October News

October News

September was a busy month! The coffee morning on the first day of school was a lovely way to start the year.  Since then the children have become more independent.  It is great to see so many smiling faces coming through the doorway every morning.  The parents of the children in the infant classes may walk the children to the classroom if they wish.  It became apparent last year that having adults in the classroom was a cause of upset for some children, so for this reason we ask you to say your goodbyes at the classroom door. For safety reasons, the door cannot be left open unless a staff member is present, so it is closed at 8.25am when formal teaching begins.  If you arrive after the time, please come to the front door and a member of staff will collect your child. 

Welcome meetings

We hope you found the Welcome Meetings informative. They were good opportunities to meet the teachers, learn about the curriculum and also to discover how you can help your child on their exciting journey through primary school.

Board of Management Meeting

• The Board of Management met on the 14th of September.

• The board want to formally thank all the parents, the PA and the staff for the fundraising that was carried out last year. The total funds raised, including voluntary contributions, donations, school fundraising events and PA fundraising events, came to a staggering €9505. The funds were raised to cover an expected deficit. The deficit was smaller than anticipated and so we are going to be able to purchase PE equipment, musical instruments, construction toys, many books, sensory resources, visualisers and iPads with the remaining funds! A massive thank you on behalf of all the staff and children. In addition a PA budget of €600 was approved from  the funds raised. This will cover costs such as insurance, photocopying and the Back to School celebration.

• The school’s Child Protection Policy was reviewed and changes were ratified. Emer Hoy is the Designated Liaison Person and Margaret O’Reilly is the Deputy Designated Liaison Person.

• The school’s Enrolment Policy has been discussed at a number of board meetings. The policy has been renamed the Admission and Participation Policy and it was ratified by the Board of Management at the September board meeting following approval by the Patron, Educate Together. Please read the new policy for details of the dates for pre-enrolling and the criteria for the offering of places. Those who are already on the pre-enrolment list will automatically be transferred to the new pre-enrolment list, in chronological order according to the date and time of their existing application. There will be no need to re-apply.

PA events

Back to school celebration

After a week of waiting, our much anticipated ‘Back to School Celebration’ was a massive success. A big thank you to the Parents’ Association for all their hard work and to everyone who helped out on the day. It was lovely to catch up with the familiar faces and also to get to know some of the new families who have recently joined the Malahide/Portmarnock Educate Together NS community. The sun shone, faces were painted, food was shared and the children bounced and bounced and bounced!

 

Welcome Pack

Many, many thanks to Norma and her team for spending endless hours working on the Welcome Pack.  I left some printed packs on display during the Back to School Celebration and am attaching a softcopy to this email.  Initially it started as a pack for people who were new to the area, but having read it I think it is useful for all parents!

 

PA Coffee mornings

The PA would like to remind anyone who is available that there will be coffee morning in the Eurospar in Northern Cross after drop off on the first Friday of every month.  The next one is on October 7^th.

 

GAA

Padraig McCarthy from St Sylvester’s GAA club has returned this year to take each class group for GAA lessons on Fridays. First class have started the ball rolling!  After four weeks it will be Senior Infants turn and then Junior Infants will have their turn four weeks later.

Singing workshop

The children really enjoyed a visit from Dónal Kearney of the Fingal Youth Choir. Each class had a fantastic session where they learned about percussion, practiced singing at various pitches.  The session culminated in the children learning a song Dónal had taught them about Autumn.  If you would like to find out more about the Fingal Youth Choir please visit their website www.fingalacademyofmusic.com.

Friendship Fortnight

As part of our Learn Together and our Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) programmes we are celebrating Friendship Fortnight.  The children are talking about what makes a good friendship; playing with a ‘circle of friends’ for first break every day; learning how to pay compliments; learning how to be a good friend and learning songs and poems about friendship.  You will see a Friendship Tree growing on one of the displays this week and a Friendship Recipe also.

Absences

If your child is absent from school please email info@mpetns.ie, or give your child a note on their return, explaining the absence. By law the school must keep a written explanation for each absence and we must also fill in the reason for such absence on the quarterly returns to the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB), if a child has missed 20 days or more in the school year, or if the school is concerned that your child is missing too much school.  You will receive a text reminder if your child is absent for 10, 15 or 20 days.

It is very important for all children to return to school on the official return date as it can be challenging for a child to settle in to an already established classroom setting and it can be disruptive for the rest of the class.

Parental Involvement

We welcome parents getting involved in any way they can.  Here are a few ways you can get involved:

• We have a school library. It is a wonderful resource and gives children a chance to have the library experience without having to travel! We need a few volunteers to spend a couple of hours one Monday a month, to facilitate the lending of books to the children. Please email me if you are interested.

• Irish language sessions for parents: please email me if you are interested in attending Irish sessions one morning a week in school.

• Parenting group: we now have a room that we can make available if a group of parents would like to meet on a regular basis to get support from each other on the wonderful journey of parenting. There are a selection of books that you might find interesting to browse through.

• Gardening: I would love to get a gardening committee together. Please let me know if you are interested.

• Policy committee: if you would be able to give up some time to work on the policy committee please let me know.

• Helping during a focus week. Please read through the calendar below. It outlines the important dates for this year including focus weeks, performance and school holidays. If you see an area that you feel you can help with, please get in touch.

School Closure for Primary Language Curriculum Seminar

A new Primary Language Curriculum is being introduced in Ireland.  Every school will close for a day this year to allow the teachers attend training.  Our school was given the date of November 14^th.  Our apologies in advance for any inconvenience.

Assemblies

We started our weekly assemblies  on Friday.   We talked about the whole school positive behaviour strategies.  These are both whole class and individual strategies.  We will start giving certificates next week for good listening;  for the student of the week  (trying very hard) and for the star of the week (being kind).  After our chat the children in Junior and Senior Infants sang songs and said poems about Autumn and Friendship.   The weekly assembly is a lovely time for us to gather together.  You will be invited to one during the year to give you a taster!  

Thank you for your continued support,

Le gach dea ghuí,

Emer

School Calendar 2016-2017

31^st August 2016: School re-opens

14^th September: Board of Management Meeting

23rd  September: GAA starts

26^th September – 7^th October: Friendship Fortnight

5^th October: PA meeting

7^th October: Parent coffee morning after drop off in Eurospar

17^th – 21^st October: Maths Week

19^th October: Board of Management Meeting

24^th – 28^th October: Harvest Week

28^th October:   Optional Harvest themed fancy dress

School closing for mid-term break

Re-opens on 7^th November

11^th November: Parent coffee morning

**14th November: School closed for Primary Language Curriculum Seminar**

15^th – 18^th November: Science Week

23^rd November: Board of Management Meeting

December: Human Rights Month

2^nd December: Parent coffee morning

21^st December: Winter Celebration 8.30am

22^nd December at 11.45am: School closing for Winter holiday

Re-opens on Monday 9^th January 2017

January: Positive Mental Health Month

25^th January: Board of Management Meeting

31st January: Irish dancing classes start

13^th-17^th February: Multicultural Week

17^th February: Global Feast

School closing for February mid-term break 

Re-opens on 27^th February

1^st March: Board of Management Meeting

6^th – 16^th March: Seachtaine na Gaeilge

15^th March: Céilí 12 noon

Friday 17^th March: School closed for St. Patrick’s Bank Holiday

5^th April: Board of Management Meeting

3^rd – 7^th April: Book Week

7^th April:          Dress as your favourite book character

*School closed for Spring holiday at 11.45am

Re-opens on 24^th April

* Where contingency arrangements are required to make up for time lost due to unforeseen closures, the school authority may reduce the length of the Spring break by remaining open up to and including Wednesday 12^th April 2017, as per Department of Education circular 0034/2011.

24^th – 29^th April: Digital Arts Week

Monday 1^st May: School closed for May Bank Holiday

8^th – 12^th May: Arts Week

24^th May: Board of Management Meeting

Monday 5^th June: School closed for June Bank Holiday

12^th – 16^th June: Active Health Week

16th June: Sports for fun day

June Board of Management Meeting tbc

29^th June:        Student lead conferences starting at 8.30am

School closes for Summer Holidays at 11.45am