Celebration Assembly
The whole school came together today to celebrate another successful year.
We started by congratulating all of the children who had excellent attendance this year. All children who met our target of 95% received a special certificate. We had medals for children who missed just 1 or 2 days and gold medals for those who missed 0 days!
We awarded a special group of play-leaders in 5th Class who have led our playground games as part of our Active Team for two years. These children have been exceptional leaders and brought lots of fun and energy to our lunchtimes. Thank you!
One child in each class was chosen as ‘Class Citizen’ of the year for their outstanding contribution to their class. We listened to the positive attributes of each child and how their kindness, friendship, warm smiles and positive work ethics have brought so much to their classes and classmates this year. Look at those proud faces!
Our final award was for ‘School Citizen’ of the Year. This is awarded to a 5th Class student who has demonstrated an exceptional attitude to learning and leadership. Last year’s School Citizen spoke about her experiences of chairing the Student Council, about the privilege of the role but the weight of responsibility too! We are so proud of our new appointee – a very well-deserved winner who we know will represent us very well in 2019-2020.
5th Class – Claymation
Check out these fantastic claymations from 5th Class based on their learning about the Romans this term!
Newsletter 14.6.19
Newsletter
14th June 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Diversity Showcase – Yellow Flag
This week we have been amazed by the wonderful learning displayed at our Yellow Flag showcase. The ‘Yellow Flag’ programme has given us an opportunity to celebrate inclusion and diversity in our school. We have done this in lots of different ways and on Tuesday, we gathered all of the learning together for a visit from the Yellow Flag Programme assessors. Our visitors met with the children’s Diversity team who explained the work they have done over the last few months. Representatives of the Young Interpreters, Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and Friendship Keepers were also there to talk about how their work supports inclusion and diversity. We spoke about how we have learned about our ethnicities and how to tackle racism and discrimination.
After the children’s presentation, the assessors visited the hall where we held a showcase of learning. Each class created a celebration of what they had learned. There were posters, paintings, podcasts and lots more! Children from all over the school, from Junior Infants all the way up to 6th Class, carefully explained their learning to the adults, speaking confidently and clearly about issues that they felt very strongly about.
Our visitors were very impressed. We have to wait for the official letter and feedback to arrive before we can confirm if we have been awarded the Yellow Flag – but I think we can be quietly confident. We were very, very proud of each and every child who took part this week.
Thank you to the parents/carers who came along to see the children’s learning – I know you were just as impressed as we were. Thank you to all of our staff who have supported this programme from the beginning and enabled the children to take part in such rich and thought-provoking learning.
Thank you to our children’s teams who lead us all so well and to the teachers who support them. Special thanks to the Diversity team – children, teachers and parents who have worked so hard and especially to Ms. Nolan who has coordinated the programme this year. It has been a huge piece of work and we have our fingers crossed that we’ll need a new flagpole very soon!
National Children’s Choir
Nine children from 5th and 6th Class represented our school as members of the National Children’s Choir singing at the National Concert Hall. This is a huge honour and a definite once in a lifetime experience! The children were excellent ambassadors for St. Mary’s – singing beautifully and receiving lots of compliments for their impeccable manners and behaviour. Make sure you check out the videos of their performance on our website – you won’t be disappointed!
Recent news
6th Class went to their first opera on 23rd May. They saw a performance of Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’ at the Gaiety Theatre. Last week, they had a great day at Carlingford Adventure Centre, ziplining through the trees!
All of the 4th Class children were invited to a special sports day in TU Dublin Grangegorman by the local Community Garda team, based in the Bridewell station. The children had a great day of games and fun with children from other local schools.
3rd Class visited TU Dublin Aungier Street last week to take part in the ‘Knowledge Festival’, a great day of coding and fun activities.
Yesterday, 1st Class had an exciting day at Dublin Zoo. The children have been learning all about Africa and animals from around the world so were thrilled to see lots of animals up close!
Today, Senior Infants have visited Dublin Airport as part of their learning about the airport this term. Lots of future pilots!
End of Year Reports
Today, your child’s end of year report is available for download from our Aladdin app. If you haven’t yet set up the app and need help, please come and ask us. If you would prefer a printed copy, please let us know and we will arrange it for you.
Visitors
We were delighted to welcome a group of student teachers from Towson University USA last week. They really enjoyed seeing the children’s learning and comparing our school to schools in America.
Last Friday, we hosted a group of visitors from a range of EU countries who were visiting Ireland with the Sirius Network, who are funded by the EU Commission to research the experiences of migrant families in EU countries. Our visitors were really interested to meet our Young Interpreters and Diversity team and hear about the children’s experiences in school. They also met with me and Sile to talk about teaching and learning in Irish schools and how we support children and families. Our thanks to Sevak, from New Communities Partnership, who coordinated the visit.
Sr. Anne Neylon, from the Dublin Diocese Education team, visited on Monday to support our 3rd and 4th Class teachers with the ‘Grow in Love’ Catholic schools programme. She commented on the lovely relationships and kindness she saw in each classroom.
Time to Read Celebration
We had a lovely morning on Thursday celebrating the eight super children in 2nd Class who have taken part in the ‘Time to Read’ programme this year. The children have spent 20 weeks reading with volunteers from ‘Business in the Community’ and were presented with lovely certificates and bookmarks to celebrate their achievements. The volunteers spoke about their experiences and praised the children for their efforts and progress over the year. Thank you to Ms. Yeates who has facilitated the volunteers each week and to Sile who, as always, liaises with parents/carers and organised the lovely event this morning.
Soccer Success
Congratulations to our girls’ soccer team who won gold at the Blackhall Place soccer blitz at Kings’ Inn last week. The girls played brilliantly and we are so proud of them! Well done to the boys’ team who also took part and played really well. Thank you to Mr. Carney and Mr. Kerr who supported the children on the day.
Doodle Den Graduation
Well done to all our Senior Infant children who graduated from their year of Doodle Den learning last week. Our thanks to Gillian and James who have worked with the children throughout the year.
New Junior Infant children
We welcomed our new Junior Infant children for September 2019 this week for a special play session. It was lovely to meet the children for the first time and they are all very excited about starting school! Sile is meeting with families this month to make sure everyone is ready for the big move and our ‘Stepping Up’ programme with Grangegorman ABC allows us to visit the children in their pre-schools and get to know more about their learning before they arrive.
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to Ms. Graham’s 3rd/4th Class for top attendance this week.
Dates for your diary
17 June – 2nd Class to Bray Aquarium
18 June – 5th Class to Harbour Splash
19 June – 3rd/4th and 4th Class to Bray
26 June – End of Year Performances
27 June – 6th Class Graduation at 1.00 p.m.
28 June – School finishes at 12 noon
29 August – School re-starts for new term
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
[embeddoc url=”http://www.stmarysprimaryschool.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Newsletter-12.6.19.docx” download=”all” viewer=”microsoft”]National Children’s Choir
We were very proud of the nine children who represented St. Mary’s Primary School as members of the National Children’s Choir at the National Concert Hall on Saturday, 25th May. The children worked so hard to prepare for this concert and performed beautifully.
Have a look at them in action!
Newsletter 22.5.19
Newsletter
22nd May 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
| REMINDER: We are closed on Friday, 24th May as the school is being used as a polling station. We will be open again on Monday, 27th May. |
Anti-Bullying Week
The highlight of last week’s Anti-Bullying week was our assembly on Friday where each class shared a special rap they had written during the week. Each class performed their rap together and we were amazed with the quality of the performances. Well done to everyone, our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and Diveristy Team, and thank you to the teachers who led the learning, especially Ms. Kilkenny and Ms. Nolan.
News last week and this week
Last Wednesday, 6th Class represented our school at ‘Feis Átha Cliath’ an Irish dancing competition. The children practised very hard and showcased their dancing beautifully. Thanks as always to our Irish dancing teacher, Aedin.
Well done to the children in Ms. McBride’s 1st Class who took part in a workshop with authors and illustrators Aga Grandowicz and Rob Maguire and featured on RTE’s News2Day.
Thank you to all the parents/carers who joined our Junior Infants for their visit to Airfield Farm last Thursday – it looked like a wonderful day!
5th and 6th Class were thrilled to meet author RJ Palacio who wrote the book ‘Wonder’ as part of the Dublin International Literacy Festival on Monday. She was very impressed with our budding writers and their excellent questions.
Athletics Success
Our athletics team took part in two days of events at Morton Stadium, Santry this week. The children trained hard and everyone gave it their all. Well done to Isaac in 6th Class who won a silver medal in the high jump, Nicola in 6th Class who won a silver medal in the long jump, Laura in 6th Class who won a bronze medal in the hurdles and Simon in 5th Class who won a silver medal in the U11 sprint. A super result! Thank you to Ms. Lougheed and Mr. Carney who prepared the children for the events.
Assessment Tests
Over the coming days, the children in 1st to 6th Class will be sitting our annual standardised tests. Remember – these are a snapshot of what the children can do. We take lots of different kinds of information about children’s learning into account when we assess them. You can help at home by making sure they get lots of sleep and come to school on time each day. We want the children to be relaxed and confident. We talk to them at school about taking the opportunity to show us all they know and remind them that they can only do their best. This is a helpful message for you to give them at home too. We will share the results with you in the end of year reports in June.
Attendance and punctuality
Attendance could do with a big boost over the next two weeks. Well done to Ms. McBride’s 1st Class for top attendance last week of 98.8%.
Dates for your diary
23 May – 6th Class to ‘Magic Flute’ opera
24 May – School Closed for Polling Day
Saturday 25 May – National Children’s Choir
27 May – 4th Class to Garda Sports Day
30, 31 May and 3 June – June Bank Holiday
7June – 6th Class to Carlingford
11 June – 3rd Class to Howth
13 June – 1st Class to Dublin Zoo
14 June – Senior Infants to Dublin Airport
17 June – 2nd Class to Bray Aquarium
18 June – 5th Class to Harbour Splash
19 June – 3rd/4th and 4th Class to Bray
28 June – School finishes at 12 noon
29 August – School re-starts for new term
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
Feis Átha Cliath 2019
Our 6th Class children performed at Feis Átha Cliath today, showcasing their hard work in their Irish dancing classes this year. Well done to all!
Newsletter 13.5.19
Newsletter
13th May 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Anti-Bullying Week
This week, our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors are working with our Diversity Team for a special Anti-Bullying Week. Our focus in on racism and discrimination.
In our assembly this morning, we learned that ‘ethnicity’ is what makes you – you! It includes your nationality, your family’s culture and religion.
We also learned that ‘discrimination’ is when a person, or a group of people, are treated unfairly because of things like their gender, age, individual needs or ethnicity.
We learned that ‘racism’ is discrimination because of someone’s ethnicity and we learned that racism and discrimination of any kind, are types of bullying.
We talked about how at our school, we are lucky to have so many people of many different ethnicities and that we all know that even though we might be different, we can all be friends and care for one another.
We discussed what we can do if someone is being bullied – we can say no, we can walk away and we can tell an adult. We talked about how if we hear or see bullying or racist language, it is very serious and we must be ‘upstanders’ – to stand up and say that it is wrong and to always tell an adult.
These are very important messages for children and we hope you can talk about them at home too and continue to remind and support the children with these issues.
News from last week
We were delighted to welcome a group of teachers visiting from the Czech Republic. They were excited to see the children learning and to find out more about Irish schools. Our Student Council led a special presentation to the Laura Lynn charity on Thursday, presenting a cheque for the money raised from their Sponsored Disco – well done!
First Holy Communion
Congratulations to the children in 2nd Class who made their First Holy Communion on Sunday. The children worked hard to prepare for this special ceremony and we were very proud of them. Thanks to Ms. Yeates, Ms. McCaughey and Dolores for preparing the children and to Síle, Audrey, Liz and Ms. Brophy for supporting the children on the day. Thanks also to the children who sang so beautifully in the choir and to all the parents, carers and families who joined us for the day.
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to Ms. McCaughey’s 2nd Class for best attendance for the 2nd week running – 100%!
Dates for your diary
15 May – 6th Class to Feis Átha Cliath
16 May – Junior Infants to Airfield Farm
23 May – 6th Class to ‘Magic Flute’ opera
24 May – School Closed for Polling Day
Saturday 25 May – National Children’s Choir performance in National Concert Hall
27 May – 4th Class to Garda Sports Day
30, 31 May and 3 June – June Bank Holiday
28 June – School finishes at 12 noon
29 August – School re-starts for new term
…and finally…
If you have any spare uniforms at home that you no longer need and could be donated, Síle would be delighted to have them.
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
Newsletter 3.5.19
Newsletter
3rd May 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
I hope you had a lovely holiday. The children have returned with lots of enthusiasm and energy for the busy term ahead.
News this week
On Monday, 5th Class were invited to 14 Henrietta Street to try out some of the new activities they have designed for schools. The team at Henrietta Street were so impressed with 5th Class on their visit in September that they invited them back to ask their feedback.
Senior Infants and 1st Class have started some yoga sessions with Nicole Polletti while all the classes in 3rd – 6th Class had a rugby taster session with Stephen Maher on Tuesday.
We were delighted to meet the parents/carers of our new Junior Infant children for September 2019 – it’s hard to believe that time of year is coming again so soon!
Safety in the morning time
A reminder to all parents/carers that the school can only take responsibility for children at 8.40 a.m. when the school gates open. Children should not arrive before this time. If your child is waiting outside the gate, they must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
A number of children have been arriving up to 40 minutes before school starts. This is not safe. We are in the middle of the city centre and there are always strangers and unknown adults walking by. All parents and carers should remind children of the rules they have learned in the Stay Safe Programme – ‘say no, get away and tell’.
Student Council Disco
Congratulations to our fantastic Student Council team who organised a disco in aid of Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice before Easter. We are delighted to let you know that the children raised €456.33 – thank you to all the families who donated money for this fantastic cause. We look forward to presenting our donation to the charity next week.
Attendance and punctuality
We were very disappointed with attendance this week with just one class meeting our target of 95%. We need to work hard in the coming weeks to improve and make sure every child is in school every day. Well done to Ms. McCaughey’s 2nd Class for the best attendance.
Dates for your diary
6 May – Bank Holiday – school closed
Sunday 12 May – First Communion
Week of 13 May – Anti-Bullying Week
15 May – 6th Class to Feis Átha Cliath
16 May – Junior Infants to Airfield Farm
23 May – 6th Class to ‘Magic Flute’ opera
24 May – School Closed for Polling Day
Saturday 25 May – National Children’s Choir performance in National Concert Hall
27 May – 4th Class to Garda Sports Day
30, 31 May and 3 June – June Bank Holiday
28 June – School finishes at 12 noon
29 August – School re-starts for new term
…and finally…
Don’t forget we are closed on Monday for the bank holiday. We will see you all first thing on Tuesday.
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
Newsletter 11.4.19
Newsletter
11th April 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Science Fairs
We’ve had a Science-filled week at St. Mary’s with our annual Science Fairs happening across the school. This is an opportunity for us to share with parents/carers just a very small taster of the science learning the children do at school each week. It was wonderful to see so many families coming to support the children with their investigations, experiments and challenges. I was so impressed listening to the children explaining their learning so clearly to adults and then adjusting their explanations for smaller children. We saw experiments in buoyancy, magnetism, electricity and chemical reactions. We learned about the children’s investigations into our DNA, the viscosity of liquids and what plants need to grow. We saw lots of demonstrations and tried out challenges involving slime, taste tests, the sugar content in our food and so much more!
Our thanks as always to our superb team of creative teachers who enable our children to be such confident and capable scientists – not just this week, but every week.
News from this week
Yesterday, 4th Class visited the Natural History Museum, while 3rd/4th Class had their second visit to Larkin Community College for circus skills workshops and rock climbing! We’ve had several teams attending soccer blitzes run by FAI and Fun Direction. Thank you to Mr. Carney and Mr. Kerr for leading our teams! Our Catholic children attended a special penitential service for Lent, as we prepare for Easter. And thank you to the parents/carers who came to our workshop and introduction to the ‘Yellow Flag’ programme this morning.
Student Council Disco
Reminder – the children in our School Council are organising a disco in the Hall, tomorrow, Friday 12th April to raise money for Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice. We’re asking children to bring a small donation with them– please give as much as you can.
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to Ms. Graham’s 3rd/4th Class with 99.1% attendance last week.
Polling Station
We have been asked by Dublin City Council to become a polling station for upcoming elections. This means, that on days when the Government schedules an election – local, national or European, our school hall will be used for the local community to vote.
Unfortunately, for health and safety reasons, this means the school must close to children and teachers for that day. The European elections are scheduled for Friday, 24th May and so, with apologies for the shorter notice, I must let you know that the school will be closed on that day. Thank you for your understanding.
Dates for your diary
12 April – School closes for Holidays at 12 noon
29 April – School re-opens for summer term
6 May – Bank Holiday
24 May – School Closed for Polling Day
30, 31 May and 3 June – June Bank Holiday
…and finally…
We are closing tomorrow at 12 noon for the Easter holidays. We will be closed for two weeks and re-open on Monday, 29th April at the usual time of 8.50 a.m. Our staff team wish all our families a very happy holiday!
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
[embeddoc url=”http://www.stmarysprimaryschool.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Newsletter-11.4.19.docx” download=”all” viewer=”microsoft”]Newsletter 4.4.19
Newsletter
4th April 2019
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
National Children’s Choir
We are so proud of 5th and 6th Class’s performance with the National Children’s Choir last Tuesday night. They sang with children from five other primary schools and an orchestra and made a really beautiful sound. The children have been learning the 15 songs since September and have worked very hard to perfect the difficult but lovely harmonies. They sang songs in English, Irish, Swahili, Latin and Hebrew! It has been a big challenge and we were delighted to see the children enjoy their performance so much.
Thank you to all the families who came along to support the children on the night – it was a very special evening! Thanks to Ms. Staunton and Mr. McGuire who have worked so hard with the children to learn the music and all those words! And thanks to Ms. Kilkenny, Mr. Kerr and Ms. Brophy who supported the children at the concert.
News from last week
Our local Community Garda team came to speak to 4th, 5th and 6th Class about cyber-bullying last week. The interactions children have online is an increasingly worrying issue and I would remind all parents/carers to be very, very careful about the games your child has access to and to check regularly who they are speaking to and the content they are using.
5th and 6th Class visited the Ark on Friday to watch a theatre performance ‘Peat’.
3rd/4th Class visited Larkin Community College yesterday to take part in a circus skills workshop and rock-climbing activity.
A group of boys represented our school at the FAI Schools soccer blitz on Tuesday.
Student Council Disco
The children in our School Council are organising a disco in the Hall on Friday 12th April to raise money for Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice. We’re asking children to bring a small donation with them on the day – please give as much as you can. The Laura Lynn charity provides free care and support for children with life limiting conditions and their families. You can find more information about them at www.lauralynn.ie
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to Ms. O’Hare’s 1st Class with 100% attendance last week. The competition is fierce this week with lots of classes vying for the top spot – it’s great to see!
Dates for your diary
4 April – Science Fair for 4th-6th Class at 1.00
10 April – 4th Class to Natural History Museum
10 April – Science Fair for Sen. Infants – 3rd Class
10 April – Author visit to Doodle Den, families invited to come in at 1.30
11 April – Yellow Flag information morning for parents/carers at 9.00 with Síle and Ms. Nolan
12 April – Student Council Disco
12 April – School closes for Holidays at 12 noon
29 April – School re-opens for summer term
…and finally…
We are currently finalising the term dates for 2019-2020. At this stage, I can confirm to you that we will be starting back to school on Thursday, 29th August 2019 for the new school year. I know lots of families will soon be booking summer flights – so please ensure you are back in time to start the new year.
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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