Dear Parents / Guardians,
We hope you all is well with you this fortnight. Our news is as follows:
- Third and Fourth Class Quiz: Last Wednesday we hosted the Third and Fourth Class boys from Rathangan, B.N.S., who worked in teams alongside our Third and Fourth Class girls in our Annual Quiz, with great levels of general knowledge, teamwork and collaboration on display. Well done to our three winning teams! First place: Aoife O’Loughlin, Elliott Adams and Rob Holohan; Second place: Mia Scully Dowling, Aoibhín Whelan, Eddie Minchin and Michael Fitzgerald and Third Place: Libbie Ward, Alicja Osikowska, Adam Harrison and Ollie Murphy.
- Fifth and Sixth Class Quiz: Ms. Banks’, Ms. Marrinan’s and Ms. De Faoite’s Fifth and Sixth Classes will walk up to Rathangan B.N.S. tomorrow morning to take part in our annual quiz, in which they will work in mixed teams with the boys. We wish them the very best of luck, as they compete for medals and homework passes!
- Cumann na mBunscol Quiz: We are asking that our Fifth and Sixth class girls continue studying quiz questions to prepare for the selection of four children, who will represent Bunscoil Bhríde in the Cumann na mBunscol Quiz in Newbridge on Friday 1st March. All children in Fifth and Sixth Class will take part in the selection process tomorrow afternoon.
- Football and Athletics: Football Training and Cross-Country (Athletics) Training will commence on Wednesday, 28th February. Training will take place after school from 2.30pm – 3.15pm. Football Training and Cross-Country Training will merge together for three weeks until the Annual Cumann na mBunscol Cross-Country Race takes place in Rathcoffey on 21st March. Fitness is a key part of playing football, so we encourage girls to come along to improve their running. All girls between Third to Sixth Class are encouraged to attend Cross-Country Training. Football is only open to girls in Fifth and Sixth Class. Girls will need to bring gumshields for football. No football boots are required. Football Training will be led by Ms. Marrinan and Mr. O’Sullivan. Cross-Country Training will be led by Ms. Costello and Ms. Garrahy.
- World Book Week: We will celebrate ‘World Book Week’ from Monday 4th to Friday 8th March. All classes will be participating in various different book-related activities during the week. Our aim is to encourage children to read at home and to learn to love books. We would ask that you support us in this endeavour by encouraging reading and by taking your child to the library regularly. All children are asked to dress as a character from their favourite book on Friday 8th March (ensuring that they are appropriately attired for the weather). Book tokens to the value of €1.50 will be distributed to all children during World Book Week.
- Irish Dancing: Carmel Somers has yet again, kindly volunteered her time to teach Irish dancing to our girls. Every class in the school is getting the opportunity to work with Carmel over two weeks (yesterday and next Wednesday). Carmel has also offered to help with our Céilí Mór during Seachtain ne Gaeilge. We would like to thank Carmel sincerely for her kindness and generosity in giving up her time for the benefit of the pupils of our school.
- Basketball Blitz: The Bunscoil Bhríde Basketball team, coached by Ms. Gleeson and Ms. Costello, will take part in the annual Cumann na mBunscol Basketball Blitz on Monday next in Scoil an Linbh Íosa, Prosperous. The girls will have the opportunity on the day to compete against other primary schools in Co. Kildare. We wish them the very best of luck.
- Seachtain na Gaeilge: Tá Seachtain na Gaeilge beagnach buailte linn arís (11ú – 15ú lá de mhí Márta). Beimid go léir ag úsáid cúpla focal chomh minic agus is féidir i rith Seachtain na Gaeilge. Beidh an Céilí Mór ar siúl againn ar an Luan, an 11ú lá de mhí Márta. Beidh ‘Lá Glas’ ar siúl ar an Aoine, a 15ú and beimid go léir ag caitheamh éadaí glasa ar an lá sin. Beir bua agus bain taitneamh as Seachtain na Gaeilge! Please attempt the cúpla focal at home with your child(ren). We will kick off Seachtain na Gaeilge with An Céilí Mór sa halla on Monday 11th March, with all classes getting the opportunity to practise their Irish dancing. All the classes will engage in various activities to mark Seachtain na Gaeilge throughout the week. Friday 15th March will be a non-uniform day to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge and we will dress in green on that day. Photographs of Seachtain na Gaeilge, together with the Céilí will be available to view on www.bunscoilbhride.ie
- Assembly: Our whole-school assembly for the month of February will be led by Ms. Coughlan’s Third Class and Ms. Garrahy’s Second Class and will take place in the halla on Thursday next.
- Oral Language: The theme for the month of March will be ‘Descriptions and Descriptive Language’. All classes will be focusing on this theme for the month and we would ask that parents support us at home, by using rich, descriptive language as much as possible, drawing children’s attention to such language in stories and discussing with them what they’ve learnt in school on this topic.
- Punctuality: School starts at 8.50am. It is vital that your child attends for school on time. Arriving even 12 minutes late for class each morning effectively means your child is missing out on one hour of tuition every week.
- Footwear Reminder: For health and safety reasons, canvas runners (Converse etc.) cannot be worn in school. All footwear must provide sole support and be suitable for running.
- Parent Volunteers: We frequently require parent volunteers to accompany us on school trips, work with classes or get involved in various activities here in the school. Under the National Vetting Act, all volunteers coming into our school must be Garda vetted through our diocesan office (Kildare and Leighlin). The process is very straightforward, but can take up to four – six weeks to complete. The forms required for Garda vetting for the school are available here in the office or can be emailed to you. Please let us know if you wish to be vetted. We would urge as many of you as possible to do so.
- Our website: Please check out our wonderful website www.bunscoilbhride.ie. It contains lots of photographs and information about all the events taking place in the school and in the individual classrooms. Each class has a blog under the ‘Classes’ tab on the home-page. Some of our school policies are also available to view on the site. A substantial amount of work goes into regularly updating it and it is well-worth a look.
Kind regards,
Maria Rogerson