5th Class to SurfDock
5th Class had a super day at SurfDock today. They conquered their fears and took part in a whole range of water-based activities. Have a look at the photos of their day!
Term Dates 2017-2018
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Newsletter 26.5.17
Newsletter
26th May 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
News this last week
Our Athletics team of 40 children had a brilliant day at Morton Stadium in Santry. The children were competing against children from schools all over Dublin and did so well! Congratulations to Simon from 3rd Class who won a bronze medal for the 100m sprint. It is our first ever time to win a medal at this event and we are so proud! What a great achievement!
4th Class had a super day at the ‘Squirrel Scramble’ in Kilruddery House yesterday. They did lots of very adventurous things like climbing in trees and zip-lining in the forest – well done!
Parents’ Association
Next week, Síle will be inviting parents and carers to beome involved in our new parents’ association. This is a group of interested parents and carers who come together regularly to support the school, plan events and make sure the views of parents are represented in the school. We have asked the National Parents’ Council (www.npc.ie) to come and give some training to any parent who is interested in being involved on Friday, 9th June. We would love to have an active group of parents/carers working with us – please come along!
Internet Safety Talk
With children using the internet more and more, making sure your child is safe and protected while they are online is very important. We have arranged for an expert in online safety to speak to all parents/carers on Wednesday, 14th June at 9.00 a.m. Look out for more information from Síle next week.
Term Dates 2017-2018
The term dates for 2017-2018 have been published on our website. Please note the children will return to school on Thursday, 31st August 2017, a day earlier than usual. This will allow us to take a week’s mid-term holiday in May 2018.
Dates for your diary
29th May – Junior Infants to Newgrange Farm
29th May – 5th Class to SurfDock
Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd, Monday 5th, Tuesday 6th June – School Closed for Mid-Term
7th June – 3rd Class to Trinity Sports
7th June – Ms. Calvey’s to Little Museum of Dublin
9th June – 2nd Class to Dollymount Strand Beach
9th June – 6th Class to Carlingford
9th June – Parents’ Association Training
12th-16th June – Active and Wellness Week
13th June – 5th Class to National Gallery
14th June – Internet Safety Talk for Parents
14th June – 1st Class to Natural History Museum
26th/27th June – Whole-School Performance
29th June – 6th Class Graduation
30th June – School closes at 12 noon
31st August – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to Ms. Calvey’s 1st and 2nd Class who have 100% attendance this week! They were very closely followed by Miss Collins’s 2nd Class and 5th Class on 99%. Well done everyone!
It would be great to see children arriving on time to school in the next few weeks. Punctuality is a really big issue for a large number of families who are arriving after 8.50 a.m. every single day. This disrupts your child’s learning as they are arriving into class after everyone else has started. Please make every effort to be on time and thank you to the families who are eagerly awaiting the opening of the gate every day at 8.40 a.m.
Have a lovely weekend,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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4th Class Tour
4th Class visited ‘Squirrel Scramble’ at Kilruddery House for their school tour. They had a great day swinging in the trees and were very brave through all the different challenges.
Athletics Competition
Our team of 40 athletes went to Morton Stadium in Santry for the annual Athletics event organised by Cumann na mBunscol. We were so proud of Simon, who won our first medal ever at the event for the 100m sprint!
Newsletter 22.5.17
Newsletter
22nd May 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
First Holy Communion
We celebrated the sacrament of ‘First Holy Communion’ with eleven boys and girls from 2nd Class on Sunday. The children were wonderful – they looked fantastic in their smart suits and beautiful dresses and remembered all of their prayers and readings so well.
Thank you to our lovely school choir who sang at the Church, especially our soloists – Melina, Izabela, Hannah and Thaneshree, who were especially brave and sang beautifully. Thanks also to Ms. Bourke who accompanied the choir and shared her fabulous talents with us.
Thanks to Ms. McDonnell who organised a lovely celebration in the Parish Centre after the Mass and to all of the other 2nd Class children who came along to see their friends.
Ms. Oppermann lent her artistic flair to the bright and colourful art work that the children created for the church – thank you!
And of course, we must say a big thank you to Fr. Pat, Ms. Collins and Ms. Calvey for their hard work preparing the children so well for their special day.
News from last week
5th Class visited the Aviva Stadium last Tuesday. The children were lucky enough to get a full tour of the stadium before having a fun and games boxing session with the ‘Boxing in the Community’ team. They had a great day!
On Thursday, 3rd Class visited the National Archaeology Museum as part of their learning about the Vikings. I’m told they listened beautifully and had lots of their own facts to share with their tour guide!
On Friday, Ms. Calvey’s Class visited the Ark Cultural Centre to see a multimedia dance performance by ‘Balleto di Roma’. The children took part in a guided interactive play afterwards which they said was great fun!
Walk to School Week
Thank you to all the families who made an effort to walk to school last week! Do try to keep it up and walk as much as you can, whenever you can.
Dates for your diary
Sunday, 21st May – First Holy Communion for 2nd Class Catholic children at 11.45 a.m.
23rd May – Athletics team to Santry Stadium
25th May – 4th Class to ‘Squirrel Scramble’
29th May – Junior Infants to Newgrange Farm
29th May – 5th Class to SurfDock
Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd, Monday 5th, Tuesday 6th June – School Closed for Mid-Term
7th June – 3rd Class to Trinity Sports
9th June – 6th Class to Carlingford
13th June – 5th Class to National Gallery
27th June – Whole-School Performance
29th June – 6th Class Graduation
30th June – School closes at 12 noon
31st August – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
Attendance and punctuality
A huge well done to Ms. Barry’s Senior Infants who had top attendance for the third week in a row! It was 100% again! The children were very proud and I know lots of classes will be trying their best to out-do them this week!
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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First Holy Communion 2017
Eleven children from 2nd Class made their First Holy Communion today. The children did so well – reading beautifully, singing beautifully and bringing up gifts and symbols. We were delighted to see so many families there to share the celebration and particularly those who had travelled a long way to be with us. The school choir sang beautifully and it was lovely to see the other children in 2nd Class at our celebration in the Parish Centre afterwards.
Our thanks to Fr. Pat, our chaplain, who led the ceremony so beautifully, to Ms. Collins and Ms. Calvey, the class teachers, Ms. Bourke who accompanied the choir and Ms. McDonnell who organised the refreshments.
5th Class visit to Aviva Stadium
5th Class visited the Aviva Stadium today. They had a tour of the stadium and then a fun boxing session led by ‘Boxing in the Community’. They had lots of fun!
Newsletter 15.5.17
Newsletter
15th May 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
News from last week
On Tuesday, we were delighted to host an after-school activity for families with Julianne, our ‘Reader in Residence’ from Dublin City Libraries. The group of Senior Infants and their parents met together to share stories and complete activities about what they read.
On Thursday, 5th Class visited the Hugh Lane Art Gallery on Parnell Square as part of their learning in art.
The Local Education Committee launched a leaflet for families outlining all of the after-school clubs and activities for children in the area on Friday. Look out for a copy which will come home to all children this week.
Walk to School Week
This week is ‘Walk to School Week’. We encourage all families to walk to school as much as they can. If you already walk to school, that’s great! If you don’t, perhaps you could park a little further away and walk the rest of the journey, or maybe get off the bus one stop early! We look forward to hearing about your journey walking to school.
Romanian Language Institute
Thank you to the families who attended a meeting on Thursday about an after-school class to develop their child’s Romanian language skills and learn about Romanian culture and traditions. Any families interested who did not attend the meeting should contact the office to add their child’s name to the list. We hope with enough interest that we can start classes from September 2017.
Mid-Term Reminder
A reminder that we will be closed for four days in June – Thursday 1st June, Friday, 2nd June, Monday 5th June and Tuesday, 6th June.
Dates for your diary
16th May – 5th Class to Aviva Stadium
19th May – Ms. Calvey’s Class to the Ark
Sunday, 21st May – First Holy Communion for 2nd Class Catholic children at 11.45 a.m.
23rd May – Athletics team to Santry Stadium
25th May – 4th Class to ‘Squirrel Scramble’
29th May – Junior Infants to Newgrange Farm
29th May – 5th Class to SurfDock
Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd, Monday 5th, Tuesday 6th June – School Closed for Mid-Term
7th June – 3rd Class to Trinity Sports
9th June – 6th Class to Carlingford
13th June – 5th Class to National Gallery
27th June – Whole-School Performance
29th June – 6th Class Graduation
30th June – School closes at 12 noon for Summer Holidays
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to Ms. Barry’s Senior Infants and 4th Class who both had 100% attendance this week! The classes will be sharing our attendance trophy this week.
Fidget Spinners
You will all be familiar with the current craze ‘fidget spinners’. We would ask please that children do not bring these to school from now on. If children do have them at school, we will ask them to put them in their bag until home time.
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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Newsletter 5.5.17
Newsletter
5th May 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
News this week
We have a busy term of visits ahead and it is great to see classes getting out in the sunshine. On Wednesday, 2nd Class visited the Natural History Museum to see animal fossils and skeletons. Miss Brophy’s Class visited O’Connell Street to look at different modes of transport. On Thursday, 5th Class visited an allotment to plant vegetables and today, 6th Class visited the National Gallery of Ireland to see the Caravaggio exhibit.
Information about other visits taking place this term will come to each class in a letter. Please make sure you sign the permission slips – we must have your consent for visits that involve public transport or anything outside the local area.
Young Achievers
On Wednesday, the annual ‘Young Achievers Awards’ took place at the Lighthouse Cinema. This event is organised by the Home-School teachers in all of the local schools and nine children from our school were nominated by teachers and students across nine categories.
Our winners were:
Creativity – Dilan (3rd Class)
Art – Carl Shane (4th Class)
Music – Milena (6th Class)
Drama – Arun (6th Class)
Dance – Hannah E (5th Class)
Sport – Olaf (6th Class)
Academic – Szymon (4th Class)
Helping Others – Troy (6th Class)
Community Involvement – Anya (5th Class)
The children and their parents/carers attended the ceremony and were presented with special awards – well done to them all!
Romanian Language Institute
This week, we met with representatives from the Romanian Language Institute and the Romanian Embassy who are interested in running after-school classes for Romanian children in our school. The classes will focus on developing children’s Romanian language skills and Romanian culture and traditions. Nearly a quarter of the children in our school are from a Romanian background so we hope this will be something that interests families.
The course is suitable for all ages, from Junior Infants to 6th Class and children will be grouped according to their age.
There will be a meeting for any parents/carers who are interested in finding out more in the school hall on Thursday, 11th May at 9.00 a.m. We hope with enough interest that we can start classes from September 2017.
Parent Questionnaire
Thank you to the families who completed our parent questionnaire which we sent out before the Easter holidays. The results were very positive and we will work to ensure they continue to improve. Some of the top responses (e.g. over 98% of parents responded positively) included – ‘my child is happy at this school’, ‘my child feels safe at school’, ‘my child is taught well at this school’, ‘the school meets my child’s needs’, and ‘the school is well led and managed’.
Responses were lower when parents were asked about the age-appropriate information we give children about drugs and alcohol and parents of children in younger classes were also unsure about how we work with families and children on the transition to secondary school. Parents were also unsure about how the school supports their child to make a positive contribution to the local community.
In the comments section, many parents/carers asked for more after-school provision. We know there are childcare issues for many families in the afternoons and we will do our best to continue to look at ways we can help. The after-school clubs run by the school are funded through the School Completion Programme but we rely on the goodwill and time of our teachers to run them. We will post any information we have about after-school clubs and activities outside of school on the Home-School noticeboard just outside the Hall.
We really appreciate all of your feedback and will do our best to improve our communication to you in these areas. If you have any further comments to make, please feel free to come and chat with me or Síle.
PDST Visit
Today teachers attended workshops throughout the day with Maureen Colleran, an advisor from the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST). Maureen worked with teachers to look more closely at our teaching of oral language and ways to encourage and extend children’s speaking and listening skills. We got lots of new ideas that we are looking forward to sharing with the children over the coming weeks.
Dates for your diary
11th May – 5th Class to Hugh Lane Gallery
16th May – 5th Class to Aviva Stadium
19th May – Ms. Calvey’s Class to the Ark
Sunday, 21st May – First Holy Communion for 2nd Class Catholic children at 11.45 a.m.
25th May – 4th Class to ‘Squirrel Scramble’
29th May – Junior Infants to Newgrange Farm
Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd, Monday 5th, Tuesday 6th June – School Closed for Mid-Term
9th June – 6th Class to Carlingford
27th June – Whole-School Performance
29th June – 6th Class Graduation
Mid-Term Reminder
A reminder that we will be closed for four days in June – Thursday 1st June, Friday, 2nd June, Monday 5th June and Tuesday, 6th June. If you are planning any time away this term – this is an ideal time for a short break without the children missing school.
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to Ms. Barry’s Senior Infants who have top attendance of 97% this week. It was a close race with Ms. Brophy’s Class, Ms. Dolan’s Class and 5th and 6th Class very close behind! Well done everyone.
Let’s hope the sun keeps shining for the weekend.
See you on Monday!
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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