Newsletter 24.3.17
Newsletter
24th March 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
International Day – Thank You!
What a fantastic week we had last week! We began celebrating ‘Seachtain na Gaeilge’ or ‘Irish Week’ with our céilí dances and a tricky table quiz for the older children all in Irish!
Then on Thursday we had our International Day which began with performances from 1st and 2nd Class with our super music tutors from Masamba Samba School. The children were fantastic and had learnt so much so quickly. We were really impressed. Next, we had our sean-nós after-school club with a traditional Irish brush dance.
Later in the afternoon, lots of parents and carers came to join us for a family Céilí outside and then we had our annual International Food event in the hall to finish off a great day.
If you haven’t had a chance to see the Family Learning Project, a beautiful tapestry of all the countries represented in our school, then do pop into the hall to have a look.
All of the action from the day was filmed by RTE’s ‘News2Day’ programme – you can see a video on our website or Twitter account @stmarysdorsetst! It gives a great overview of the day, of our school spirit and how we celebrate our diversity.
Our thanks to all of the families, children and staff who contributed to our events in many different ways – bringing food, dancing, contributing to the intercultural project, made projects or flags or came to an event.
Kindness Week
This week was ‘Kindness Week’. We have all been doing ‘random acts of kindness’ for one another and the children have been learning about our invisible buckets that you can fill with kindness by saying or doing something nice to someone!
News this week
1st Class visited the Ark, cultural centre in Temple Bar on Thursday for a workshop on self-portraits using charcoal. I hear they were beautiful!
Sports News
The children in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Class have begun their six weeks of swimming lessons at Belvedere Pool. I hear they are already making great progress and having lots of fun!
Last week, a team of 5th and 6th Class children went to a basketball tournament in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght Mr. Carney and Ms. O’Callaghan were so impressed with the children’s focus, attitude and sportsmanship. They ran the games themselves, played with children from other schools and represented our school with pride. Well done!
Next week, another of our sporting teams will take part in a football tournament at Irishtown Stadium. Good luck!
Visit from Department of Education
We received a letter this week from the Inspectorate of the Department of Education to let us know we will be visited by two inspectors as part of a review of our DEIS programme in the week after Easter.
The inspectors will spend three days with us, looking at the teaching and learning in classrooms, talking with staff, Board of Management members, parents, carers and children about their experiences at school.
They will be looking particularly at programmes we use to teach literacy and maths, how our Home-School-Community Liaison teacher supports families, how we work with the School Completion Programme to provide things like free after-school clubs, Doodle Den, Incredible Years and Life Skills sessions and the ways we promote good attendance.
We are looking forward to sharing all of our exciting learning with the inspection team. They will give some feedback to us at the end of their visit and then publish a report which we will share with all families.
Mr. Kerr for INTO President!
We wanted to let you know that Mr. Kerr, who is a support teacher in 5th and 6th Class this year and who many of you will know as one of our very experienced teachers, is running as a candidate in an election for President of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO). The election is coming up very soon and Mr. Kerr has been campaigning hard all over the country to encourage teachers to vote for him.
If he is successful, Mr. Kerr will leave us for a short time, on a one-year secondment after Easter. Luckily for us, the INTO offices are on Parnell Square – so he won’t be too far away and hopefully he will come and visit us!
For now, we wish Mr. Kerr the very best in his preparation for the election and we will have our fingers crossed for his success.
Dates for your diary
Wednesday, 29th March – First Penance service for children making First Communion
Sunday, 2nd April – Family Mass at 11.45am
Tuesday, 4th April – National Spring Clean Day!
Wednesday, 5th April – Feis Átha Cliath (Irish Dance Competition) for 5th and 6th Class
Friday, 7th April – School Closes at 12.00 p.m. for two-week Easter Holiday
Monday, 24th April – School Re-Opens
Visiting teachers
For the next few weeks, we will have two teachers from Dublin City University’s Institute of Education working with us. Mr. Allen will work alongside Ms. King in 5th Class while Ms. Lougheed will work with Ms. Brophy in Senior Infants. We look forward to welcoming them.
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to 3rd Class with 100% attendance this week! Not far behind were Ms. Barry’s Senior Infants on 99%! We’re seeing really impressive attendance figures across the school this month – let’s keep it up!
And finally…
We’ve been speaking to lots of children and parents about staying safe online. We hope to organise a speaker for parents and carers in the summer term. In the meantime, if you are looking for advice on how to keep your child safe when they are using a computer, tablet or phone, there are some great tips, videos and fact-sheets for parents on www.webwise.ie. I would recommend you take a look and if you have any concerns, please come and talk to us and we will do our best to help.
I’m told the sunshine is here for the weekend! Enjoy it!
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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Read MoreInternational Day 16.3.17
We celebrated our annual International Day on 16th March 2017. The highlights were recorded by RTE’s ‘News2Day’ programme – have a look below!
.@news2dayRTE went to a Dublin school that is holding an international day to celebrate the 30 different nationalities in the school pic.twitter.com/mlp2K7YWlQ
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 16, 2017
Our day started with a special samba performance by our 1st and 2nd Class children who have been working with Masamba Samba School over the last few weeks and learning to play together beautifully!
What a super performance! #InternationalDay @masamba pic.twitter.com/7bfdF9FEc2
— St. Mary's Primary (@stmarysdorsetst) March 16, 2017
Next up, were our after-school ‘Sean-Nós’ Irish dance club, also from 1st and 2nd Class who performed a traditional brush dance.
Our dance club showed us their brush dance next! Well done and thanks Ms Sheridan! pic.twitter.com/9PpnkqTvVJ
— St. Mary's Primary (@stmarysdorsetst) March 16, 2017
All around our hall, there were projects created by teams of children, displaying information about each of the countries represented in our school community. The children worked in cross-age teams, from 3rd to 6th Class to research the information for their projects. You can see each project below:
We also unveiled our family learning project, coordinated by Sile, our Home-School Liaison teacher. The intercultural project invited parents and families to create a fabric piece depicting information about their home country. These individual pieces were then brought together to create one tapestry. It is beautiful!
Later in the afternoon, all families were invited to attend our family Céilí Mór. We held the Céilí outside and the children partnered with their parents and carers and showed them the steps. We had great fun!
Our day finished with our annual International Food event, with families bringing dishes from their home countries to share with one another. A wonderful way to end a fantastic day. Thank you to all the families who contributed and came to support the children. Well done everyone!
Seachtain na Gaeilge March 2017
We celebrated Seachtain na Gaeilge, a celebration of Irish language and culture, this week.
In preparation for our annual Céilí Mór, the older children spent time with their partners in younger classes to show them our three céilí dances. Have a look at our practice in progress!
Here's our first outdoor rehearsal for our Céilí Mór #SeachtainnaGaeilge #ActiveSchools https://t.co/en5bdvFvio
— St. Mary's Primary (@stmarysdorsetst) March 10, 2017
Bhí Tráth na gCeist againn ar an Máirt. Bhí an-spórt againn! We had an Irish quiz on Tuesday. We had a great time!
Ar an gCéadaoin, bhí an Céilí Mór ar siúl. On Wednesday, we had our Céilí Mór.
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Newsletter 10.3.17
Newsletter
10th March 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
News this week
5th Class visited the Central Library in the Ilac on Wednesday for a workshop as part of ‘Engineers’ Week’.
Across the whole school, preparations have been in full swing for our annual ‘Céilí’. A ‘Céilí’ is a kind of Irish dancing, with special dances performed in groups. All of the children will participate in a big ‘céilí’ on Wednesday at school and we hope to teach lots of parents how to join in at our International Day on Thursday from 12.30 p.m. This week, we practised a big circle dance in the yard – you can see a video on our Twitter account @stmarysdorsetst!
Active Schools News
Mr. Carney and Ms. O’Callaghan are busy preparing a team of 5th and 6th Class children to go to a basketball tournament next week. The tournament will take place in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght and we wish our teams the very best of luck!
Dates for your diary
Sunday, 12th March – Family Mass at 11.45am
13th March– Seachtain na Gaeilge (Irish Week)
15 March – Céilí Mór for all children
16 March – International Day
17 March – St. Patrick’s Day – School Closed
Attendance and punctuality
6th Class have made a long awaited return to top position this week with 100%! Well done to you all. They will hold our attendance trophy for this week.
A reminder that waking up late or going to appointments with the doctor or dentist are not a reason to miss a full day at school. Children should always come to school for a part of the day – either before or after their appointment. If you wake up late, come to school as soon as you can, you should not miss a full day’s learning.
Our thanks to the families who work hard to ensure their child is in school on time every single day – well done!
Reminder – St. Patrick’s Day
A reminder that next Friday, 17th March is St. Patrick’s Day. This is a national holiday in Ireland and the school will be closed all day.
International Day – Thursday, 16th March
Here’s a run-down of events on Thursday. You are very welcome to join us for these, and any donations of food would be gratefully received.
We will also unveil our beautiful parent tapestry of our home countries. The children have worked together on projects for each home country in the school and very excitingly, the film crew from RTE’s ‘News2Day’ programme will be here to film all the action. Don’t miss it!
9.00 am 1st & 2nd Class – Samba Performance
9.30 am Dance Club ‘Sean-Nós’ Performance
12.30 pm Céilí Dance with Parents/Carers
1.00 pm International Food Event in the Hall
Enjoy your weekend,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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Read MoreNewsletter 3.3.17
Newsletter
3rd March 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
News this week
As part of our preparations for International Day, 1st and 2nd Class children have started a series of samba workshops with Masamba Samba School tutors. The children are learning to play samba instruments and we are so excited for their performance on 16th March – it sounds great already!
This week, we welcomed our ‘Reader in Residence’, Julianne from Dublin City Libraries who is working with Junior Infants for the next few weeks, sharing stories and reading fun!
It was Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent this week and the Catholic children attended Mass. They also recevied a special Lenten Activity Calendar with small acts of kindness and prayer they can do for each day of Lent.
Thursday was World Book Day! Each child received a voucher for €1.50 to spend in a local bookshop. Some classes have already visited ‘Chapters’ to make their selection. 2nd Class visited the Central Library with their ‘Time to Read’ volunteers from Business in the Community.
3rd and 5th Class had a visit yesterday from the dental nurse who reminded them about how important it is to look after your teeth and brush them at least twice every day. A top tip is to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ in your head while you’re brushing – it lasts for just the right amount of time!
Active Schools News
We have recently started a ‘Slí na Sláinte’ walking initiative in our school. Twice a week, the children and staff go out on a 10 minute walk in our local community and around Blessington Street Basin park. This boosts children’s activity levels, health and wellbeing. Research shows that children’s brains are also much more active and ready for learning after 10 minutes of exercise!
Dates for your diary
8th March – 5th Class to Engineers Week workshop at Ilac Library
Sunday, 12th March – Family Mass at 11.45am
13th March– Seachtain na Gaeilge (Irish Week)
15 March – Céilí Mór for all children
16 March – International Day
17 March – St. Patrick’s Day – School Closed
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to 4th and 5th Class with 99% attendance this week and the winners of our trophy this week.
Seachtain na Gaeilge and International Day
We have our annual celebration of ‘Seachtain na Gaeilge’ coming up. We will be celebrating Irish culture, heritage and our language through the week. We will also be celebrating the many other cultures represented in our school, with a variety of activities and our annual International Food event on Thursday, 16th March – please put the day in your diary!
Enrolment for Junior Infants – Sept. 2017
Applications for September 2017 have closed. We will be confirming places in the next week or so. Please look out for a letter.
Have a lovely weekend!
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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Read MoreNewsletter 17.2.17
Newsletter
17th February 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
A big thank you to the many, many families who joined us for our Science Fair yesterday. It was fantastic to see so many parents and carers coming to see the children’s learning.
We were all impressed with the variety of experiments and learning taking place all through the school. It was wonderful to hear the children speaking so confidently about their learning and explaining so clearly what they were working on. Well done everyone!
Thank you to all of our staff who worked so hard to prepare for the event. We can’t wait for next year!
News this week
On Monday, our older classes visited the Lighthouse Cinema as part of the Dublin International Film Festival. 5th and 6th met the famous children’s author Jacqueline Wilson before seeing the 1952 film ‘Mandy’. 3rd Class saw a Spanish film called ‘Zip and Zap and the Captain’s Island’ while 4th Class saw ‘Kai’. Our reviewers report that all three films were fantastic!
Dates for your diary
Sunday, 19th Feb. – Family Mass at 11.45 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Church, Berkeley Road
23/24 February – Mid-Term Break
13-16 – Seachtain na Gaeilge
15 March – Céilí Mór
16 March – International Day
17 March – St. Patrick’s Day – School Closed
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to both Miss Calvey’s 1st and 2nd Class with 99.3% attendance this week! 5th Class were just pipped at the post with 99.1%!
Family Mass
Don’t forget – our Family Mass is on THIS Sunday, 19th February at St. Joseph’s Church, Berkeley Road. All are welcome and we look forward to seeing you there.
Mid-Term Break
We are open as normal on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week. We close for just two days (Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th February) for our mid-term break. School will re-open on Monday, 27th February.
FINAL REMINDER!
Enrolment for Junior Infants – Sept. 2017
We are currently accepting enrolment forms for Junior Infants in September 2017. We will have one class of 22 and have already received a large number of applications.
Children must be 4 years old by 30th April 2017 to be eligible for a place. Application forms must be completed and returned to the office by Tuesday, 28th February 2017.
Have a lovely weekend!
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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Read MoreNewsletter 10.2.17
Newsletter
10th February 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Peace Proms
Well done to our school choir who sang beautifully at the ‘Peace Proms’ at the RDS last Saturday night. The children sang with 2,300 children from around the country and the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland. It was a really exciting evening and the children performed at their very best. We are very proud of them! Thank you to the parents who came to support their children at the concert and to those who waited up very late for us to arrive home! Thanks also to Ms. O’Callaghan, Ms. Devereux and Mr. Carney who helped look after the children on the day.
News this week
On Thursday, the children in 3rd-6th Class had a lovely prayer service with Fr. Pat to celebrate spring and the beauty of creation.
Today, we all stopped what we were doing at 10 o’clock to take part in Operation Transformation’s ‘10@10’ – 10 minutes of physical activity and dance in our classrooms and the hall. Everyone loved it!
Safer Internet Day
Tuesday was ‘Safer Internet Day’. We talked about all of the information we can find on the internet, the games we play and the things we learn. We also talked about what might be unsafe about the internet like talking to strangers or clicking on a link we’re unsure of. We said if children are using the internet and see something unsafe or feel unsafe in anyway, they should ‘STOP’ what they are doing, ‘BLOCK’ a user or content they do not like and ‘TELL’ an adult. Please talk about this with your child at home and help them to be safe. You can find more information at www.webwise.ie
Dates for your diary
13th February – 3rd – 6th Classes to Lighthouse Cinema for International Film Festival
Thursday, 16th February – Science Fair
Sunday, 19th Feb. – Family Mass at 11.45 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Church, Berkeley Road
23/24 February – Mid-Term Break
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to both 3rd and 5th Class with 100% attendance this week!
And finally….
We send our very best wishes to Ms. McDevitt and her family as she begins her maternity leave today. We hope to share news of their new arrival very soon!
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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