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We said our final goodbyes to 6^th Class at a special Graduation ceremony today. The children read us their memories of their time at primary school and sang for us. We read a special poem written by their teacher Ms. Graham and presented special certificates.

They have been a wonderful group to work with and great role models for our younger children.

We wish them all the very best as they move on to secondary school. Make sure you all come back to visit us!

Here are some photos we shared today of their time with us at St. Mary’s:

We had a super Sports Day today. The children were mixed together with older children supporting younger children. We had a three-legged race, sack race, potato and spoon race, welly throwing and lots more at Kings’ Inns. Back at school, there was an obstacle course, water relays and a range of games for children to take part in. They had a wonderful day!

Newsletter

17^th June 2016

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

Staffing for Next Year

We have been working over the last few weeks to prepare our staffing for next year.

There are a few changes I’d like to make you aware of. Mr. Carney and Ms. Conlon will return to us following their career breaks. Ms. McDevitt also returns to us after a year teaching in Cavan. We are delighted to have them back with us. We will also welcome Anna Bourke, a new class teacher and from September, Ms. Devereux and Ms. Shortall will be job-sharing in a support role.

Ms. Griffin, who has been on maternity leave, will be moving school in September to job-share with another teacher and be closer to her young family. I know you will be sorry to hear this news as Ms. Griffin has been at St. Mary’s for a long time. We send her and her family our very best wishes and thank her for her dedication and commitment to our school, and Plás Mhuire, over her years here. Ms. Roche will also be away on maternity leave from September and we wish her all the best and look forward to seeing her back with us in 2017.

Below are the class teachers and support teachers for next year:

• Miss McDonnell’s Junior Infants will move to Senior Infants with Miss McDevitt.
• Miss Brophy’s Junior Infants will move to Senior Infants with….Miss Brophy again!
• Miss Haren’s Senior Infants will move to 1^st Class with Miss Dolan.
• Miss Todd’s Senior Infants and 1^st Class will move to 1^st/2^nd Class with Miss Calvey.
• Miss Palmer’s 1^st Class will move to 2^nd Class with Miss Collins.
• Miss Oppermann’s 2^nd Class will move to 3^rd with our new teacher, Miss Bourke.
• Collins’s 3^rd Class will move to 4^th Class with Miss Kilkenny.
• Miss Kilkenny’s 4^th Class will move to 5^th Class with Miss King.
• Kerr’s 5^th Class will move to 6^th Class with Miss Graham.

Ms. O’Callaghan, Mr. Kerr, Ms. Devereux, Ms. Shortall, Mr. Carney, Ms. Oppermann, Ms. Palmer, Ms. Glynn, Ms. Conlon and Ms. Haren will make up our super support team!

I’m sure you’ll agree, the children are in very safe hands. Over the next couple of weeks, the children will have a chance to meet their new teacher and see their new classroom and the teachers will be meeting to discuss the children’s learning needs so that we are ready for September.

News this week (and last week!)

Last week, 3^rd Class had a wonderful day at Dollymount Strand for their tour.

We had our final celebration for our 2^nd Class children in the Time to Read programme. We were very proud of them all and they earned lovely certificates and lots of praise from their volunteers.

This week, Senior Infants and 1^st Class had a great day at Dublin Zoo. They saw lots of animals and despite the rain, really enjoyed themselves. They were also complimented on their wonderful behaviour by some visitors from Armagh! Well done Senior Infants and 1^st Class.

As always, the photos from these events are on our Twitter page @stmarysdorsetst or on the school website – www.stmarysprimaryschool.ie . You’ll also find copies of our newsletters and lots more information that you can translate into your home language.

International Day

What a fantastic event we had last week for International Day. The march from the Garden of Remembrance with the piper and colour party was very exciting and the ceremony to unveil our special plaque was very special. Thank you to Mr. Kerr who organised it all and the children who spoke, sang and danced.

The International Day food event was also a real treat – thank you to the many, many families who brought a dish to share. There was such a wonderful variety of food. We are very grateful for your support and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Active Schools Week

This week was active week. Every morning we started with ‘Wake and Shake’ which was a great way to get us all moving and energised! Each day, the children completed different activities led by members of staff – gymnastics with Miss Kilkenny on Monday, orienteering with Ms. O’Callaghan on Tuesday, games with Miss King on Thursday and dance with Miss Collins today.

Our thanks to Miss O’Callaghan for coordinating such a great week. We have a special visit on Monday to see if we will be awarded the ‘Active Flag’ for all of our work – fingers crossed!

Performances – Wednesday 22^nd June

Our annual school performance ‘Never judge a book by its cover’ will take place on Wednesday, 22^nd June. The performance is written by our 6^th class children and every class is involved. As our school is so large, we will have TWO performances. One at 1.00 p.m. and another at 6.00 p.m. ALL children in the school will perform in both shows. Adults will be able to buy tickets for one performance – either afternoon or evening. Unfortunately, we do not have enough space to accommodate more than two tickets per family.

Summer Camps

We still have places for older children on our summer camp from 4^th-8^th July. Please let us know if you’d like your child to attend. The places are FREE!

School Reports

Today, your child will be bringing home their school report. Please contact us next week if you would like to discuss any part of it.

Dates for your diary

22^nd June – School Performance

30^th June – School finishes at 12 noon

1^st September – Children return to school

Have a lovely weekend!

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal

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Newsletter

3^rd June 2016

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

What a beautiful week! The sun has been shining and we have had lots of opportunities to get outside and enjoy it with many visits going on all round the city.

News this week

On Wednesday, our First Communion children came in and showed us their beautiful outfits! They looked wonderful and were excellent ambassadors for our school at their special ceremony on Sunday. We also celebrated our choir’s beautiful singing – well done everyone!

Also on Wednesday, our staff had a first introduction to the new Primary Language Curriculum. There will be more training over the coming months so that we are ready to begin implementing the new curriculum in 2017.

1^st and 2^nd Class visited the new 1916 exhibition at the GPO today, followed by a visit to the Natural History Museum and the park at Merrion Square.

5^th Class had a fantastic day at Surfdock today – kayaking and watersports galore!

4^th Class visited the ‘Bloom’ garden festival in the Phoenix Park today. They had a special visit to the ‘Agri Aware’ stand who kindly sponsored their tickets to the event.

As always, the photos from these events are on our Twitter page @stmarysdorsetst or on the school website – www.stmarysprimaryschool.ie . You’ll also find copies of our newsletters and lots more information that you can translate into your home language.

Sun Watch

The weather has been wonderful over the last few days and hopefully will continue to be! As it is so warm, the children are allowed to wear grey or navy shorts with their uniform or tracksuit if you wish.

Please also remember to ensure your child is wearing sunscreen when they come to school each day. We cannot apply it for them and children should not have sunscreen in their bags. They should have plenty of cover for their time at school if you have applied sunscreen in the morning. Thanks.

Money Matters

You will have received a text/email with a link for online payments for tracksuits and books for next year. You can also pay in cash to your child’s class teacher.

If you are paying online for tracksuits, please make sure you also send in the order form with the size you need. Liz will be placing the tracksuit order at the end of next week, so please ensure you have put your order in before then.

If you need support with payments, please talk to Claire Shortall, our Home-School Liaison teacher who will let you know of organisations who provide financial support.

Summer Camps

We are running two free summer camps in the first week of July. These camps are funded by the Department of Education. If you are interested in your child attending, please return the forms sent out this week as soon as possible. We must have 36 children attending each camp for it to go ahead.

Community Events

This weekend, the Dublin Port River Fest takes place at North Wall Quay – there will be lots of activities for children and families and the sun will be shining!

Next weekend, there is a ‘Games of 1916’ event at Collins Barracks for families in the community. Both events are free to attend and promise to be lots of fun!

Attendance and Punctuality

Well done to 5^th Class, the winners of our attendance cup this week with 99.2%! Well done also to 3^rd Class who were very close behind on 98.3%.

Dates for your diary

6^th June – Bank Holiday – school closed

8^th June – 3^rd Class to Dollymount Strand

10^th June – International Day

Week of 13^th June – Active Schools Week

13^th June – Senior Infants to Dublin Zoo

15^th June – Sports Day

17^th June – 6^th Class to Carlingford

30^th June – School finishes at 12 noon

1^st September – Children return to school

Enjoy the long weekend and the sunshine!

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal

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4th Class had a beautiful day to visit ‘Squirrel Scramble’ at Kilruddery House, Bray, Co. Wicklow.

The children had the chance to do lots of exciting activities on the high ropes course – zip wires and all! They were very brave!

The school will close at 12 noon on Wednesday 1st June for staff training. Our teachers will be taking a first look at the new Language Curriculum that is being introduced to all schools in Ireland over the coming years. The Language Curriculum will cover children’s learning in both English and Gaeilge (Irish language).

Over the coming months, teachers will have several training sessions from the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) team so that they are ready to implement the new curriculum. We will be sharing information about this new curriculum with parents and carers in school over the next year or two.

If you’d like to find out more about the Language Curriculum, here is a leaflet for parents/carers which explains the key changes in this new curriculum.

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3^rd and 4^th Class visited the National Concert Hall today for a ‘Music and Science’ workshop. The workshop was provided by the Music and Science Departments in Trinity College and the children had a fantastic time exploring sound in a very special venue.