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We have been enjoying our weekly Praise assemblies from the comfort of our couches over the last few months. But nonetheless, every week on Friday, we took some time, as we always do, to share all the good news from our school community.

Today, was our last day of term and so we had a very special Praise assembly – LIVE on Google Meet. Children and families from across the school came together with our staff to celebrate our achievements this year. We watched our Yellow Flag be raised and said our final thanks and goodbyes to 6th Class.

Then we watched a video of our 2019-2020 highlights – take a look!

Earlier this academic year, we were awarded the Yellow Flag for our work on inclusion and diversity.

This video explains what makes us a Yellow Flag school.

Ms. Nolan, who led our Yellow Flag team, and Ms. Kelly, our Principal, proudly raised our Yellow Flag in June 2020 and shared the video with all our children at our final whole-school assembly of the year – live on Google Meet! We are so proud of this great achievement for our school.

We didn’t have a chance to say goodbye in person to 6th Class, so the rest of the children decided to surprise them with a very special song for their graduation. Filmed on phones and devices from bedrooms and living rooms all over Dublin – we are so proud of the song they sing.

We had a wonderful online graduation with 6th Class and their families this afternoon. The children designed beautiful graduation caps, dressed up, had balloons and posters and all the staff joined them to celebrate. Here’s a snippet of our trip down memory lane…

This group have been outstanding leaders in our school. They have led our Green Schools team, led inclusion and diversity in our Yellow Flag team, been Play Leaders for Active Schools, been Young Interpreters, Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, Friendship Keepers and more!

They are scientists, geographers, historians, mathematicians, singers, dancers, musicians, explorers, team players, creators, inventors – talents that we know they will continue to develop in the years ahead. We are so proud #Classof2020 – go forth – be great!

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.

Newsletter

14^th February 2020

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. 6^th Class showed our partners how to use the ‘Pic Collage’ app to make a poster about the Global Goals. 5^th Class made podcasts with a partner about their lives. 3^rd and 4^th 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, 28^th 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 6^th 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 4^th/5^th and 5^th 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 1^st February, the children in 3^rd 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 2^nd 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 5^th and 6^th 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, 16^th February. The children making their Communion from 2^nd 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, 26^th February at 9am

Dates for your diary

Sunday, 16^th February  – Family Mass

Wednesday, 19^th February – school finishing at 12 noon due to staff training for new language curriculum

20 and 21 February –

Mid-Term Break – School Closed

26^th February – Stay Safe Meeting for Parents/Carers

27^th February – Book Fair arriving

2^nd March – 6^th Class to Science Blast at RDS

5^th March – World Book Day

13^th March – Confirmation – 5^th and 6^th Class

16, 17, 18 March –

St. Patrick’s Day Holiday – School Closed

3^rd April – Easter Holidays – finish at 12 noon

20^th 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^th 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 4^th 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 5^th 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, 28^th 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

21^st January – Launch of ‘Time to Read’ programme with Ms. Yeates’s 2^nd Class

27-31 January – Erasmus Partners Visiting School

28^th January – International Food Fair at 1.00 p.m.

29^th January – Irish dancing céilí at 1.00 p.m.

Saturday 1^st February – Peace Proms – 3^rd Class

Sunday 2^nd February – Family Mass

12^th February – Confirmation Ceremony of Light

Sunday, 16^th February  – Family Mass

20 and 21 February –

Mid-Term Break – School Closed

26^th February – Book Fair arriving

13^th March – Confirmation – 5^th and 6^th Class

16, 17, 18 March –

St. Patrick’s Day Holiday – School Closed

3^rd April – Easter Holidays – finish at 12 noon

20^th 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^th 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, 20^th December – School closes at 12 noon

Monday, 6^th 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