valued resource and doing very positive work, and many respondents said thank you.
- Respondents especially noted the good work of the PAC in coordinating extra-curricular activities and fundraising.
- Respondents want more opportunities to meet with other parents, share information, advice and support, and build community.
- Not all respondents are aware that the Parents’ Association includes every parent or guardian in the school. We need to communicate the existence and function of the Parents’ Association better.
- There was a strong interest in getting more involved with the Parents’ Association, either by serving on the PAC, or by volunteering time and skills.
- There were a number of comments about communicating with school management, and representing parents’ collective concerns and issues.
Next Steps
The Parents Association is taking these results on board and already are taking steps to:
- Improve communications with parents/guardians as to the role of the PA; how you can support its work and get more involved; and supportive information for particular stages of school-life e.g. starting at the school and moving on to secondary.
- Facilitate more peer support, information and support events and practical supports to parents/guardians including a Buddy System and Information Pack for new parents/guardians; tailored information and support events such as transition to secondary school.
- Reflect the views of parents/guardians in the work of the PA and include this in its Constitution.
- Clearly communicate the purpose of fundraising for the school. Government capitation grants do not cover the full costs of running the school, and so educational “extras” such as IT resources, library books, sports equipment and so on are only available to our kids when we raise money for them. This should be made clearer to all parents.
- Aim to repeat a survey annually to inform the work of the PA; and
- Share the results of the survey with the School Board.
To read the full report click below to download: