Dear Parents / Guardians,
We hope you are all well. Our news is as follows:
- Debating: We are thrilled to announce that our school has been accepted to take part in this year’s Concern Primary School Debating Competition! Our debating team will be opposing the motion “Digital Technology is making childhood better.” The first-round debate will see us take on St. Joseph’s N.S., Kilcock and will take place during the week of November 9th. We wish our team the very best of luck as they prepare for this exciting challenge and we thank their teachers; Ms. Costello and Ms. Banks for volunteering their time to mentor the girls.
- New Pupil Furniture: A huge thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who came out last Saturday morning to help us move in our new classroom furniture. Thanks to your hard work, the job was completed in record time! We are so fortunate to have these beautiful new additions in our classrooms, and the children are already benefiting from the new plastic chairs, which are a whole lot more comfortable than the old wooden ones!
- Old furniture available for free: We still have a large number of pupil desks and chairs available for collection (free of charge). If you or anyone you know would like to take any of our old furniture, please come to the school to collect what you want.
- STEM Week Update: We’ve been fully immersed in STEM Week activities across the school at Bunscoil Bhríde this week. On Tuesday, the girls had a fantastic time participating in the LEGO and biodiversity workshop with Jessica Farrell, learning so much through hands-on science and engineering challenges. Throughout the week, classes have been busy taking part in maths trails and experiments, leading up to today’s highlight; our annual Science Fair hosted in the hall by 6th Class. Looking ahead, the remaining junior classes are excited for their LEGO workshop tomorrow (Friday) and our 5th Classes are preparing for their trip to Mount Lucas Wind Farm in November. A huge thank you to our STEM Co-ordinators, Ms. Ryan and Ms. Gleeson, for organising such a brilliant week. Keep an eye on our school website for photos of all the fun.
- Credit Union Poster Competition: Some of our classes are currently participating in the annual Credit Union Art Competition. This year’s theme is ‘A World of Colour’, so all entrants will have free rein to express themselves. Our pupils always create thought-provoking works and we usually have quite a few prize-winners. The closing date for receipt of entries is Thursday next.
- Christmas Cards: Children in all classes are busy working on their Christmas cards, a fundraising initiative organised by our Parents’ Association. If you wish to purchase Christmas cards, you must return the completed order form and make payment via the Aladdin online payment link (Money tab). If you wish to order more than one packet of cards, please ensure you have marked this clearly on your order form and that you have paid the correct amount online. The final deadline for ordering is Tuesday 20th October.
- Author Visit: Author, Martina Smith will engage Ms. Beary’s and Ms. Greally’s First Class in a workshop as part of the activities for the Children’s Book Festival, organised by Rathangan Library. Martina is the author of ‘Mrs. Books Saves the Library’.
- Coats: Please ensure your child comes to school wearing a coat.
- Junior Infants 2027/28: Applications for admission to our school for the 2027/28 school year will open on Friday 23rd October. There will be a three-week window to make an application for a place in Junior Infants 2027/28 (or other classes), with Friday 13th November the application closing date. Applications can be made via a link on our school website homepage at www.bunscoilbhride.ie .
- Christmas Shoe-Box Appeal: If you wish to put together a shoebox for the ‘Team Hope’ Christmas Shoebox Appeal, we ask that you send it into school on Thursday 5th November. Please see the leaflet sent home with all children for more information.
- Assembly: We will hold our whole-school assembly for the month of October in the hall on Friday 23rd October. Mr. O’Sullivan’s Fifth Class and Ms. Costello’s Junior and Senior Infants will lead the assembly and will share all of our school news with our school community.
- A Spooky Walk/Non Uniform Day: As part of our Active School activities, the children and teachers will go on a ‘Spooky Walk’ on Friday 23rd October at 10am, weather permitting. This will be a non-uniform day and the children are invited to dress up in Halloween costumes if they wish, but they will need to wear warm clothes and sensible shoes for outdoor walking.We will walk to the Garda station (with Infant classes walking to Ma’s Kitchen) and back to the school. We would love to see any parents / family members out to greet us on our walk.
- Dates for the Diary: Please check out the calendar tab on the Aladdin app. A number of new dates for this term have been added, including our Class Plays for this year. Please continue to keep an eye on the Calendar over the coming weeks as all new dates will be added as new events are confirmed. All dates are subject to change.
- School Closure: Our school will close on Friday 6th November for teacher inservice in the new Primary Curriculum.
- Midterm Break: Bunscoil Bhríde will close for the midterm break on Friday 23rd October and will reopen on Monday November 2nd. We trust everyone will enjoy a well-deserved break after such a busy half-term.
Kind regards,
Maria Rogerson