Memo No. 9 to Parents, 21st March 2018
Dear Parents,
Tá súil agam go raibh deireadh seachtaine Pádraig maith agaibh, agus táimid anois ag súil le Saoire na Cásca!! I hope you had a lovely Patrick’s weekend, and now we look forward to the Easter Holidays!!
Some important notices and a few reminders as we finish the second term:
- School Phone App:
Our school phone App is finally ready for use and can be downloaded from our website or from the Android and Apple i-store. The following headings appear on the App:
News/Contacts Us/Memos/Photos/Calendar/Facebook/About/Read Later/Absent Form/Settings
At the moment the App only pings when there is a new notification. It can be changed to ping when the website is updated or new photos have been loaded onto Facebook. Everything is public at the moment on the App. It is free to download. However, parents are required to pay €3.50 to the company designers for the facility on an annual basis. Please send this amount to your child’s teacher if you haven’t already done so.
The introduction of the school phone App was something requested by parents to help with ease and speed of communication from school to home. Hopefully, in time, you will find it is a worthwhile facility.
- Parking/ Set Down/ Wheelchair Parking on School Grounds:
There have been a number of problems lately regarding people parking on wheelchair spaces and on set-down areas.
There are three wheelchair spaces at the Junior School end of the complex. Parking is prohibited in these spaces. THESE SPACES MUST BE KEPT FREE for the pupils or parents in our school who require these spaces due to wheelchair usage or physical disability. The BoM are currently considering a strategy/policy to address the issue with the small number of people who consistently impede wheelchair and set-down accessibility.
At the Senior School end of the complex, we have one wheelchair space. It is currently required by a visiting instructor involved in the school on a weekly basis. When not in use by a genuine user, it can be used for set down purposes only.
We have a newly acquired parking space just beyond the wheelchair space mentioned above, it is immediately next to our Main School yard, where pupils from the Boys’ School and our own gather in the mornings and depart in the evenings. It is ideal for set down purposes because of its proximity to the yard, therefore, it has been recently established as a set-down space only from 8.30 a.m. in the mornings. No car should remain parked in this space at drop-off and collection times, just drop-off, collect and move on for other cars to do likewise.
It is only with co-operation and consideration for others that parking facilities within the school grounds can work effectively and, thereby, continue to be available.
- The following are just some of the activities that are adding to the ‘buzzing busyness’ of the school these days!:
- Our 5th and 6th Class girls’ soccer team broke all school soccer records last week by winning all 6 matches in the FAI Primary Schools Tournament qualifying round. We hope to see them in Turner’s Cross at the rate they are going!
- Our school Camogie team play their first Sciath na Scol match today against Carraigtwohill. Ádh mór dóibh! Best of luck to them!
- Rob, Jenn and Isla’s classes in our Deaf Facility will perform three songs tonight in the Cór Fheile in the City Hall. Táimid an-bhródúil astu. We are very proud of them.
- Lawlor’s after-school Garden Club has gotten underway with lots of planting and bedding. Beautiful daffodils to be seen thanks to the green fingers of those pupils involved.
- Our annual Book Swop Day will take place after the Easter Holidays.
- Coicís na Gaeilge produced upwards of 120 ‘Gaeilgeoirí an Lae’ (Irish Speakers of the Day) who received little ‘brontannais’ for making such great efforts. Ar fheabhas! Lean ar aghaidh leis an obair mhaith! Excellent, continue with the good work! We also had great ‘craic’ ag damhsa agus ag canadh as Gaeilge for the fortnight.
- Preparations for the sacraments of Communion and Confirmation continue as we look forward to those two occasions on 28th April (St. Patrick’s Church, Rochestown) and 3rd May (St. Columba’s Church) respectively.
- School trousers for the girls ‘arrived’ in the middle of the cold spell and the snow with little fuss or bother and with much appreciation from those who wore them.
- Well done to our 5th and 6th Class pupils who took part in our school Spelling Bee Competition, won by Arden Mallari (5th Class) runners up, Caoimhe Russell (6th class) and Sofia Fares (5th Class). Cómhgháirdeachas do gach dálta, the standard was extremely high with spellings in the final round that even stumped the teachers (myself included!!)
- Literacy Lift Off:
As outlined in a memo earlier this year, the staff embarked on a new Literacy Intervention Programme for the younger classes as part of the new Special Needs Support Model introduced by the DES (Department of Education and Skills) this year.
First Class have just completed a six-week intense literacy programme which saw a team of support teachers go into the classroom to join the class teacher and work a number of ‘stations’ or groups at the same time and on different aspects of literacy. Pre and post testing carried out on pupils have shown scores increase for every single child in the class. The Support Team will now move on to work for six weeks with our Senior Infants on the programme.
The BoM invested €9000 in the books and resources to implement the programme and is delighted with the outcome of its investment. Of course, it is the enthusiastic implementation of the programme by staff and parents that is the real cause of its success. Maith sibh go léir!
- Whole School Evaluation:
The DES Inspectorate carry out various types of inspections on schools in general, from whole-school inspections to subject inspections to follow through inspections. Our school has never had a WSE – MLL, (Whole School Inspection – Management, Leadership and Learning), was well overdue one, and finally got notification of same recently.
The inspection will take place on the week we come back after the Easter Holidays, beginning on Tuesday 10th April. A team of inspectors will come into the school and look at the teaching and learning in classrooms, education in the school in general, and management & leadership in the school in general.
As part of the overall report, parents’ input is taken into account on an aggregated basis. To this end, approximately half of the parents in the school will receive a questionnaire tomorrow, devised by the Inspectorate, to be filled in at your earliest convenience. Parents of one class, at each class level, will receive the questionnaire, thus forming half the parent body. The questionnaire will be confidential to the Inspectorate and should be sent back to the school in the sealed envelope provided. Please return to the school this week if possible, or on the Monday of our return to school, at the latest.
The inspectors’ report will be public and will acknowledge strengths in the school and will also advise on areas that can be developed further. While people in general often become anxious around the notion of ‘inspection’, the staff of our school welcome all advice and affirmation the Inspectorate will give us. We are proud of what we do, we have a great, dedicated and diligent team working in our school. Staff members strive to do their best by the children at all times. However, we know that no establishment is perfect and we look forward to the learning process and opportunity for further development that comes with a constructive inspection.
- Parents’ Association Matters:
- Well done to the PA for all the work put into the organisation and supervision of the ‘Big Movie Night’. The children enjoyed themselves and it was a great fund-raising success.Thank you to all those who supported it or helped in any way.
- Thank you to members of the PA who gave of their time to organise and fit the Sixth Class pupils out for their Confirmation gowns last week.
- The PA are holding their next Coffee Morning this Friday 23rd March in the Junior School Hall from 8.50 a.m. onwards, performances by our Third Classes, and finishing with the Bonanza Easter Raffle. Thank you to all who have sponsored prizes for the Raffle.
I would like to acknowledge, once again, the incredible giving of time and good will this term by the PA…..we are lucky and blessed, as a school, to have such volunteerism in our midst.
Unfortunately, we will be losing quite a number of these great people as their children leave us for secondary school, so we are hoping that their enthusiasm and volunteerism is infectious and will spur others on to take up the mantle for next year!
- School Closure Reminders:
- The school will finish at 12 o’clock this Friday , 23rd March, for the Easter Holidays, in keeping with custom and tradition
- The school will re-open on Monday 9th April
- Children in both the Boys’ School and our school will not attend school on the 18th April as the staff of both schools have training on the New Primary Language Curriculum, facilitated by the DES.
- Outstanding Monies Due:
As we come to the end of our second term, we are hoping to finalise all outstanding monies still due from parents in relation to this year’s book rental, school charges, swimming, speech & drama and school book money. Please forward any monies still due by the end of this week rather than have notes sent home re same. Next term will involve book monies, book rental and school charges for next school year and it will be difficult to have to pay for both together.
- International Karate Tournament:
We wish Tasneem and Sundus Delea, two of our Sixth Class pupils, the very best of luck as they have been selected to represent Ireland at the forthcoming 18th Grand Prix Hradec Kralove International Karate Tournament, taking place in the Czech Republic this April. We are very proud to have International superstars in our school!
Finally!
Enjoy your time together as a family over the Easter Holidays. Make sure to ‘down tools’ and take a rest, ‘smell the roses’ and come back refreshed as we face into our last term of this school year.
Bígí slán agus bainigí taitneamh as na laethanta saoire! Keep safe and enjoy the holidays!
Karen O’Sullivan (Principal)