Time to Read – Visit to BitC Offices
Our 2nd Class children who have been taking part in the ‘Time to Read’ programme were very excited to visit the offices of their reading volunteers from ‘Business in the Community’ today.
The children were very busy sending emails and answering the phone and were treated to pizza for lunch as a reward! The volunteers told us ‘they were an absolute pleasure and created a great buzz around the office!’
Well done children!
Newsletter 26.2.16
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Newsletter
26th February 2016
Dear parents, carers, staff and friends,
News this week
We’ve had a busy few weeks at St. Mary’s with lots happening just before and then after our short mid-term break.
Last Monday, we had a visit from storyteller Brendan Nolan who introduced the topic of 1916 to 3rd – 6th Classes. The children will be learning a lot about our country’s history and the key events of 1916 in the lead up to the 100 year commemoration at Easter. 5th and 6th Class visited the Ilac Library to see the Abbey Theatre’s production of ‘Me Mollser’ which also links to 1916 and this week, they had a walking tour of the city centre, particularly the GPO and O’Connell Street to learn more about what happened there.
5th Class are sharing their learning with their learning partners in 2nd Class today, as they bring them to O’Connell Street and tell them all of the information they have gathered.
Last Tuesday, 3rd and 4th Class visited the Hugh Lane Art Gallery as part of their learning in responding to pieces of art. They really enjoyed their visit.
Yesterday, the Green Schools team visited a special Expo in the RDS to learn about how other schools have used the Green Schools Programme to make changes in their schools through recycling, saving energy and water, biodiversity and lots more. They even met President Michael D Higgins! Photos of their adventures are on our Twitter account @stmarysdorsetst or on our website.
Review of Behaviour Policy
We are currently reviewing our behaviour policy. We are interested in knowing parents’ views on behaviour in the school. If you have any comments or feedback you would like to give, please drop in to see me or Claire, or you can email me at principal@stmarysprimaryschool.ie . We very much value your thoughts and ideas, please do let us know what you think works well and how we can improve.
Attendance and Punctuality
Well done to 3rd Class with 99% attendance this week and beat off stiff competition from 4th and 5th Class who both had 98.2%!
February has been our best month of attendance so far this year at whole school level at 94%. We will need everyone in school every day in March to get to our target of 95%!
Dates for your diary
3rd March – Miss Haren and Miss Todd’s Classes to GPO/O’Connell Street
3rd March – 2nd Class Time to Read group visiting BitC offices
8th March – 2nd Class First Penance
Sunday, 13th March – Family Mass at 11.45am
15th March – Flag Raising Day
16th March – Annual Ceili
16th March – School closes at 12 p.m. for Easter holidays
Wishing you all a happy weekend!
Éadaoin Kelly – Principal
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Green Schools Expo
Our Green Schools committee visited the Green Schools Expo at the RDS today with Miss Haren and Miss Palmer. They visited lots of stalls and learnt lots about recycling, saving energy and how to look after our planet. They even saw the President, Michael D. Higgins! We look forward to them sharing what they found out with us all in the coming weeks.
Junior Infants – Construction Theme
Junior Infants have been taking inspiration for their learning from the building site next door. They have been monitoring progress on the site every day, looking at the changes over time, making lists of what they have seen each day and playing in their very own construction site in their classroom role play area. They were even invited to visit the site itself and had a great time being shown all of the equipment up close. Our thanks to Bennett Construction for facilitating this visit.
1916 – Centenary Programme
This year, Ireland will celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the 1916 Rising, an important historical moment in our country’s history.
All schools in Ireland will be part of the commemoration. At St. Mary’s, we started our programme of events in November when we received our very own Irish flag and a copy of the Proclamation from members of the Defence Forces.
Over the coming weeks, classes will be learning more about the events that took place during the 1916 Rising and reflecting on past events. The senior classes began with a visit from storyteller, Brendan Nolan on Monday, 15th February to set the scene. 5th and 6th Class attended a performance of ‘Me, Mollser’ by the Abbey Theatre at the Ilac Library on Wednesday, 17th February and on Monday, 22nd February will go on a walking tour of the inner city, remembering the important events and looking at the places they happened with a local archaeologist.
Our older children are also using their work on children’s rights and learning about the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to write their own, new version of the Proclamation that represents our families and community in Dublin in 2016.
All classes are learning songs and poems to share at our Flag Raising Day on 15th March, when the whole school will come together to raise our Irish flag and read the proclamation and share the learning that has taken place. We will aim to remember and reflect on the past while celebrating Ireland as a nation and will complete our programme with our annual ‘ceili’ for Seachtain na Gaeilge on 16th March.
Newsletter 12.2.16
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Newsletter 5.2.16
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Newsletter 29.1.16
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Newsletter 22.1.16
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Parent Classes – Spring 2016
We have a range of classes for parents and carers running this term. As always, Claire Shortall, our Home-School-Community Liaison Teacher is the source of all information on them – so do drop in and ask for more information if you’re interested.
We have…
Operation Transformation
This group meets on Mondays for a Boxercise class from 10.00 to 11.00 a.m. in Mount Carmel Secondary School. They meet again on Fridays at 9.30 a.m. for a personal fitness/diet progress review and a 3-5km walk. Get fit for the New Year and come and join this great group.