Newsletter
11th October 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
| Please note: Our teachers have to attend a training day on Friday, 25th October for thePrimary Language Curriculum and school will be closed to children on that day. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. |
Mental Wellness Awareness Week
We have had a wonderful week celebrating Mental Wellness Awareness Week. We started at assembly on Monday, talking about the 5 ways to wellbeing.
Each day, our team of Anti-Bullying Ambassadors planned some secret missions for classes to promote kindness and care for one another. Our adult wellbeing team also planned events for our staff – yoga, teatime treats and pumpkin painting!
Our classes have all had kindness missions to carry out for others – we loved 4th Class and their tunnel of happiness on Tuesday and 2nd Class received balloons with a positive message from their friends – to name but a few!
This morning, we’ve had a room full of parents/carers hearing about internet safety and keeping children safe and well online from our Community Garda team, as well as taking part in a relaxation class with Step by Step. Thank you to all those who came along, we hope you found it helpful.
Our thanks to all those who planned an event and especially to Ms. Kilkenny who kept us all inspired and energised throughout the week.
Our Wellness Week was run in conjunction with Dublin City North’s Children and Youth People’s Services Committee (CYPSC) to share key messages about the importance of looking after our mental health. Remember it’s okay not be okay.
The five ways to wellbeing include – ‘connect’ with people, ‘be active’, ‘take notice’ of the world around you and take time to appreciate it, ‘keep learning’ as new skills will keep your mind active and ‘give’ to others as this helps us feel better ourselves. You can visit www.yourmentalhealth.ie for more advice.
News from last month
It was great to see lots of parents/carers at our ‘Secondary School Open Morning’. Lots of schools have their open days at this time of year and we recommend that you visit lots of schools to decide where would suit your child best.
6th Class had a great visit to the National Museum to see the exhibit on Ancient Egypt.
Lots of classes have been out to Blessington Street Basin this week looking for the signs of autumn.
Meet the Teacher meetings
Thank you to all the parents/carers who came to our ‘Meet the Teacher’ meetings over the last few weeks. We hope you found them helpful and as always, do let us know if you have any more questions or concerns about your child’s learning at school.
DEIS Planning
Our school is part of the ‘DEIS’ (Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools’) programme and every three years we have to update our DEIS action plan. We plan in five key areas – literacy, maths, attendance, parent and community involvement and retention and progression to secondary school. We use lots of different pieces of information to set targets for the school in each of those five areas. Last week, our teachers met and discussed lots of possible activities we could do to help.
We would love to hear your views. Do you have ideas about how the school could improve attendance? What do you think about the parent classes we run – are there enough, are they at the right time, is there something stopping you taking part that we could help with? What other ways could parents/carers be involved in school life and with their child’s learning? If you have ideas – please let us know. You can talk to Síle or email us- office@stmarysprimaryschool.ie.
Parents’ Association
Our Parents’ Association are looking for new recruits! They will be holding their first meeting next week on Tuesday (15th) at 9.00 a.m. in the Parents’ Room.
Let Síle know if you are interested or if you have any questions. Please do come along and join them, all are welcome!
News from Síle – Classes for Parents
On Mondays, we have parents’ yoga classes at 9am in the library on the top floor. On Tuesdays, cookery classes take place in Mount Carmel Secondary School at 9.30 am – please let Síle know if you are interested and she can show you where to go.
Next week, our English language classes for parents/carers are starting on Thursday morning – again, let Síle know if you are interested and she will give you the information.
Attendance and punctuality
We’ve had a very good week of attendance across the school – well done to everyone who has been here every day!
Our winners of the attendance trophy this week had 100% attendance! Well done to Ms. Nolan’s 4th/5th Class!
Dates for your diary
7th October – Mental Wellness Week
13th October – Family Mass in St. Joseph’s Church, Berkeley Road at 11.45 a.m.
14th October – Maths Week
24th October – Annual Sponsored Disco
24th October – School closes for Teacher Training (Fri 25th) and Mid-Term Holiday
4th November – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
…and finally…
Don’t forget our first Family Mass of the year takes place on Sunday (13th Oct) in St. Joseph’s Church, Berkeley Road. All children making their Communion and Confirmation should make an effort to be there.
Have a lovely weekend everyone,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal