Bunscoil Bhríde Fortnightly Bulletin – 23rd November 2023

Dear Parents / Guardians,

We hope all is well with you this fortnight. Our news is as follows:

Debating: I am delighted to announce the wonderful news that our Bunscoil Bhríde Debating Team, having beaten Scoil na Naomh Uilig, Newbridge in their most recent debate, are now through to the quarter-finals! This is such a huge achievement and I want to congratulate the girls and their mentors, Ms. Costello, Ms. Banks and Ms. Dillon. We will be proposing the next motion that, “Electric cars are the best way to reduce emissions”. Preparations are already underway!

Basketball: Well done to all forty-two girls who attended basketball training last Wednesday. We look forward to taking part in our first two basketball matches of the season next week. We wish the girls and their coaches Ms. Costello, Ms. Gleeson and Ms. Banks the very best of luck!

Active School Committee: This year our school is working towards our fourth active flag. To achieve this goal, our Active School Committee were tasked with developing an active school slogan for our school. They have received many fabulous suggestions, but after lots of thought and voting, the Active School Committee have settled on our new slogan: ‘Let’s all do our bit, by keeping super fit’. We hope to hear this slogan around the school and for all children to keep fit over the next few months.

Late Late Toy Show: I want to congratulate Alma Moynihan, in Ms. Dillon’s First Class, who has been selected to appear on The Late Late Toy Show tomorrow tonight. We look forward to seeing her on our screens and wish her the very best of luck in her TV debut!

Parents’ Day: As you will have seen from the Calendar tab on the Aladdin app, we will hold Parents’/Guardians’ Day in the school on Friday 15^th December. Please see timetable below. This is a lovely opportunity to visit your daughter’s classroom and see her and her classmates perform songs / poems / tunes they have learnt this term.

Time	Class	Classroom
9am – 9.30am	Junior Infants – Ms. Ruttledge Jun & Sen Infants – Ms. Gleeson	Room 1 Room 2
9.30am – 10am	Senior Infants – Ms. Costello 1^st Class – Ms. Dillon Bluebells Class – Ms. Kelly & Ms. Broe	Room 5 Room 6 Bluebells Class
10am – 10.30am	2^nd Class – Ms. Rowley 2^nd Class – Ms. Garrahy	Room 4 Room 7 (upstairs)
10.45am – 11.15am	3^rd Class – Ms. Coughlan 3^rd & 4^th Class – Mr. O’Sullivan	Room 8 (upstairs) Room 10 (upstairs)
11.15am – 11.45am	4^th Class – Ms. Geraghty 5^th Class – Ms. Banks	Room 9 (upstairs) Room 11 (upstairs)
11.45am – 12.15pm	5^th & 6^th Class – Ms. Marrinan 6^th Class – Ms. de Faoite	Room 12 (upstairs) Room 3 (downstairs)

Oral Language: For the month of November, our whole-school Oral Language theme is Giving and Following Directions. All classes will be engaged in activities based around helping the children to competently give and follow directions. This is something that you can quite easily work on at home with your child(ren). It is only through school and home working closely together that we can achieve the very best outcome for your child(ren).

Bicycles: We love to see children cycling/scooting to school. There is a covered bicycle-park shelter to the rear of the school, available for the parking of bicycles/scooting. As bicycles are parked here at the owners’ risk, we strongly advise that they are locked while parked.

Parent Volunteers: We frequently require parent volunteers to accompany us on school trips / school tours, 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. Please let us know if you wish to be vetted. We would urge as many of you as possible to do so.

Parking: The church car-park is a busy place and we would ask you to exercise extreme caution upon entry and to adhere to our car-parking rules (outlined in the diagram attached to this email). We would appeal to parents and anyone who drops children to school or collects them, not to park in the yellow box, in the wheelchair parking spaces, between the wheelchair parking spaces or alongside the school wall. Parking is in a single row alongside the Noone Engineering wall and in three rows along the middle white lines ONLY. Driving around the church is STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Illnesses: If your child is suffering from an infectious illness, please inform the office, so that we can inform parents of the other children in the class and alert them to the symptoms. Your support in this regard is greatly appreciated.

Aladdin App: It is possible for both parents to download the Aladdin app. Please phone the office or send us a message if you wish for the link to be resent.

Child Safeguarding Review: Our current Child Safeguarding Statement (relating to Child Protection), including our Risk Assessment is available to view on our school website www.bunscoilbhride.ie We are currently beginning the annual process of reviewing this Child Safeguarding Statement and would welcome your feedback on these policy documents. We would be grateful if you would take a moment to complete the survey at the following link to provide us with feedback to inform our review – https://forms.gle/JzB2H8a6dWJ3QdzG8

Green Schools: One of our past pupils is carrying on our green school theme and is entering the Young Scientists Exhibition with a project entitled, ‘Does the Increasing Cost of Living Affect Our Ability to Live Sustainably? – A Case Study of a Suburban Town in Co. Kildare’. She is seeking participants to complete a survey relating to the project, which can be accessed at the following link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=rrEkdjEUHE-x-_O46WlcNY6mJluq5_hDlDpllbokRetURDRQUTMzVEVDV05HRUE1OENLUDBSTTRMVi4u The aim of the project is to highlight measures that can be taken that will support or enhance a greener way of living for all.

Kind regards,

Maria Rogerson