Consultation – Admission Policy
Following new legislation and guidance from the Department of Education, all primary schools in Ireland are being asked to update their Admission Policy.
We are attaching our draft policy for your consideration and we welcome your feedback.
Please email office@stmarysprimaryschool.ie if you have any questions, would like any information clarified or have a suggestion for changes.
The draft policy will be available for consultation to staff and parents/carers until Wednesday, 29th April 2020. Once it is ratified by the Board of Management it will then be sent to our Patron, the Archbishop of Dublin. The Diocese will return it to us before September and the new policy will be in place for the beginning of October 2020.
[embeddoc url=”http://www.stmarysprimaryschool.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/St.-Marys-Admission-Policy-April-2020.docx” height=”200px” download=”none” viewer=”microsoft”]Newsletter 14.02.2020
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
Newsletter 17.1.2020
Newsletter
17th January 2020
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Happy New Year!
Welcome back to all and a very happy new year to everyone. It is great to see the children settled back at school. They are so enthusiastic about their learning and we’ve a busy term ahead!
News this week
On Wednesday, our local Community Garda Cian came to speak to 4th Class about the role of the Garda and the different ways they help us.
Today, Francesca from Language Explorers joined us at our Friday assembly to share the great learning we did last term and to say thank you to the parents who supported the project and joined classes to share their home languages. Thank you!
This morning, Ms. Nolan met with parents from 5th Class to talk about the upcoming visits we have planned. A group of children and teachers will be heading to Greece in March and another group will visit London in June – it’s very exciting!
Active Schools
We were awarded our first blue Active Flag in 2017. We now need to renew our commitment to children’s physical activity and we are working hard to encourage children to really think about how they are getting their 60 minutes of exercise every day.
Our whole-school walk on Tuesday and Thursday mornings is a big part of this and it is a great way to get a quick burst of energy, some fresh air and 20 minutes of physical activity before the day starts. Please encourage your child to be active and enthusiastic about this challenge. It is important that children arrive on time so that they do not miss this opportunity.
And don’t forget – parents/carers are also welcome to join us! If you’re inspired by Operation Transformation, use this chance to come along and improve your fitness for 2020.
Erasmus Visit and International Food Fair
We are busy preparing for a very special visit at the end of this month. Children and teachers from our five Erasmus partner schools will be visiting Dublin for a week from 27-31 January and we will be hosting their visit at school. We have a busy week planned and one of the events we would love to share with them, is our annual International Food Fair.
We are hoping to have our Food Fair on Tuesday, 28th January at 1.00 p.m. We invite all families to join us for this special occasion and ask everyone to bring a dish that represents their home country. It is always a wonderful afternoon and with lots of extra guests, we hope you will be happy to make a little more for them!
Dates for your diary
21st January – Launch of ‘Time to Read’ programme with Ms. Yeates’s 2nd Class
27-31 January – Erasmus Partners Visiting School
28th January – International Food Fair at 1.00 p.m.
29th January – Irish dancing céilí at 1.00 p.m.
Saturday 1st February – Peace Proms – 3rd Class
Sunday 2nd February – Family Mass
12th February – Confirmation Ceremony of Light
Sunday, 16th February – Family Mass
20 and 21 February –
Mid-Term Break – School Closed
26th February – Book Fair arriving
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…
A reminder that we are a Green School and children are asked to take all of their lunch waste (food and packaging) home with them and put them in your compost, recycling and waste bins at home. Please support your child with this effort and make sure you empty lunches from school bags each day.
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
Newsletter 19.12.19
Newsletter
19th December 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Christmas Greetings
The term finishes tomorrow at 12 noon. We have had another fantastic term of exciting learning and while we’re all tired and ready for a holiday, we have achieved lots and must take some time to celebrate and give thanks.
Our teaching team give 110% every day and are so dedicated to their work and to providing fabulous learning opportunities for every child. I thank them very sincerely for their energy and commitment. Thank you to Sile, our Home-School-Community Liaison teacher, who does so much to support families in need. Her door is always open!
Thank you to Colm and Liz for their work behind the scenes – as always, we couldn’t do it without you!
My thanks to all the parents/carers who have helped out this term – joining classes on a trip, coming to do Maths for Fun or Language Explorers, being part of the Parents’ Association, donating clothes, meeting your child’s teacher, sharing positive comments on Twitter and Seesaw, watching a performance – thank you to each one of you. Your support makes all the difference.
Today, I have also written to the many organisations, volunteers and community groups who work with us to provide enriching experiences for the children and their learning. We thank them for all of the opportunities they provide for us and the time they give to help us across the year. Thank you everyone!
Christmas Performances
It was lovely to see so many families joining us for our Christmas performances this week. The children and the adults working with them have been preparing and getting ready for a number of weeks and it was great to see all the hard work pay off. Each class performed on stage, with every child taking part. The singing was beautiful and the poetry was even better! Well done to the children who not only performed the poems but especially to those who wrote their own! From Japanese Haikus, to an empowering message about just being yourself and an acrostic poem about Christmas – we had it all. The children spoke clearly and confidently and we are very proud of them.
As always, special thanks to our class teachers and special needs assistants who prepared the children so well and to our support teachers who helped ensure the event ran smoothly.
Dates for your diary
Friday, 20th December – School closes at 12 noon
Monday, 6th January 2020 – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
…and finally…
Have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the break. Our best wishes to all celebrating Christmas – have a joyful and peaceful time. Happy New Year to all and we will see you in 2020!
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly – Principal
Newsletter 13.12.19
Newsletter
13th December 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Christmas Performances
Next week, all classes will perform a short Christmas song or poem and parents/carers are invited to come along to see them. We will do the performance twice, once on Tuesday and once on Wednesday. We would ask, just so that there is enough space for everyone, that parents/carers attend just one performance.
| Tuesday at 1.00 p.m. – Junior Infants, 1st Class, Ms. McBride’s 2nd Class, Ms. O’Donovan’s 3rd Class, 4th Class and 5th Class. |
| Wednesday at 1.00 p.m. – Senior Infants, Ms. Yeates’s 2nd Class, Ms. Carrick’s 3rd Class, Ms. Nolan’s 4th/5th Class and 6th Class. |
Yellow Flag Award Ceremony
We were proud to receive our Yellow Flag for our work on inclusion and diversity last month. Three children from the Diversity Team, Ruman, David and Christian, went with Miss Nolan and I to Government Buildings at Leinster House. The children spoke in front of TDs and Senators about the work they had done and we were very proud of them. They also featured on News2Day. We look forward to celebrating at school when we have our flag raising ceremony in the new year.
Visit from Tomi Reichental
We were honoured to welcome Tomi Reichental, a Holocaust survivor, to school last month. Tomi spoke to the older children about his experiences and reminded them to always be kind to one another. Tomi talked about how small whispers of unkindness, racism and discrimination can begin in our communities and how important it is for us to stand up and say that it is wrong, always challenging those who may try to spread unkind words and messages.
Tomi’s visit also featured on RTE News and we were proud of the children who spoke about how inspired they were by him. Thank you to Ms. Graham who organised the visit.
News this month
6th Class were invited by the Ombudsman for Children to a special event called ‘Child Talks’ in Dublin Castle where they listened to a range of young people speaking passionately about subjects and issues affecting their lives.
5th Class have had a busy few weeks. They went to a performance at the Ark and were invited for a ‘Culture Club’ tour of City Hall, complete with afternoon tea! They also joined 4th Class at the Hugh Lane gallery to launch the ‘Zoom’ art project which both classes took part in last year.
There was great excitement last week when the ‘Sam Maguire’ cup, won by the Dublin football team, arrived at school with Evan Comerford, one of the Dublin team. We celebrated the five All-Ireland wins in a row that Dublin have achieved.
1st Class visited the Central Library for a screening of ‘The Snowman’ which included a live performance of ‘Walking in the Air’! Meanwhile,
2nd and 3rd Class went to the Sean O’Casey Theatre this week for a special performance of ‘Nabber the Blue-Nosed Reindeer’ to get them in the Christmas spirit!
Parking and Traffic – Keeping Children Safe
We have had a number of complaints from local residents in recent weeks about parents parking outside their gates and driving very fast down the lane. We also have some parents who are turning the wrong way onto St. Mary’s Place which is dangerous.
Please can all parents/carers who bring children to school by car, remember to slow down and drive very carefully around the school, especially at the office entrance. There are lots of small children who could run out into the road and we do not want any accidents. Please take care and keep all of our children safe.
#TimeforDEIS campaign
Our school is a ‘DEIS’ school which means we receive Government funding under the ‘Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools’ programme.
One of the features of this programme is smaller class sizes. We know that children benefit from working in a class with a smaller number of other children. However, in recent years, while class sizes in other schools have got smaller, the class size in DEIS schools like ours, has stayed the same.
Thank you to the parents/carers who have already taken the time to support the INTO’s #TimeforDEIS campaign to ask the Minister for Education to reduce class sizes in DEIS schools from next September.
If you haven’t had a chance, you can still help us by clicking on the link below, filling in your contact details and sending an automated email to the Minister for Education and our public representatives, asking them to look at this issue.
Erasmus Programme – News
This year we are taking part in an Erasmus programme with schools around Europe. Last week, I spent three days in Aspe, Spain, meeting the adults from our partner schools in Greece, Romania, Italy, Spain and the UK. We made lots of exciting plans. We are looking forward to welcoming children and teachers from all of the schools when they come to Dublin at the end of January. Children and teachers from our school will visit Greece and the UK later this year too.
Creative Schools
We are taking part in the Creative Schools initiative and have already started work. We have been given a Creative Associate, Fala Buggy, who will work with us to create a special project and help all of our classes to explore their creativity. Fala visited us this week and met with our Student Council to find out more about their work and to hear their ideas for what we could work on together. Very exciting times ahead!
Board of Management
The first meeting of our new Board of Management for the new term, 2019-2023, took place this week. The Patron of our school is the Archbishop of Dublin, who appoints two nominees – Fr. Martin McDonald, our Chairperson, and Catherine McHugh. Our two parent nominees are Kennedy Kere and Mariana Balau. Our teacher nominee is Síle McDonnell, and as principal, I also sit on the Board. Marian O’Connor and Michael Blanchfield, are our two Community nominees.
Attendance and punctuality
Our winners of the attendance trophy this week are Ms. O’Donovan’s 3rd Class with 97.1%. The children in Ms. O’Donovan’s Class are so keen to come to school every day – they are hard to beat!
I know there has been a lot of sickness in classes this week and attendance has been very poor as a result. We look forward to seeing everyone back to school feeling much better next week for lots of Christmas fun.
Dates for your diary
15th December – Parish Carol Service in the Church at 3.30 p.m. – all welcome!
17th and 18th December – Christmas Performances
19th December – 6th Class to EPIC museum
20th December – School closes at 12 noon
6th January 2020 – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
…and finally…
Thank you to the children from 2nd to 6th Class who offered to learn some Christmas songs at the last minute to sing at the Parish Carol Service this Sunday. The children have worked really hard in a very short amount of time and we’re looking forward to hearing their lovely singing on Sunday. The Carol Service is open to all and will take place in St. Joseph’s Church on Berkeley Road at 3.30 p.m. Do come along if you can!
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
[embeddoc url=”http://www.stmarysprimaryschool.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Newsletter-13.12.19.docx” download=”all” viewer=”microsoft”]Newsletter 12.11.19
Newsletter
12th November 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Every School Day Counts
We are taking part in the ‘Every School Day Counts’ attendance initiative being promoted by Tusla’s Education Support Service this month.
It is a special month of promotion of attendance, reminding children and families of the importance of coming to school every single day. We will have prizes for children making a special effort to be in school five days in a row each week. We will also be sharing top tips with parents/carers for getting into a good routine in the mornings.
Peace Proms – 3rd Class
Well done to our 3rd Classes who sang beautifully at their Peace Proms rehearsal at the National Sports Arena last week. They will be singing with thousands of other children from around the country at their concert in the RDS on Saturday, 1st February 2020 at 8.00 p.m.
Language Explorers
We were delighted to welcome back Dr. Francesca LaMorgia and the Language Explorers team last week. Francesca will be working in classes throughout this month to support the children’s language learning, supported by a number of parent volunteers. It is so important for the children to be proud of their home language and to see how knowing more than one language can give them so many advantages in their learning. Francesca will be working with the children to find out what words we use that are the same or similar in different languages, where different words come from and how we can use the languages we know to learn new languages!
Parent-Teacher Meetings
Our annual parent-teacher meetings will take place next week, the week of 18th November. Our teachers will be available late in the afternoon on Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th to facilitate working parents/carers. Please use the Aladdin Connect app to book your appointment slot.
Parents’ Association – Sponsored Disco
Our thanks to the Parents’ Association for organising another fantastic Sponsored Disco before the holidays. We raised a grand total of €891.32! Thank you so much for all your donations, we will be able to buy lots of lovely new resources for our classrooms with this money. Well done also to the winners of our pumpkin decorating competition – Blossom, Ele, Raisa, Caio, Ciara and Mathi!
Election of new Board of Management
Reminder – there will be a meeting on Friday, 15th November at 9 a.m. to elect two new parents/ carers to the school’s Board of Management. If you are interested, please do let me know. Nominations will be sought at the meeting and a ballot of votes will take place.
Attendance and punctuality
Our winners of the attendance trophy this week are Ms. Yeates’s 2nd Class with 100%
Dates for your diary
Week of 18th November – Parent-Teacher Meetings
20th November – 6th Class to Ombudsman for Children Conference
4th December – 5th Class to City Hall Culture Club
17th and 18th December – Christmas Performances
20th December – School closes at 12 noon
6th January 2020 – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
…and finally…
Well done to the 2nd Class children who will make their First Communion this year. They had their very special Enrolment Ceremony and led our Family Mass on Sunday – they all did a great job!
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
[embeddoc url=”http://www.stmarysprimaryschool.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Newsletter-12.11.19.docx” download=”all” viewer=”microsoft”]Newsletter 18.10.19
Newsletter
18th October 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Maths Week
We have had a super Maths week this week and we are so impressed with all our expert mathematicians! Ms. Collins got things started with a maths-themed assembly on Monday and classes began to solve the 36 problems on display around the school for our maths trail. There were some very tricky questions and the children worked really well together to work out the solutions.
On Wednesday, all classes from 2nd to 6th Class walked to the beautiful Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin for a whole-school maths trail. The adults have been full of compliments for the wonderful behaviour and good attitudes of all the children on the day. We had lots of praise today for the older children who looked after their younger partners so well.
Today, we had parents/carers joining us for ‘Maths for Fun’ sessions in several classes and Ms. O’Donovan’s class went to a special Lego workshop in Marsh Library. Several other classes will attend this workshop in November too. A big thank you to Mr. Kerr for organising such a fantastic, fun week of learning for us!
Language Explorers – Opportunity for Parents
Dr. Francesca LaMorgia is offering parents/carers the opportunity to work with her and the children on the ‘Language Explorers’ programme in November. Francesca will be working with children to learn about all of our different languages and she needs help! If you speak a second language and would enjoy helping children learn about languages, please come along to meet Francesca on Wednesday morning at 9am. She will explain everything and there will be certificates and references available for parents who take part.
Parents’ Association – Sponsored Disco
Thank you to all the parents/carers who joined our Parents’ Association this week – it is great to have you all on board! By now, everyone should have their sponsor card and information about our Sponsored Disco on Thursday, next week. Children may dress up if they wish and we will be having our pumpkin decorating competition too. There was such a high standard last year – we can’t wait to see the entries next week!
Election of new Board of Management
There will be a meeting for parents/carers on Friday, 15th November to elect two new parents/carers to the school’s Board of Management. The new Board will have a term of 4 years and be in place until 2023. If you are interested, please do let us know and we can tell you a bit more about the role. Nominations will be sought at the meeting and a ballot of votes will take place at the meeting on the 15th.
Attendance and punctuality
Our winners of the attendance trophy this week are Ms. Carrick’s 3rd Class with 99.1%!
Dates for your diary
23rd October – Language Explorers – Parent Meeting
24th October – Annual Sponsored Disco and Pumpkin Competition
24th October – School closes for Teacher Training (Fri 25th) and Mid-Term Holiday
4th November – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
5th November – 3rd Class to Peace Proms rehearsal at National Sports Arena
Sunday 10th Nov – Family Mass
Week of 18th November – Parent-Teacher Meetings
…and finally…
Let’s hope there isn’t too much rain this weekend – see you on Monday!
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
[embeddoc url=”http://www.stmarysprimaryschool.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Newsletter-18.10.19.docx” download=”all” viewer=”microsoft”]Newsletter 11.10.19
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
Newsletter 6.9.19
Newsletter
6th September 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Welcome back!
With one week already done, it is great to see the children back at school, so ready to learn! Our staff have worked very hard to prepare the school and classrooms to be welcoming and inviting spaces for the children.
A special welcome to the children and families who are new to the school this year, especially our new Junior Infant children who are settling in so well.
Look out for a letter inviting you to our ‘Meet the Teacher’ meetings, which for most classes will happen during the week of the 16th September. This meeting will give you the chance to meet your child’s new teacher and find out more about their learning in their new class and we can work together to keep our children happy, safe and learning!
Morning Time – come on in!
We have made a small change in the morning time. Children are welcome at school from 8.40am and wait in the yard or go to breakfast club. School officially starts at 8.50am.
We want to give parents/carers more time to visit classrooms, so from now on, teachers will be waiting for the children in their classroom and parents/carers are invited to come into school and walk their child up to their classroom. We hope that this will give you a chance to see your child’s classroom and learning, have a quick word with the teacher if you need to and have a better feel for the building and our community.
School Books and Tracksuits
Thank you to all families who have already paid the €60 for books, copies and school resources. If you have not made this payment, please call into the school office or pay online. We are happy to take money in instalments if this is easier for you.
Tracksuits can be ordered with Liz and cost €22 each, or €24 for larger sizes.
Having spent so much money on new uniforms and tracksuits – please make sure your child’s name is clearly marked. Every day we find jumpers with no names and it is a challenge to return it!
Parking and Traffic
The small streets outside the school can be very busy before and after school. With lots of very small children, buggies and families coming in and out, I would like to remind all parents/carers to drive slowly and carefully around the school to ensure we keep our children safe.
Parent Classes
Síle, our Home-School-Community Liaison (HSCL) teacher has asked me to let you know that Cookery Class for parents/carers will be starting again in Mount Carmel Secondary School on Tuesday mornings. Any parents/carers who are interested, can call into Síle at 8.50 a.m. and she will show you where to go.
On Wednesday morning next week, we are hosting a ‘Roadshow’ for families. We have invited a number of local after-school clubs, family agencies and adult education support services to the school in the morning at 9.00 a.m. If you want to find out information about what is available for you and your child in our local area – this is your chance!
Secondary School Transfer
Parents/carers of children in 5th and 6th Class have been invited to a ‘Meet the Teacher’ meeting with their child’s class teacher in the classroom on Tuesday, 10th September.
Immediately afterwards, our local secondary schools will be available to talk to parents/carers in the school library about the choices available for children’s secondary school places. Open days are taking place in secondary schools this month – all of the information will be available for you on Tuesday so please come along.
If you are a parent/carer of a younger child but are interested in finding out more about our local secondary schools – please feel free to come to the library on the top floor on Tuesday morning.
Attendance and punctuality
We want all children at St. Mary’s to have excellent attendance and our target is at least 95% for each child (this is no more than 9 days of absence across the year).
Please let us know if your child will not be in school by calling the school office on (01) 8300841, emailing office@stmarysprimaryschool.ie or filling out the absence form on our website.
Dates for your diary
10th September – 5th and 6th Class ‘Meet the Teacher’ and ‘Secondary School Open Morning’ at 9.00 a.m. on the top floor
11th September – Roadshow for Adults at 9am
11th September – 6th Class to National Museum – Egyptian exhibit
Week of 16th Sept – Meet the Teacher
25th October – School closes for Mid-Term Holiday
4th November – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
Supervision in the Morning
A reminder that children are welcome at school for breakfast club and to wait in the playground from 8.40 a.m. Children should not arrive to school before this time and we ask that children are not left waiting unsupervised at the gate before this. We have staff available to look after the children from 8.40 a.m. but the school cannot take responsibility for children before then.
Updating Information
If your contact information has changed over the summer, please ensure we have your new address, telephone number or other details. This is particularly important if we need to contact you in case of emergency. You can update this information on the Aladdin app yourself, or call in to see Liz in the office.
…and finally…
It has been a very busy few days at school. I want to thank Colm our caretaker for his hard work over the summer, Liz our secretary who is finally emerging from a pile of tracksuits(!), and all our teachers and SNAs who have come back with their smiles, energy and enthusiasm. It’s going to be a great year!
Have a lovely weekend everyone,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
[embeddoc url=”http://www.stmarysprimaryschool.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Newsletter-6.9.19.docx” download=”all” viewer=”microsoft”]Newsletter 28.6.19
Newsletter
28th June 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
End of Year – Thank You
As we come to the end of the year, we must take time to thank all those who have supported us throughout the year.
The children have had a fantastic year of learning, led of course, by our wonderful team of creative, inspiring teachers and SNAs who make sure learning in our school is fun and exciting every single day. You are all simply wonderful and we are so lucky to have such a great team. Enjoy your well-deserved break!
Thank you to all the parents/carers who support us with everything we do. Particular thanks to those of you who have generously donated uniforms over the last few weeks.
Well done to our children’s teams who do so much to involve us in so many initiatives and projects. You’ve done amazing work!
Thanks to Liz and Colm who do so much in the office and around the building – we couldn’t do it without you.
Thank you to Parents’ Association and Board of Management – you do such great work.
My thanks to Síle, our HSCL teacher, who works so hard for all of us to help and support families and our community.
What a wonderful year it has been with so much to celebrate! Congratulations to all!
Summer Concert
What a lovely summer concert we had on Wednesday. Thank you to each class for their contribution to a super show. We were so proud of the fantastic singing, poetry reciting, rapping and dancing from each one of you. Thank you to our teachers who prepared the children so well.
Celebration Assembly
Today, we came together for our celebration assembly. We celebrated the children who have had excellent attendance and met our target of 95% with certificates and medals.
We also awarded our Class Citizens plaques to children who have made an outstanding contribution to their class this year. Congratulations to all of them! Special congratulations to our School Citizen, Dilan Ramnarain, who will chair our Student Council next year.
Yellow Flag
We were thrilled to hear we have been awarded our Yellow Flag for our work on inclusion and diversity this year! The assessors praised the ‘fantastic’ students on our Diversity team, the adults who led the programme, especially Ms. Nolan, the ‘welcoming and encouraging approach’, the ‘fun and interactive’ learning opportunities, and how well the children could articulate their understanding of their learning and what they knew of inclusion and diversity.
Huge congratulations to everyone – we look forward to receiving our flag at a special ceremony in the autumn term.
6th Class Graduation
We had a lovely graduation ceremony for our 6th Class children who graduate today and move on to secondary school. The children have been wonderful ambassadors for St. Mary’s and we spent time talking about special memories and saying thank you. We wish them all the best!
Recent news
It has been a busy few weeks, with 2nd , 3rd and 4th Classes visiting the aquarium in Bray. 5th Class had a great day at Harbour Splash in Dun Laoghaire.
We had two very successful sports days – thank you to Mr. Carney and Ms. O’Callaghan for organising the activities.
Yesterday, 5th and 6th sang beautifully at the One Family graduation day in the Human Rights Commision – well done children!
Staffing next year
We welcome Chloe Carrick to our staff team next year and I’m happy to let you know there will be lots of familiar faces too:
Class Next Year: New Teacher:
Junior Infants Ms. O’Hare
Senior Infants Ms. McKelvey
1st Class Ms. Lougheed
2nd Class (ex Ms. McBride) Ms. McBride
2nd Class (ex Ms. O’Hare) Ms. Yeates
3rd Class (ex Ms. McCaughey) Ms. Carrick
3rd Class (ex Ms. Yeates) Ms. O’Donovan
4th Class (ex Ms. Lougheed) Ms. McCaughey
4th/5th Class (ex Ms. Graham) Ms. Nolan
5th Class (ex Ms. Glynn) Mr. McGuire
6th Class (ex Mr. McGuire) Ms. Staunton
Support teachers: Ms. Kilkenny, Ms. Graham, Ms. Collins, Mr. Kerr, Ms. Palmer, Ms. Brophy, Ms. O’Callaghan and Ms. Hayes.
Saying farewell…
We say goodbye and thank you to Ms. Glynn, who has worked at St. Mary’s since 2007. Ms. Glynn is off to teach under sunnier skies– we wish her all the best and look forward to hearing about her new adventures! Our thanks and best wishes to Mr. Carney who leaves us on career break for a year of travelling the world – we are envious!
Congratulations…
We send our congratulations to Ms. Oppermann, Ms. Kilkenny and Amy who are all getting married over the summer – we know you will join us in wishing them every happiness on their special day. Congratulations also to Mrs. Fay who is expecting a baby very soon and will be away on maternity leave next year.
And finally…
We close today for our summer holiday. We look forward to seeing you all back at school on Thursday, 29th August at 8.50 a.m.
Our very best wishes for a happy and healthy summer holiday!
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal