FAQ

What’s the craic?

It’s going to be crackers! The Harold School has big dreams to go down in the world record books for pulling the largest, and loudest, number of Christmas crackers in sync! That’s over 1,200 children, parents, staff and local community pulling together for an event that promises record fun raising record funds for our school. There will be food, drink, treats, news & media, some special guests, and many more surprises. It’s going to be THE social event of the year!

Why are you doing this in the first place?

The Harold National School has been at the heart of the Sandycove/Glasthule community since the 1870s. Our school buildings are old and exhaust all our state funding in maintenance and running costs leaving us with a significant deficit.

To continue to support these and future generations of students on their educational journeys, we need to raise €30,000 to help close the gap between the state funding and the actual funds needed to provide our children with the education they deserve.

·      Your support will fund these and other associated projects:

·      Enhancement and expansion of our Multi-Sensory environment to support our neurodivergent students

·      Upgrading the IT Infrastructure of our school to future-proof our children’s learning

·      Developing and enhancing our Music, Arts and Sports programs to ensure young minds, artistic sense, practical and the social skills are fully developed with a holistic and inclusive approach.

While we need to raise funds, this event Is more than just that. We are absolutely giddy with excitement at the thought of being able to bring our community back together for an actual in-person event, the first community event since 2019. We want to take this as an opportunity to building and strengthening our community connection, a united school focus generating excitement and a buzz for all the children, and last but not least celebrate our having gotten through a few very difficult years.

 

Do you have a target?

We do. We have set our target at €30,000. This is lower than in previous years as we are aware of the difficult situation the rising cost of living has put many families and businesses in. We are so lucky to live and work in such a close-knit community that is known to support each other so we are confident we’ll reach, and hopefully even exceed, this goal.

 

How can I help you reach your target?

First of all: Thank you. Thank you for helping us.

You can click HERE and sponsor one of our cracking teams or make a general donation.

You can follow us on Instagram and share our posts and links, to get as much visibility as possible.

If you have a company, we would love to welcome you on board as a sponsor. Send us an email haroldsponsorship@gmail.com and one of our Sponsorship team will get in touch.

 

What happens if it’s raining?

A bit of rain won’t stop us! The cracker pulling line is on the footpath, so we don’t have to traipse through a waterlogged, muddy field. There will be marquees by the food trucks, and if it looks drizzly on the day, make sure to send a raincoat into school with your child.

If there is a severe storm forecast, we do have an alternative date, 25th Nov, but we will know and announce this the Monday before. For now, we are definitely counting on going ahead on the 18th.

 

What happens if Covid restrictions come back?

Don’t mention the C-word! Obviously this is an in-person event so in the highly unlikely event that restrictions are reintroduced, it cannot go ahead as planned. Don’t worry, though, we are working in the background to make sure the kids would still be having record-breaking fun in the school.

 

1,200 crackers sounds like a lot of rubbish.

It’s not rubbish! It’s sustainable. All crackers are made by the children themselves from recyclable materials. Recycling old toilet rolls, using cracker inserts made from cardboard, and covered in acid free paper – we are working with the Green committee to make this event as earth-friendly and sustainable as possible.

 

What do I do with the colouring sheets my kids brought home?

Have fun we would love to see them post on our private Facebook page /Instagram/Twitter. If you prefer not to post we would kids to place them in bedroom windows so Harry the Elf can spot them and we can share all the fun with extended family/neighbours/community. There’ll be Art Zone prizes up for grabs – so get colouring.

 

I still have questions!

This is a lot to take in, so if there is anything else we can help you with, or if you just want to share your favourite Christmas Cookie Recipe with us, drop us an email here: haroldgoescrackers@gmail.com

THANK YOU!