Newsletter
14th February 2020
| REMINDER: School closes at 12 noon on Wednesday next week for staff training. School is closed on Thursday and Friday next week for Mid-Term Break. |
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Erasmus Visit
We are so proud of the huge success of our Erasmus Visit from 27-31 January. We hosted 37 children and adults from schools in Greece, Italy, Spain, Romania and the UK for a whole week.
Throughout the week, our teachers and their classes led special lessons for the visitors, using technology to explore themes of inclusion and diversity. 6th Class showed our partners how to use the ‘Pic Collage’ app to make a poster about the Global Goals. 5th Class made podcasts with a partner about their lives. 3rd and 4th Class made movie trailers about a special story they read together about including everyone. Our children also helped to demonstrate Irish dancing and encouraged our visitors to take part in an Irish dancing céilí, they set up lunchtime games to help everyone get to know one another, and they were friendly, welcoming and consummate hosts for the entire week. They were a credit to us and a credit to their families – thank you children!
In the afternoons, our teachers brought our visitors to see the sights and sounds of Dublin city – they went rock climbing, visited the Natural History Museum, the Hugh Lane Gallery, 14 Henrietta Street, a walking tour of Dublin and even went on a day tour to Wicklow.
I think they were exhausted at the end! But there were tears saying goodbye at our movie festival on the Friday afternoon and we received many lovely messages of thanks for our kindness and hospitality.
I want to thank our entire staff team who went above and beyond (as always) to ensure our visitors were looked after – collecting groups from the airport and hotels, making breakfast and lunch, organising activities, hosting dinners and much more. It was a huge amount of work and I am so grateful for the enthusiasm and goodwill of our team in making it such a success. Special thanks to Fiona Nolan, who is our Erasmus Coordinator. Not long now until our first group of children will go to Greece for our first mobility abroad – very exciting!
International Food Fair
Thank you to the many families who came to our International Food Fair on Tuesday, 28th January and especially to those who brought a dish that represented their home country. The food was delicious as always and our Erasmus visitors were amazed at the wide variety of food from all over the world.
News this week
On Monday, we welcomed Fala Buggy, our Creative Associate, to talk to the children in assembly about creativity in our school. The children had lots of ideas about what we already do and are going away to think about what more we could do to be creative at school.
On Tuesday, some of our Green Schools team went to a workshop about water with Ms. Palmer and Ms. Collins. They got straight to work when they got back, conducting a water survey in school.
On Thursday, Barretstown children’s charity came to do a really lovely workshop with Senior Infants.
Today, some of our 6th Class children took part in a special focus group to help Children’s Books Ireland plan some of their work. They talked all about reading and how much they love books!
In 4th/5th and 5th Class, the children worked with David Swift, from Heritage in Schools, in a World War II themed workshop today. David brought lots of interesting artefacts for the children to see and they loved every minute!
Peace Proms
On Saturday 1st February, the children in 3rd Class took part in the annual Peace Proms concert in the RDS. The children had been preparing to sing in the concert for many months and sang beautifully on the night with 2,500 other children and the Cross-Border Orchestra of Ireland. It is a fantastic night and I know all of the parents/carers who came along really enjoyed it!
Thank you to Ms. O’Donovan and Ms. Carrick who prepared the children so well and to Ms. Palmer and Ms. Hayes who accompanied the children on the night.
Time to Read
We have had the launch of our ‘Time to Read’ programme with children from Ms. Yeates’s 2nd Class, Eight children will read every week with a volunteer from Business in the Community for the next 20 weeks. This is our fifth year taking part in this programme and it is always fantastic to see the children enjoying reading so much.
Safer Internet Day
Tuesday was Safer Internet Day and the children have been reminding themselves of all of the learning they have done on internet safety. This is a topic we return to over and over again with classes. We find that children are very able to tell us the ‘right answer’, they have lots of information and lots of strategies to use if they have a problem, but find it very difficult to do the right thing in practice.
Children are spending more and more time online or playing games on phones or tablets. There are huge risks to this, not least the number of adults waiting to take advantage of children who are vulnerable. I would remind all parents/carers of the importance of knowing what your child is doing online – what apps they use, who they talk to, what games they are playing. Talk to your child about what is happening in those games or on that app and make sure they know not to share private information and how to get help if they need it.
www.webwise.ie is a brilliant website for parents/carers with lots of the most up-to-date advice about how to support your child with everything from Fortnite to Roblox, TikTok to Instagram and Snapchat.
Parish News
Thank you to the children in 5th and 6th Class who led our Family Mass last Sunday. The Confirmation candidates also took part in their Ceremony of Light on Wednesday this week. Thank you to all the parents/carers for your support and apologies for the short notice.
A reminder that we have another Family Mass this Sunday, 16th February. The children making their Communion from 2nd Class will lead the liturgy this week.
Admissions Policy
The Department of Education have asked all schools to write a new Admissions Policy based on new legislation. We will be consulting with families on our new policy shortly.
Stay Safe Meeting
Ms. Brophy will lead a meeting for parents/carers about the Stay Safe programme, which all classes are doing this month, on Wednesday, 26th February at 9am
Dates for your diary
Sunday, 16th February – Family Mass
Wednesday, 19th February – school finishing at 12 noon due to staff training for new language curriculum
20 and 21 February –
Mid-Term Break – School Closed
26th February – Stay Safe Meeting for Parents/Carers
27th February – Book Fair arriving
2nd March – 6th Class to Science Blast at RDS
5th March – World Book Day
13th March – Confirmation – 5th and 6th Class
16, 17, 18 March –
St. Patrick’s Day Holiday – School Closed
3rd April – Easter Holidays – finish at 12 noon
20th April – Back to school
…and finally…
We have been all loved-up at school today – sharing kindness and care with one another. Happy Valentine’s Day to all!
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly – Principal