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Newsletter 22.5.19

Newsletter

22^nd May 2019

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

REMINDER: We are closed on Friday, 24th May as the school is being used as a polling station. We will be open again on Monday, 27th May.

Anti-Bullying Week

The highlight of last week’s Anti-Bullying week was our assembly on Friday where each class shared a special rap they had written during the week. Each class performed their rap together and we were amazed with the quality of the performances. Well done to everyone, our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and Diveristy Team, and thank you to the teachers who led the learning, especially Ms. Kilkenny and Ms. Nolan.

News last week and this week

Last Wednesday, 6^th Class represented our school at ‘Feis Átha Cliath’ an Irish dancing competition. The children practised very hard and showcased their dancing beautifully. Thanks as always to our Irish dancing teacher, Aedin.

Well done to the children in Ms. McBride’s 1^st Class who took part in a workshop with authors and illustrators Aga Grandowicz and Rob Maguire and featured on RTE’s News2Day.

Thank you to all the parents/carers who joined our Junior Infants for their visit to Airfield Farm last Thursday – it looked like a wonderful day!

5^th and 6^th Class were thrilled to meet author RJ Palacio who wrote the book ‘Wonder’ as part of the Dublin International Literacy Festival on Monday. She was very impressed with our budding writers and their excellent questions.

Athletics Success

Our athletics team took part in two days of events at Morton Stadium, Santry this week. The children trained hard and everyone gave it their all. Well done to Isaac in 6^th Class who won a silver medal in the high jump, Nicola in 6^th Class who won a silver medal in the long jump, Laura in 6^th Class who won a bronze medal in the hurdles and Simon in 5^th Class who won a silver medal in the U11 sprint. A super result! Thank you to Ms. Lougheed and Mr. Carney who prepared the children for the events.

Assessment Tests

Over the coming days, the children in 1^st to 6^th Class will be sitting our annual standardised tests. Remember – these are a snapshot of what the children can do. We take lots of different kinds of information about children’s learning into account when we assess them. You can help at home by making sure they get lots of sleep and come to school on time each day. We want the children to be relaxed and confident. We talk to them at school about taking the opportunity to show us all they know and remind them that they can only do their best. This is a helpful message for you to give them at home too. We will share the results with you in the end of year reports in June.

Attendance and punctuality

Attendance could do with a big boost over the  next two weeks. Well done to Ms. McBride’s 1^st Class for top attendance last week of 98.8%.

Dates for your diary

23 May – 6^th Class to ‘Magic Flute’ opera

24 May – School Closed for Polling Day

Saturday 25 May – National Children’s Choir

27 May – 4^th Class to Garda Sports Day

30, 31 May and 3 June – June Bank Holiday

7June – 6^th Class to Carlingford

11 June – 3^rd Class to Howth

13 June – 1^st Class to Dublin Zoo

14 June – Senior Infants to Dublin Airport

17 June – 2^nd Class to Bray Aquarium

18 June – 5^th Class to Harbour Splash

19 June – 3^rd/4^th  and 4^th Class to Bray

28 June – School finishes at 12 noon

29 August – School re-starts for new term

Best wishes,

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal

Feis Átha Cliath 2019

Our 6th Class children performed at Feis Átha Cliath today, showcasing their hard work in their Irish dancing classes this year. Well done to all!

Newsletter 13.5.19

Newsletter

13^th May 2019

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

Anti-Bullying Week

This week, our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors are working with our Diversity Team for a special Anti-Bullying Week. Our focus in on racism and discrimination.

In our assembly this morning, we learned that ‘ethnicity’ is what makes you – you! It includes your nationality, your family’s culture and religion.

We also learned that ‘discrimination’ is when a person, or a group of people, are treated unfairly because of things like their gender, age, individual needs or ethnicity.

We learned that ‘racism’ is discrimination because of someone’s ethnicity and we learned that racism and discrimination of any kind, are types of bullying.

We talked about how at our school, we are lucky to have so many people of many different ethnicities and that we all know that even though we might be different, we can all be friends and care for one another.

We discussed what we can do if someone is being bullied – we can say no, we can walk away and we can tell an adult. We talked about how if we hear or see bullying or racist language, it is very serious and we must be ‘upstanders’ – to stand up and say that it is wrong and to always tell an adult.

These are very important messages for children and we hope you can talk about them at home too and continue to remind and support the children with these issues.

News from last week

We were delighted to welcome a group of teachers visiting from the Czech Republic. They were excited to see the children learning and to find out more about Irish schools. Our Student Council led a special presentation to the Laura Lynn charity on Thursday, presenting a cheque for the money raised from their Sponsored Disco – well done!

First Holy Communion

Congratulations to the children in 2^nd Class who made their First Holy Communion on Sunday. The children worked hard to prepare for this special ceremony and we were very proud of them. Thanks to Ms. Yeates, Ms. McCaughey and Dolores for preparing the children and to Síle, Audrey, Liz and Ms. Brophy for supporting the children on the day. Thanks also to the children who sang so beautifully in the choir and to all the parents, carers and families who joined us for the day.

Attendance and punctuality

Well done to Ms. McCaughey’s 2^nd Class for best attendance for the 2^nd week running – 100%!

Dates for your diary

15 May – 6^th Class to Feis Átha Cliath

16 May – Junior Infants to Airfield Farm

23 May – 6^th Class to ‘Magic Flute’ opera

24 May – School Closed for Polling Day

Saturday 25 May – National Children’s Choir performance in National Concert Hall

27 May – 4^th Class to Garda Sports Day

30, 31 May and 3 June – June Bank Holiday

28 June – School finishes at 12 noon

29 August – School re-starts for new term

…and finally…

If you have any spare uniforms at home that you no longer need and could be donated, Síle would be delighted to have them.

Best wishes,

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal

Newsletter 3.5.19

Newsletter

3^rd May 2019

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

I hope you had a lovely holiday. The children have returned with lots of enthusiasm and energy for the busy term ahead.

News this week

On Monday, 5^th Class were invited to 14 Henrietta Street to try out some of the new activities they have designed for schools. The team at Henrietta Street were so impressed with 5^th Class on their visit in September that they invited them back to ask their feedback.

Senior Infants and 1^st Class have started some yoga sessions with Nicole Polletti while all the classes in 3^rd – 6^th Class had a rugby taster session with Stephen Maher on Tuesday.

We were delighted to meet the parents/carers of our new Junior Infant children for September 2019 – it’s hard to believe that time of year is coming again so soon!

Safety in the morning time

A reminder to all parents/carers that the school can only take responsibility for children at 8.40 a.m. when the school gates open. Children should not arrive before this time. If your child is waiting outside the gate, they must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

A number of children have been arriving up to 40 minutes before school starts. This is not safe. We are in the middle of the city centre and there are always strangers and unknown adults walking by. All parents and carers should remind children of the rules they have learned in the Stay Safe Programme – ‘say no, get away and tell’.

Student Council Disco

Congratulations to our fantastic Student Council team who organised a disco in aid of Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice before Easter. We are delighted to let you know that the children raised €456.33 – thank you to all the families who donated money for this fantastic cause. We look forward to presenting our donation to the charity next week.

Attendance and punctuality

We were very disappointed with attendance this week with just one class meeting our target of 95%. We need to work hard in the coming weeks to improve and make sure every child is in school every day. Well done to Ms. McCaughey’s 2^nd Class for the best attendance.

Dates for your diary

6 May – Bank Holiday – school closed

Sunday 12 May – First Communion

Week of 13 May – Anti-Bullying Week

15 May – 6^th Class to Feis Átha Cliath

16 May – Junior Infants to Airfield Farm

23 May – 6^th Class to ‘Magic Flute’ opera

24 May – School Closed for Polling Day

Saturday 25 May – National Children’s Choir performance in National Concert Hall

27 May – 4^th Class to Garda Sports Day

30, 31 May and 3 June – June Bank Holiday

28 June – School finishes at 12 noon

29 August – School re-starts for new term

…and finally…

Don’t forget we are closed on Monday for the bank holiday. We will see you all first thing on Tuesday.

Best wishes,

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal

Newsletter 11.4.19

Newsletter

11^th April 2019

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

Science Fairs

We’ve had a Science-filled week at St. Mary’s with our annual Science Fairs happening across the school. This is an opportunity for us to share with parents/carers just a very small taster of the science learning the children do at school each week. It was wonderful to see so many families coming to support the children with their investigations, experiments and challenges. I was so impressed listening to the children explaining their learning so clearly to adults and then adjusting their explanations for smaller children. We saw experiments in buoyancy, magnetism, electricity and chemical reactions. We learned about the children’s investigations into our DNA, the viscosity of liquids and what plants need to grow. We saw lots of demonstrations and tried out challenges involving slime, taste tests, the sugar content in our food and so much more!

Our thanks as always to our superb team of creative teachers who enable our children to be such confident and capable scientists – not just this week, but every week.

News from this week

Yesterday, 4^th Class visited the Natural History Museum, while 3^rd/4^th Class had their second visit to Larkin Community College for circus skills workshops and rock climbing! We’ve had several teams attending soccer blitzes run by FAI and Fun Direction. Thank you to Mr. Carney and Mr. Kerr for leading our teams! Our Catholic children attended a special penitential service for Lent, as we prepare for Easter. And thank you to the parents/carers who came to our workshop and introduction to the ‘Yellow Flag’ programme this morning.

Student Council Disco

Reminder – the children in our School Council are organising a disco in the Hall, tomorrow, Friday 12^th April to raise money for Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice. We’re asking children to bring a small donation with them– please give as much as you can.

Attendance and punctuality

Well done to Ms. Graham’s 3^rd/4^th Class with 99.1% attendance last week.

Polling Station

We have been asked by Dublin City Council to become a polling station for upcoming elections. This means, that on days when the Government schedules an election – local, national or European, our school hall will be used for the local community to vote.

Unfortunately, for health and safety reasons, this means the school must close to children and teachers for that day. The European elections are scheduled for Friday, 24^th May and so, with apologies for the shorter notice, I must let you know that the school will be closed on that day. Thank you for your understanding.

Dates for your diary

12 April – School closes for Holidays at 12 noon

29 April – School re-opens for summer term

6 May – Bank Holiday

24 May – School Closed for Polling Day

30, 31 May and 3 June – June Bank Holiday

…and finally…

We are closing tomorrow at 12 noon for the Easter holidays. We will be closed for two weeks and re-open on Monday, 29^th April at the usual time of 8.50 a.m. Our staff team wish all our families a very happy holiday!

Best wishes,

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal

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Newsletter 4.4.19

Newsletter

4^th April 2019

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

National Children’s Choir

We are so proud of 5^th and 6^th Class’s performance with the National Children’s Choir last Tuesday night. They sang with children from five other primary schools and an orchestra and made a really beautiful sound. The children have been learning the 15 songs since September and have worked very hard to perfect the difficult but lovely harmonies. They sang songs in English, Irish, Swahili, Latin and Hebrew! It has been a big challenge and we were delighted to see the children enjoy their performance so much.

Thank you to all the families who came along to support the children on the night – it was a very special evening! Thanks to Ms. Staunton and Mr. McGuire who have worked so hard with the children to learn the music and all those words! And thanks to Ms. Kilkenny, Mr. Kerr and Ms. Brophy who supported the children at the concert.

News from last week

Our local Community Garda team came to speak to 4^th, 5^th and 6^th Class about cyber-bullying last week. The interactions children have online is an increasingly worrying issue and I would remind all parents/carers to be very, very careful about the games your child has access to and to check regularly who they are speaking to and the content they are using.

5^th and 6^th Class visited the Ark on Friday to watch a theatre performance ‘Peat’.

3^rd/4^th Class visited Larkin Community College yesterday to take part in a circus skills workshop and rock-climbing activity.

A group of boys represented our school at the FAI Schools soccer blitz on Tuesday.

Student Council Disco

The children in our School Council are organising a disco in the Hall on Friday 12^th April to raise money for Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice. We’re asking children to bring a small donation with them on the day – please give as much as you can. The Laura Lynn charity provides free care and support for children with life limiting conditions and their families. You can find more information about them at www.lauralynn.ie

Attendance and punctuality

Well done to Ms. O’Hare’s 1^st Class with 100% attendance last week. The competition is fierce this week with lots of classes vying for the top spot – it’s great to see!

Dates for your diary

4 April – Science Fair for 4^th-6^th Class at 1.00

10 April – 4^th Class to Natural History Museum

10 April – Science Fair for Sen. Infants – 3^rd Class

10 April – Author visit to Doodle Den, families invited to come in at 1.30

11 April – Yellow Flag information morning for parents/carers at 9.00 with Síle and Ms. Nolan

12 April – Student Council Disco

12 April – School closes for Holidays at 12 noon

29 April – School re-opens for summer term

…and finally…

We are currently finalising the term dates for 2019-2020. At this stage, I can confirm to you that we will be starting back to school on Thursday, 29^th August 2019 for the new school year. I know lots of families will soon be booking summer flights – so please ensure you are back in time to start the new year.

Best wishes,

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal

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Newsletter 20.3.19

Newsletter

20^th March 2019

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

International Food Festival

A huge thank you to all of the families who joined us for our International Food Festival last Tuesday. What an afternoon it was! We had food from over twenty different countries. We all really enjoyed tasting so many dishes from all over the world. Thank you also to the children and families who dressed in their traditional clothes and came to help serve food. We are so proud of our diverse community, it was wonderful to see everyone coming together to spend time with one another and enjoy a great afternoon.

Our thanks to our Diversity team, especially Ms. Nolan, Ms. Brophy and Síle who helped put the event together. We hope to have another event in the summer term to share all the learning the children have been doing about different cultures and countries across the world this year as part of our ‘Yellow Flag’ programme.

Visit to Department of Education

Our Young Interpreters group were delighted to be invited to the Department of Education last week to speak to the staff there as part of their ‘Innovation Week’. The children spoke to staff via video link in four different locations in Ireland to explain what being a Young Interpreter is all about and how proud they are of their role. The staff in the Department of Education were very impressed with how well the children spoke and are hoping that other schools will think about starting a Young Interpreters programme at their school! Well done to Naomi, Izabela, Rebeca, Nicola, Mileny, Miranda, Jakub, Luca, Vildrenn and Sohan. Our thanks to Ms. Nolan for preparing the children so well.

Science Blast

5^th and 6^th Class represented our school at ‘Science Blast’, an exhibition of science learning in the RDS on 6^th March. The children spent many weeks preparing their two outstanding projects. 5^th Class learned all about DNA while 6^th Class learned about the viscosity of different liquids. The children had to explain their projects to lots of different people and they spoke clearly and articulately about their work. We were very proud of them! Thank you to Ms. Staunton and Mr. McGuire for their hard work too and to Mr. Kerr for coordinating.

Seachtain na Gaeilge

We had great fun at our ‘Céilí Mór’ last Wednesday and I hope you’ve been hearing lots of Gaeilge at home too. Bhí lá álainn againn. Thank you to Aedín our Irish dance teacher who has taught the children so well. It is wonderful to see them dancing together and particularly, to see the older children being so kind to the younger children and showing them what to do.

News from last week

It was World Book Day on 7^th March. Ms. McCaughey’s 2^nd Class were invited to KPMG for a special World Book Day event. They read a lovely story ‘All Are Welcome’ with volunteers from KPMG, did a giant doodle with illustrator Niamh Sharkey and brought a copy of the book home – lucky children!

We also welcomed a very famous children’s author, David Almond, to 6^th Class for a special workshop on Friday, 8^th March. The children were excited to share their ideas and David had lots of hints and tips for the children about how to be a successful author.

All throughout last week, classes have been visiting Chapters book shop with our World Book Day vouchers. Each child got their own free book to bring home. We hope you’ve been enjoying the stories!

Ms. Lougheed’s 3^rd Class and Ms. Glynn’s 4^th Class took part in a special community project ‘Zoom’ at the Hugh Lane Art Gallery. The children had two great workshops at the gallery.

Book Fair

Thank you for your support of the Book Fair last week. For every book bought by a parent/carer, Scholastic give the school money to buy books for school. I’m delighted to let you know that we now have over €500 to spend on books for our libraries – so many thanks to all!

National Children’s Choir

We are so excited about 5^th and 6^th Class’s upcoming performance with the National Children’s Choir. The children will attend a rehearsal all day on Monday, 25^th in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght and the concert itself, will take place on Tuesday, 26^th at 8.00 p.m.

We have ordered tickets for the families coming along and we will get those at the rehearsal on Monday. We will send a note this week to find out who needs a space on the bus – so make sure you confirm with us in advance.

The children will need to wear their school uniform – grey trousers/skirt, blue shirt and the school tie. Please make sure you have these before Monday next week.

The children have worked so hard and their singing is simply beautiful. We can’t wait for you to hear them singing with the orchestra and the other schools next week. Please let Ms. Kelly know if you have any questions.

Attendance and punctuality

Well done to Ms. O’Hare’s 1^st Class who had 100% attendance last week! Last year, our whole-school attendance in March was the best month of the year. Let’s see if we can do just as well this year. Please make sure your child is in school every day.

Dates for your diary

25 March – 5^th and 6^th Class at choir rehearsal all day in National Basketball Arena

26 March – 5^th and 6^th Class performing with National Children’s Choir at 8.00 p.m.

12 April – School closes for Easter Holidays

29 April – School re-opens for summer term

…and finally…

We send our congratulations to Ms. Oppermann and her family on the arrival of a lovely baby boy recently.

Best wishes,

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal

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Newsletter 5.3.19

5^th March 2019

Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,

News from last week

The children in 1^st Class visited Dublin Castle as part of their learning this term. They came home with so many interesting facts about the castle and its history.

Last week, Senior Infants went to meet Postmaster Sean in the Post Office on Berkeley Road to learn all about his job. They even posted special postcards and have been very excited to see them arriving in their homes!

Well done to the children in 2^nd Class who had their First Penance ceremony in the Church last Wednesday. Thank you to all their families who came to support them.

On Friday, 5^th Class were invited to the Ilac Library to meet author Sarah Webb and learn more about her new book ‘Blazing a Trail’.

Today, we welcomed children from four schools in Dublin for a final rehearsal for the National Children’s Choir with 5^th and 6^th Class. The children have worked so hard and we are really looking forward to their performance in the National Basketball Arena on 26^th March. Parents/carers – don’t forget to order your tickets for this fantastic concert!

Also today, Ms. Yeates’s Class visited the Ilac Library with our Time to Read volunteers and this afternoon, our Romanian Class are hosting their very own celebration of poetry and song.

Digital Schools Excellence Project

We are taking part in a special digital schools’ project this year. Last week, we worked with Roisin from PDST who showed us some new apps and ways of sharing our learning. We’re excited to give them a try!

Book Fair and World Book Day

It’s World Book Day on Thursday this week and we will be hosting our Book Fair from Thursday onwards. The Book Fair will be open before and after school and you can purchase books at a great price for your children. For every book you buy, the school gets free books – so please have a look and support us if you can.

Attendance and punctuality

Well done to Ms. Graham’s Class who had top attendance last week of 98.3%!

Dates for your diary

6 March – 5^th and 6^th Class to Science Blast

7 March – Ms. McCaughey’s 2^nd Class to KPMG for World Book Day event

7 March – Book Fair arriving

8 March – 3^rd Class to Hugh Lane

12 March – 4^th Class to Hugh Lane

12 March – International Food Event

13 March – Ceili Mor for families

14, 15, 18 March – School Closed

26 March – 5^th and 6^th Class performing with National Children’s Choir at 8.00 p.m.

12 April – School closes for Easter Holidays

29 April – School re-opens for summer term

And finally…

We are really looking forward to our celebrations for ‘Seachtain na Gaeilge’ or ‘Irish Week’ next week. We will have our annual International Food Event and invite children to wear traditional dress from their home countries too on Tuesday, 12^th March. Then on Wednesday, we will have our Céilí Mór (hopefully outside) and you are all welcome to join us in our traditional Irish dancing.

Best wishes,

Éadaoin Kelly

Principal