Dear Principal,

We hope this email finds you and your staff rested, refreshed and looking forward to the 2024/2025 school year.  We in the Fórsa trade union Education division are proud to be launching the first ever SNA Appreciation Day, to create an opportunity to #ThankOurSNAs on Thursday 26th September. 

To celebrate SNA Appreciation Day, we are running a national competition for one lucky school in each province to win a €1,000 prize! All members of the school community are eligible to enter the draw, so we would really appreciate it if you could make all your teaching, SNA, secretarial and ancillary staff aware of the competition. 

To help ensure as many entries as possible and increase your school’s chances of winning the €1,000 we have prepared a Special Needs Assistants Appreciation Day materials pack which was sent to all schools by post last week. Now, we're sharing digital versions of the materials with you today.

Please display the SNA Appreciation Day Poster in your staff room.

Please photocopy and circulate the SNA Appreciation Day Flyer to parents.

Also included is an SNA leave chart we hope you and your SNA staff will find useful.

SNA members of Fórsa are also eligible to be included in a separate €1,000 draw per province! So please share this information with the SNAs on your staff and encourage their participation. Any SNAs not yet members of Fórsa are also eligible to enter the draw if they join Fórsa by the 20th of September.

The closing date for entries to both draws is 5pm on Monday 23rd of September 2024. Winners will be contacted by Wednesday 25th and a presentation will be made to the schools and member winners on SNA Appreciation Day.

We are delighted for the contributions from Dubco Credit Union and Cornmarket who have generously supported us with this event.

We are very appreciative of your support with this launch and wish you the best of luck in both the draw and in the school year ahead.

If you have any queries please email noreenomahony@forsa-rep.ie

Kind regards,

Noreen O’Mahony 
Chair Education Division
Fórsa Trade Union