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Newsletter 24.11.17

Newsletter

24^th November 2017

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

REMINDER – Next Thursday, 30^th November – school is closed so that teachers can attend a training day on the new Primary Language Curriculum.

News this week

On Tuesday, 5^th and 6^th Class were invited to visit Belvedere College. The students in Belvedere have developed a very exciting urban farm and were showing us all of the vegetables they are growing using hydroponic systems – it’s very exciting! We hope some of their top tips will help us with our new school garden.

Our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors were on the look-out for children being kind, especially by including others in their play. Lots of children were named in assembly today from each class but it was Isam from 4^th Class who took our lovely bear home for the weekend – well done!

Parent Teacher Meetings

Thank you to the many parents and carers who attended our parent-teacher meetings this week. It was lovely to see so many happy and proud faces leaving the building. Our teachers were so pleased to share good news about the children’s learning with you and to hear your thoughts about how they are getting on. If you weren’t able to make it, please talk to your child’s class teacher and we will do our best to find a new time. Our door is always open. If you want to follow up on anything that was said at your meeting or have some more questions, please just ask, we’re happy to help.

Attendance and punctuality

Well done to 6th Class with top attendance of 98% this week.

Green Schools

Our Green Schools’ team have made a special online quiz all about recycling. They want as many families as possible to take part. You can find the quiz here:

https://goo.gl/forms/gUKzueJD5NnaSlqM2

If it looks a bit too long to type – go to our website or Twitter account @stmarysdorsetst and click on our quick link.

Ms. McBride’s 1^st Class won our tidiest classroom award this week and our compost bin has never been busier! Well done to our Green Schools’ team for all their hard work. We hope to apply for our first Green Flag for Litter and Waste next week!

Time to Read Launch

We were delighted to host the launch of the ‘Time to Read’ programme with Business in the Community on Tuesday. We will have a group of volunteers coming to school once a week to read with eight lucky children in 2^nd Class. The launch was attended by parents, carers, children and volunteers and we’re very excited to get started!

Incredible Years’ Parent Programme

Ms. Brophy and Ms. O’Callaghan have been away this week at a training course for the ‘Incredible Years’ Parent Programme’. We hope to run this course for parents and carers from January. We get lots of positive feedback from parents and carers who have taken part. Please talk to Síle, our Home-School teacher if you are interested.

Dates for your diary

30^th November – School Closed for Staff Training in New Language Curriculum

3 December – Family Mass at 11.45 a.m.

17 December – Parish Carol Service at 3.00 p.m.

14 December – Senior Infants to Imaginosity

20 December – 1^st and 2^nd to the Ark

Best wishes,

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal

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Newsletter 17.11.17

Newsletter

17^th November 2017

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

News this week

Monday was World Kindness Day and our children’s team of Anti-Bullying Ambassadors shared some ideas with children at assembly to help them show kindness. The children were encouraged to smile, wave and give high fives to their friends to be kind. The Anti-Bullying Ambassadors were taking note of these acts of kindness all week and one child from each class was chosen to go into the draw at assembly today to bring home our kindness bear. Saila from 1^st Class was named as our kindest child this week – well done Saila!

Our Junior Infants were very brave on Tuesday when they had their vaccinations. They have their very own doctor’s surgery in their classroom this term, so they knew exactly what to expect!

Our 5^th and 6^th Class have been taking part in boxing sessions with our local boxing club and Dublin City Council’s Health and Wellbeing team. Some children have been selected for a special inter-school ‘Gold’ programme. We are very proud of them. Thank you to Mrs. Fay and Ms. Kilkenny who have been supporting the children each week.

Parent Teacher Meetings

We will be holding our annual, formal parent-teacher meetings next week. You should by now have received a date and time to meet with your child’s class teacher. It is a great opportunity to talk about how your child is getting on at school. Please do your very best to attend. If you are unable to attend at the time you have been given, please let your child’s teacher know well in advance so they are not left waiting for you. We will do our very best to accommodate everyone.

Project with DCU Institute of Education

Over the last few weeks, we have been working with student teachers from DCU Institute of Education who have visited classrooms across the school to support reading. 5^th and 6^th Class have done paired reading with Senior Infants, while other classes read poetry and take part in reader’s theatre. Our visiting teachers have been so impressed with the children’s engagement and commented especially on their manners and good behaviour – well done children!

DESSA – Empowering Parents’ Programme

We are delighted to be hosting the ‘Empowering Parents’ Programme’ run by a group called DESSA, who work with families with children with special educational needs. The course helps parents to find out more about the supports available for the children. It is funded by ABC Grangegorman and the first three weeks are taking place in Presentation Primary, Georges’ Hill. The final three weeks will take place in our school. If you are interested in taking part, please talk to Síle, our Home-School Community Liaison teacher.

Attendance and punctuality

Well done to Ms. Marron’s Senior Infant Class who have 100% attendance this week.

6^th Class and Ms. Collins’s 2^nd Class weren’t far behind with 99% – well done to all!

Dates for your diary

21/22 November – Parent-Teacher Meetings

21^st November – Time to Read Launch

21^st Nov – 5^th/6^th to Belvedere Urban Farm

30^th November – School Closed for Staff Training in New Language Curriculum

14 December – Senior Infants to Imaginosity

20 December – 1^st and 2^nd to the Ark

Best wishes,

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal

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Newsletter 10.11.17

Newsletter

10^th November 2017

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

I hope you all had a lovely mid-term break. It’s been lovely to see the children back at school. Don’t forget you can keep up with all our news by looking at our Twitter account: @stmarysdorsetst.

News this week

It’s been a busy week with lots of teachers out at training events. Ms. Brophy has been learning all about the Maths Recovery programme for 1^st Class, while Ms. O’Donovan and Ms. Marron have been training in the ‘Incredible Years Classroom DINA programme’ for Senior Infants. This is funded through the ABC Grangegorman.

We were delighted to start two new clubs this week. A girls’ football club run by Dublin City Council’s Health and Wellbeing team and a cooking and gardening run by Marina, one of our volunteers who is linked with Jamie Oliver’s ‘Food Revolution’.

Class Photographs

The Parents’ Association have received lots of interest in the class calendars. Thank you to the families who have paid. The photographs will be taken on Monday or Tuesday next week. Look out for a text reminder for your child to wear their full school uniform on that day.

First Communion – Enrolment Ceremony

The children making their First Holy Communion this year will have their special ‘Enrolment Ceremony’ at our Family Mass on Sunday at St. Joseph’s Church, Berkeley Road. The children will be leading the liturgy of the Mass. We hope to see lots of families there.

Green Schools Action Day

Thanks to our Green Schools team, our teachers and all the children for a fantastic Green Schools Action Day in October. Lots of parents/carers came along to support us and I think we all learned a lot about how to look after our environment and how to reduce, reuse and recycle in our school and in our homes.

Sponsored Disco

I am delighted to inform you that we raised €1,010 at our annual sponsored disco in October. Our thanks to all our generous sponsors. The children did a great job, dancing ‘til they dropped at the disco!

Attendance and punctuality

Well done to 6^th Class who have 100% attendance this week.

We are still seeing lots of children arriving after 8.50 a.m. in the morning. Please make every effort to ensure your child is in school on time each morning.

Dates for your diary

14^th November – Junior Infant Vaccinations

Week of 20^th November – Parent-Teacher Meetings

21^st November – Time to Read Launch

21^st November – 5^th/6^th Class to Belvedere Urban Farm

30^th November – School Closed for Staff Training in New Language Curriculum

Best wishes,

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal

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Our Green Schools Action Day

Today, we celebrated our first Green Schools’ Action Day. We are working towards our first Green Flag for Litter and Waste. Each class displayed their learning from the last few weeks alongside a range of activities.

Earlier this morning, 6th Class were visited by the team from Thorntons Recycling, who talked to them all about where our rubbish goes, once they’ve collected it from us!

In 2nd Class, there was a visit from Recreate Ireland, who helped to design and make a home and habitat for our turtle Green Schools’ mascot, using recycled materials.

For homework this week, our families completed a special Green Schools quiz and told us how to say ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ in each of our home languages. Have a look!

In the afternoon, all of the children and families came together in the Hall to share their learning. The children spoke confidently about their projects and we were so proud of them. The newly-formed 1st and 2nd Class Choir sang some lovely songs about recycling and taking care of our world.

Thank you to our Green Schools team for organising the day!

1st Class visit Hugh Lane Gallery

1st Class visited the Hugh Lane Gallery today. The children looked at some self-portraits in the Gallery and then took part in a very exciting workshop to paint their own self-portraits.

Community Clean-Up

6th Class went out into our local community to do a clean-up after Storm Ophelia. We are working on our first Green Flag for Litter and Waste. As it’s Maths Week too, the children also collected information about the kinds of litter they collected and will display the information at our action day on Friday.

Here’s some great feedback from our Twitter followers!

Our 6th Class were out bright and early for a litter clean-up in our local community. Results of their litter survey will be on display at our @GreenSchoolsIre Action Day on Friday. pic.twitter.com/1lSh0uHSoU

— St. Mary's Primary (@stmarysdorsetst) October 18, 2017

Well done!! We're sure there was a lot to pick up after the storm. Great #climateactionweek activity 🙂 https://t.co/xUSGENmliV

— Green-Schools (@GreenSchoolsIre) October 18, 2017

Fantastic idea after #Ophelia and just in time for #ClimateActionWeek, well done @stmarysdorsetst! #ChangeMakers #GreenSchools https://t.co/ud1f2ro3Ft

— Climate Ambassador (@climate_ambass) October 18, 2017

A big thank you to @stmarysdorsetst 6th class on this brilliant work in our community https://t.co/l6NPYodm4S

— Jay Sher (@jardimdojay) October 18, 2017