Newsletter 24.11.17
Newsletter
24th November 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
REMINDER – Next Thursday, 30th November – school is closed so that teachers can attend a training day on the new Primary Language Curriculum.
News this week
On Tuesday, 5th and 6th Class were invited to visit Belvedere College. The students in Belvedere have developed a very exciting urban farm and were showing us all of the vegetables they are growing using hydroponic systems – it’s very exciting! We hope some of their top tips will help us with our new school garden.
Our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors were on the look-out for children being kind, especially by including others in their play. Lots of children were named in assembly today from each class but it was Isam from 4th Class who took our lovely bear home for the weekend – well done!
Parent Teacher Meetings
Thank you to the many parents and carers who attended our parent-teacher meetings this week. It was lovely to see so many happy and proud faces leaving the building. Our teachers were so pleased to share good news about the children’s learning with you and to hear your thoughts about how they are getting on. If you weren’t able to make it, please talk to your child’s class teacher and we will do our best to find a new time. Our door is always open. If you want to follow up on anything that was said at your meeting or have some more questions, please just ask, we’re happy to help.
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to 6th Class with top attendance of 98% this week.
Green Schools
Our Green Schools’ team have made a special online quiz all about recycling. They want as many families as possible to take part. You can find the quiz here:
https://goo.gl/forms/gUKzueJD5NnaSlqM2
If it looks a bit too long to type – go to our website or Twitter account @stmarysdorsetst and click on our quick link.
Ms. McBride’s 1st Class won our tidiest classroom award this week and our compost bin has never been busier! Well done to our Green Schools’ team for all their hard work. We hope to apply for our first Green Flag for Litter and Waste next week!
Time to Read Launch
We were delighted to host the launch of the ‘Time to Read’ programme with Business in the Community on Tuesday. We will have a group of volunteers coming to school once a week to read with eight lucky children in 2nd Class. The launch was attended by parents, carers, children and volunteers and we’re very excited to get started!
Incredible Years’ Parent Programme
Ms. Brophy and Ms. O’Callaghan have been away this week at a training course for the ‘Incredible Years’ Parent Programme’. We hope to run this course for parents and carers from January. We get lots of positive feedback from parents and carers who have taken part. Please talk to Síle, our Home-School teacher if you are interested.
Dates for your diary
30th November – School Closed for Staff Training in New Language Curriculum
3 December – Family Mass at 11.45 a.m.
17 December – Parish Carol Service at 3.00 p.m.
14 December – Senior Infants to Imaginosity
20 December – 1st and 2nd to the Ark
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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Newsletter 17.11.17
Newsletter
17th November 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
News this week
Monday was World Kindness Day and our children’s team of Anti-Bullying Ambassadors shared some ideas with children at assembly to help them show kindness. The children were encouraged to smile, wave and give high fives to their friends to be kind. The Anti-Bullying Ambassadors were taking note of these acts of kindness all week and one child from each class was chosen to go into the draw at assembly today to bring home our kindness bear. Saila from 1st Class was named as our kindest child this week – well done Saila!
Our Junior Infants were very brave on Tuesday when they had their vaccinations. They have their very own doctor’s surgery in their classroom this term, so they knew exactly what to expect!
Our 5th and 6th Class have been taking part in boxing sessions with our local boxing club and Dublin City Council’s Health and Wellbeing team. Some children have been selected for a special inter-school ‘Gold’ programme. We are very proud of them. Thank you to Mrs. Fay and Ms. Kilkenny who have been supporting the children each week.
Parent Teacher Meetings
We will be holding our annual, formal parent-teacher meetings next week. You should by now have received a date and time to meet with your child’s class teacher. It is a great opportunity to talk about how your child is getting on at school. Please do your very best to attend. If you are unable to attend at the time you have been given, please let your child’s teacher know well in advance so they are not left waiting for you. We will do our very best to accommodate everyone.
Project with DCU Institute of Education
Over the last few weeks, we have been working with student teachers from DCU Institute of Education who have visited classrooms across the school to support reading. 5th and 6th Class have done paired reading with Senior Infants, while other classes read poetry and take part in reader’s theatre. Our visiting teachers have been so impressed with the children’s engagement and commented especially on their manners and good behaviour – well done children!
DESSA – Empowering Parents’ Programme
We are delighted to be hosting the ‘Empowering Parents’ Programme’ run by a group called DESSA, who work with families with children with special educational needs. The course helps parents to find out more about the supports available for the children. It is funded by ABC Grangegorman and the first three weeks are taking place in Presentation Primary, Georges’ Hill. The final three weeks will take place in our school. If you are interested in taking part, please talk to Síle, our Home-School Community Liaison teacher.
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to Ms. Marron’s Senior Infant Class who have 100% attendance this week.
6th Class and Ms. Collins’s 2nd Class weren’t far behind with 99% – well done to all!
Dates for your diary
21/22 November – Parent-Teacher Meetings
21st November – Time to Read Launch
21st Nov – 5th/6th to Belvedere Urban Farm
30th November – School Closed for Staff Training in New Language Curriculum
14 December – Senior Infants to Imaginosity
20 December – 1st and 2nd to the Ark
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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Newsletter 10.11.17
Newsletter
10th November 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
I hope you all had a lovely mid-term break. It’s been lovely to see the children back at school. Don’t forget you can keep up with all our news by looking at our Twitter account: @stmarysdorsetst.
News this week
It’s been a busy week with lots of teachers out at training events. Ms. Brophy has been learning all about the Maths Recovery programme for 1st Class, while Ms. O’Donovan and Ms. Marron have been training in the ‘Incredible Years Classroom DINA programme’ for Senior Infants. This is funded through the ABC Grangegorman.
We were delighted to start two new clubs this week. A girls’ football club run by Dublin City Council’s Health and Wellbeing team and a cooking and gardening run by Marina, one of our volunteers who is linked with Jamie Oliver’s ‘Food Revolution’.
Class Photographs
The Parents’ Association have received lots of interest in the class calendars. Thank you to the families who have paid. The photographs will be taken on Monday or Tuesday next week. Look out for a text reminder for your child to wear their full school uniform on that day.
First Communion – Enrolment Ceremony
The children making their First Holy Communion this year will have their special ‘Enrolment Ceremony’ at our Family Mass on Sunday at St. Joseph’s Church, Berkeley Road. The children will be leading the liturgy of the Mass. We hope to see lots of families there.
Green Schools Action Day
Thanks to our Green Schools team, our teachers and all the children for a fantastic Green Schools Action Day in October. Lots of parents/carers came along to support us and I think we all learned a lot about how to look after our environment and how to reduce, reuse and recycle in our school and in our homes.
Sponsored Disco
I am delighted to inform you that we raised €1,010 at our annual sponsored disco in October. Our thanks to all our generous sponsors. The children did a great job, dancing ‘til they dropped at the disco!
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to 6th Class who have 100% attendance this week.
We are still seeing lots of children arriving after 8.50 a.m. in the morning. Please make every effort to ensure your child is in school on time each morning.
Dates for your diary
14th November – Junior Infant Vaccinations
Week of 20th November – Parent-Teacher Meetings
21st November – Time to Read Launch
21st November – 5th/6th Class to Belvedere Urban Farm
30th November – School Closed for Staff Training in New Language Curriculum
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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Our Green Schools Action Day
Today, we celebrated our first Green Schools’ Action Day. We are working towards our first Green Flag for Litter and Waste. Each class displayed their learning from the last few weeks alongside a range of activities.
Earlier this morning, 6th Class were visited by the team from Thorntons Recycling, who talked to them all about where our rubbish goes, once they’ve collected it from us!
In 2nd Class, there was a visit from Recreate Ireland, who helped to design and make a home and habitat for our turtle Green Schools’ mascot, using recycled materials.
For homework this week, our families completed a special Green Schools quiz and told us how to say ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ in each of our home languages. Have a look!
In the afternoon, all of the children and families came together in the Hall to share their learning. The children spoke confidently about their projects and we were so proud of them. The newly-formed 1st and 2nd Class Choir sang some lovely songs about recycling and taking care of our world.
Thank you to our Green Schools team for organising the day!
1st Class visit Hugh Lane Gallery
1st Class visited the Hugh Lane Gallery today. The children looked at some self-portraits in the Gallery and then took part in a very exciting workshop to paint their own self-portraits.
Community Clean-Up
6th Class went out into our local community to do a clean-up after Storm Ophelia. We are working on our first Green Flag for Litter and Waste. As it’s Maths Week too, the children also collected information about the kinds of litter they collected and will display the information at our action day on Friday.
Here’s some great feedback from our Twitter followers!
Our 6th Class were out bright and early for a litter clean-up in our local community. Results of their litter survey will be on display at our @GreenSchoolsIre Action Day on Friday. pic.twitter.com/1lSh0uHSoU
— St. Mary's Primary (@stmarysdorsetst) October 18, 2017
Well done!! We're sure there was a lot to pick up after the storm. Great #climateactionweek activity 🙂 https://t.co/xUSGENmliV
— Green-Schools (@GreenSchoolsIre) October 18, 2017
Fantastic idea after #Ophelia and just in time for #ClimateActionWeek, well done @stmarysdorsetst! #ChangeMakers #GreenSchools https://t.co/ud1f2ro3Ft
— Climate Ambassador (@climate_ambass) October 18, 2017
A big thank you to @stmarysdorsetst 6th class on this brilliant work in our community https://t.co/l6NPYodm4S
— Jay Sher (@jardimdojay) October 18, 2017
Newsletter 13.10.17
Newsletter
13th October 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
News this week
Last Friday, 4th, 5th and 6th Class had a great time at their soccer workshops, organised by SARI (Schools Against Racism Ireland).
Thank you to the children in 5th and 6th Class and all the families who came to our Family Mass at St. Joseph’s Church last Sunday. The children led different parts of the Mass with real confidence – well done!
Junior Infants went on their first outing of the year to Blessington Street Basin on Thursday. Ms. Todd was so proud of them! Ms. Collins’s 2nd Class visited the sculpture exhibition at the Botanic Gardens on Tuesday. The children walked all the way there and back – well done!
Our Irish dance specialist teacher, Aedín, started working with us again this week. This term, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th Class will all learn Irish dances and after Christmas, the other classes will have their turn.
Green Schools Action Day – next Friday
We have teams of children and adults at school who have been working hard over the last two years to help us become a ‘Green School’. A Green School is a school that teaches children about looking after the environment. Successful schools are awarded a very special ‘Green Flag’ and we hope to apply for our first flag for the ‘Litter and Waste’ theme in December.
We have a children’s team who check we are all recycling properly, the adults have arranged for special compost bins to be installed in our new garden, and we are all learning to ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’.
Our Green Schools mascot is a very special turtle (we are still working on his name!) and he is looked after by our ‘Eco Class of the Week’ – the class who are the best at keeping their room clean, remembering to pick up litter, recycling paper and card and following our Green Schools’ Code. Well done to 6th Class, our winners this week.
To celebrate all of our hard work and learning so far, we will have a very special ‘Green Schools Action Day’ next Friday in the Hall from 1.00 – 2.30 p.m. Each class will display their learning and we will have lots of special activities for children and parents to meet. All families are very welcome to join us.
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to Ms. McBride’s 1st Class who have top attendance this week of 99%!
Dates for your diary
16th October – Maths Week
20th October – Green Schools Action Day
26th October – Meeting for parents/carers of 1st Holy Communion children at 9.00 a.m.
27th October – Meeting for parents/carers of Confirmation children at 9.00 a.m
27th October – Annual Sponsored Disco
27th October – School closes for Mid-Term Holiday
6th November – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
30th November – School Closed for Staff Training in New Language Curriculum
Let’s hope the sun stays out for the weekend!
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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Junior Infants visit to Blessington Basin
Our Junior Infants had a great day at Blessington Street Basin, on their first visit out of school!
Newsletter 6.10.17
Newsletter
6th October 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Book Fair
The Scholastic Book Fair is at our school this week. The children have all visited today to have a look at what is on offer. There is a beautiful selection of books for all ages. The fair will be open for parents/carers to buy books from Monday morning, just before school, and again, from 1.30 – 1.45 and 2.30 – 2.45 in the Parents’ Room. It will finish on Wednesday morning. Please come along. For every book bought by parents, the school receives a free book from Scholastic so, not only are you getting a beautiful book for your child, you are also helping the school!
Latest News
5th and 6th Class have completed a great boxing programme with ‘Boxing in the Community’ over the last few weeks. The children have listened really well and learned lots of new skills. The top boxers in the class will have the opportunity to attend some special boxing sessions in the club next week.
1st Class went for a lovely walk around Blessington Basin on Thursday. They were looking for ‘signs of autumn’ and spotted lots of trees with their leaves changing colour and we even heard some fairy doors were spotted!
Last week, Ms. Graham’s Class and Mrs. Fay’s Class visited the sculpture exhibition at the Botanic Gardens. This is a really lovely visit for families. If you are looking for something to do together this weekend – we recommend it!
Parents’ Association
Our next Parents’ Association meeting is on Monday, 9th October at 9.00 a.m. in the Parents’ Room and all are welcome. You don’t need an invite – just come along!
Attendance and punctuality
A great start to October’s attendance all across the school – 97%! Lots of classes were celebrated in assembly for their excellent attendance and we have THREE classes with top attendance of 99% – Ms. Sheridan’s 1st Class (again!), Ms. Collins’s 2nd Class (again!) and Ms. Conlon’s 4th Class. Well done children!
After-School Clubs
Our after-school clubs are now all up and running. Thank you to all parents and carers for your support in the first few sessions while we all work out who is going where and when! The children have access to some great opportunities and we thank all the adults who are sharing their talents and leading a club.
Dates for your diary
9th-11th October – Book Fair
16th October – Maths Week
27th October – Annual Sponsored Disco
27th October – School closes for Mid-Term Holiday
6th November – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
30th November – School Closed for Staff Training in New Language Curriculum
Have a lovely weekend,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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Newsletter 25.9.17
Newsletter
25th September 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Latest News
We had a great visit from Mark from ‘Skip n Rope’ recently. Mark is a skipping expert! He spent time with all classes from 1st – 6th Class on special workshops showing the children how to skip in lots of different ways. 5th Class visited the ‘Fighting Words’ writing workshop and wrote their very own story with a talented illustrator. We were honoured to welcome the First Secretary to the Japanese Ambassador, Mr. Yamada to school on Thursday. Mr. Yamada visited 6th Class who have been learning all about Japan over the last few weeks. He shared lots of information about his country with the children and even taught them some Japanese! What a great experience – thank you to Mr. Yamada for giving his time so generously and to Ms. Kilkenny for organising the visit.
Meet the Teacher
Thank you to the many parents/carers who have already joined us for our ‘Meet the Teacher’ meetings. It is a great opportunity to see your child’s new class, meet their teacher and find out what they will be learning this year. If you weren’t able to attend, please speak to your chld’s teacher and they will let you know what you missed.
European Week of Sport – Challenge
As part of the European Week of Sport, we are taking part in a special challenge ‘Run Around Europe’. Every Tuesday and Thursday, the children go on a 2km walk/run in the morning. If over 200 children run each time, we can cover up to 400km. We will be adding up these kilometres to see how many European cities we can run to. Good luck everyone!
Parents’ Association
Our Parents’ Association have already held their first meeting of the year. They are keen to ensure that all parents/carers are represented and are particularly looking for parents from our new Junior Infant class to join them. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, 9th October at 9.00 a.m. and all are welcome. If you’d like to get involved, talk to Sile our Home School teacher
Attendance and punctuality
We had a great week of attendance last week and two classes shared the honour of winning our trophy, both with 100% attendance. Well done to Ms. Sheridan’s 1st Class and Ms. Collins’s 2nd Class, excellent work!
| PLEASE NOTE:
We want to give you plenty of notice that the school will be closed on Thursday, 30th NOVEMBER 2017. This is to allow staff to attend a training day on the new primary language curriculum. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. |
Dates for your diary
4th-11th October – Book Fair
16th October – Maths Week
27th October – School closes for Mid-Term Holiday
6th November – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
30th November – School Closed for Staff Training in New Language Curriculum
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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