Newsletter 9.6.17
Newsletter
9th June 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
Active Schools
I am thrilled to let you know that we had a final accreditation visit from the Active School Flag team this week and as a result of our hard work to increase children’s physical activity, we have been awarded the Active Flag! We hope to have the new flag flying very soon. Our thanks to Grainne O’Callaghan who coordinated the school’s efforts, ably supported by Derek Carney, Aoife Kilkenny, Katie Collins, our children’s Active Team and play leaders and the whole school and staff. We are so proud! We are one of only a few schools in Dublin to have this award recognition and it is a huge achievement.
We will be holding our annual Active Schools Week from 12th-16th June, next week and we have a whole range of exciting activities planned.
Each class will take part in activities each day so children are asked to wear their school tracksuit and runners/trainers every day.
We will be starting each day with a family activity. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday we will have ‘Wake and Shake’ in the morning before we start. All families – parents, carers, siblings, are invited to join in! On Tuesday and Thursday we will have our usual morning walk, ‘Slí na Sláinte’. This takes just 10 minutes, walking around Blessington Basin and again, all families are invited to join us for the walk this week. Please come along and get involved!
Children will have ‘active’ homework to encourage them to meet the target of 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
News this last week
On Wednesday, Ms. Calvey’s Class visited the ‘Little Museum of Dublin’ to learn all about our capital city. The children were really interested to hear lots of facts about Dublin. 3rd Class went to Trinity Sports Centre for an exciting day of activities, including rock climbing. They were very brave! Yesterday, Senior Infants visited Dublin Airport as part of their learning about the airport. They met with team members from Aer Lingus who were very generous with their time and gave the children the opportunity to try some real-life checking-in!
Today, 6th Class headed to Carlingford Adventure Centre in Louth for a day of outdoor and adventure activities. They were up early to leave at 8.00 a.m. and won’t be back til 6.30 p.m!
Doodle Den
On Thursday, our 15 Senior Infants who have been attending ‘Doodle Den’ an after-school literacy programme, graduated with flying colours! Thank you to the parents who came along to support and celebrate with them. Our thanks also to Katie Todd, Sorcha O’Donovan and Amy Healy who have worked so hard to support the children at Doodle Den this year. Doodle Den is funded by the ABC Programme and run through the School Completion Programme. We hope to continue with another group in September.
Parents’ Internet Safety Session
On Wednesday next week, 14th June, we have a special speaker coming to talk to us about keeping children safe on the internet. There is a session for parents and carers at 9.00 a.m. Online safety is a huge issue for families and schools and we encourage as many parents as possible to come along and hear some ideas for keeping your child safe.
After the parent session, our speaker will spend time with the children in 3rd – 6th Class, sharing top tips with them for keeping themselves safe too.
Parents’ Association
Thank you to the parents and carers who came to the training sessino with the National Parents’ Council today. If you weren’t able to make it, don’t worry! You can still be part our our new Parents’ Association to support the school, plan events and make sure the views of parents are represented in the school. Do let us know if you are interested in being involved.
Term Dates 2017-2018
The term dates for 2017-2018 have been published on our website. Please note the children will return to school on Thursday, 31st August 2017, a day earlier than usual. This will allow us to take a week’s mid-term holiday in May 2018.
Dates for your diary
12th-16th June – Active and Wellness Week
13th June – 5th Class to National Gallery
14th June – Internet Safety Talk for Parents
14th June – 1st Class to Natural History Museum
26th/27th June – Whole-School Performance
29th June – 6th Class Graduation
30th June – School closes at 12 noon
31st August – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
New Junior Infant class
We look forward to welcoming our new Junior Infant children to school on Wednesday next week for a visit. We are working with local pre-schools to plan several visits for the new children to help them get used to our school and be ready for big school in September.
End of Year Performance
You may have heard that we have begun preparations for our end of year show. 6th Class have written a fantastic script all about computer games! Every child in the school will take part in singing and dancing in the show which will take place on Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th June.
We will have three performances:
Monday, 26th at 1.00 p.m.
Tuesday, 27th at 1.00 p.m.
Tuesday, 27th at 6.00 p.m.
Please note the timings, especially for the evening performance. All children will need to be in school for these performances.
Tickets will be available shortly but please note due to space restrictions in the hall, the tickets will be limited.
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to Miss Brophy’s Senior Infants who have top attendance this week! Closely followed by 6th Class and 1st Class.
We are aware that some families have holidays planned in the coming weeks. If your child is going to be missing from school, please ensure you have communicated this to us in writing. A note in your child’s homework journal or a letter to the office is needed with the dates your child will be away.
Best wishes,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
1st/2nd Class Tour
Ms. Calvey’s 1st and 2nd Class visited the ‘Little Museum of Dublin’ today to learn all about our fantastic city! They listened carefully and asked lots of questions. Well done!
3rd Class Tour
3rd Class visited the Trinity Sports Centre for their school tour today. They completed lots of very exciting activities and were very brave!
Senior Infant Butterflies!
Our Senior Infants have been looking after some very special caterpillars over the last few weeks. The caterpillars had been eating and eating and finally entered into a chrysalis. Imagine the excitement when we came back after our holiday to find some beautiful butterflies!
The children took the ‘painted lady’ butterflies to Blessington Basin park and released them today.
Junior Infants Tour
Our Junior Infant classes visited Newgrange Farm this week as part of their learning about life on a farm. They had so much fun seeing all of the animals, riding on the tractor and even holding a baby chick! Have a look at the lovely photos below to see their day in action:
5th Class to SurfDock
5th Class had a super day at SurfDock today. They conquered their fears and took part in a whole range of water-based activities. Have a look at the photos of their day!
Term Dates 2017-2018
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Newsletter 26.5.17
Newsletter
26th May 2017
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
News this last week
Our Athletics team of 40 children had a brilliant day at Morton Stadium in Santry. The children were competing against children from schools all over Dublin and did so well! Congratulations to Simon from 3rd Class who won a bronze medal for the 100m sprint. It is our first ever time to win a medal at this event and we are so proud! What a great achievement!
4th Class had a super day at the ‘Squirrel Scramble’ in Kilruddery House yesterday. They did lots of very adventurous things like climbing in trees and zip-lining in the forest – well done!
Parents’ Association
Next week, Síle will be inviting parents and carers to beome involved in our new parents’ association. This is a group of interested parents and carers who come together regularly to support the school, plan events and make sure the views of parents are represented in the school. We have asked the National Parents’ Council (www.npc.ie) to come and give some training to any parent who is interested in being involved on Friday, 9th June. We would love to have an active group of parents/carers working with us – please come along!
Internet Safety Talk
With children using the internet more and more, making sure your child is safe and protected while they are online is very important. We have arranged for an expert in online safety to speak to all parents/carers on Wednesday, 14th June at 9.00 a.m. Look out for more information from Síle next week.
Term Dates 2017-2018
The term dates for 2017-2018 have been published on our website. Please note the children will return to school on Thursday, 31st August 2017, a day earlier than usual. This will allow us to take a week’s mid-term holiday in May 2018.
Dates for your diary
29th May – Junior Infants to Newgrange Farm
29th May – 5th Class to SurfDock
Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd, Monday 5th, Tuesday 6th June – School Closed for Mid-Term
7th June – 3rd Class to Trinity Sports
7th June – Ms. Calvey’s to Little Museum of Dublin
9th June – 2nd Class to Dollymount Strand Beach
9th June – 6th Class to Carlingford
9th June – Parents’ Association Training
12th-16th June – Active and Wellness Week
13th June – 5th Class to National Gallery
14th June – Internet Safety Talk for Parents
14th June – 1st Class to Natural History Museum
26th/27th June – Whole-School Performance
29th June – 6th Class Graduation
30th June – School closes at 12 noon
31st August – School re-opens at 8.50 a.m.
Attendance and punctuality
Well done to Ms. Calvey’s 1st and 2nd Class who have 100% attendance this week! They were very closely followed by Miss Collins’s 2nd Class and 5th Class on 99%. Well done everyone!
It would be great to see children arriving on time to school in the next few weeks. Punctuality is a really big issue for a large number of families who are arriving after 8.50 a.m. every single day. This disrupts your child’s learning as they are arriving into class after everyone else has started. Please make every effort to be on time and thank you to the families who are eagerly awaiting the opening of the gate every day at 8.40 a.m.
Have a lovely weekend,
Éadaoin Kelly
Principal
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4th Class Tour
4th Class visited ‘Squirrel Scramble’ at Kilruddery House for their school tour. They had a great day swinging in the trees and were very brave through all the different challenges.
Athletics Competition
Our team of 40 athletes went to Morton Stadium in Santry for the annual Athletics event organised by Cumann na mBunscol. We were so proud of Simon, who won our first medal ever at the event for the 100m sprint!
