Dear Parents / Guardians,
We hope you all is well with you this fortnight. Our news is as follows:
- Bluebells Playground Official Opening: The Official Opening of our fabulous new Bluebells Playground took place this morning, with the ribbon being cut by Margo Conlon of ‘Little Folks Playschool’. The playground has been fitted with a large swing and spinner and the girls in our Bluebells Class are thrilled with their fabulous new facility. I want to thank again Margo’s son, Seán Conlon, whose significant donation in Margo’s name allowed us to make this playground a reality. I want to thank also all of our families who contributed so generously during our Bluebellls Day fundraiser in the first term. Photos of the ribbon-cutting will be shortly available to view on our website www.bunscoilbhride.ie This playground and the fun the children will have within it for many years to come will be a fabulous representation of the sense of community and kindness that we are so lucky to have around us.
- Debating: I want to hugely congratulate our school debaters who made it through to the semi-finals of the Concern Primary Debating Competition this year; a truly wonderful achievement for our school. The girls proposed the motion, ‘Sport Always Brings Communities Together’, last Thursday, against Scoil na Naomh Íosaf, Baltinglass. Although the motion was opposed in the end, our school debaters performed incredibly on the day. We want to congratulate them on the hard work and devotion they have put in since September. Thank you also to the parents who contributed to the girls’ success by answering our surveys. Finally, we wish to thank the teachers Ms Costello, Ms Banks and Ms Dillon, who worked with the girls over the weeks to ensure they were ready for each competition
- Basketball: Our Fifth and Sixth Class girls have played one out of their two games in the Cumann na mBunscol league semi-finals to date. The girls took on Castledermot N.S. earlier this week in a home game. They played fantastically against a very strong Castledermot team, however things did not go their way on the day unfortunately. They are due to play Castledermot N.S. again next week in Castledermot and we wish the girls the best of luck in the game. I want to commend each of the girls on the team for their dedication, teamwork and positive attitudes throughout the competition and their coaches, Ms. Gleeson and Ms. Costello for giving voluntarily of their time to train the girls each week.
- SEAI Workshops: All classes from Third to Sixth will take part in an SEAI workshop in the school on Tuesday and Wednesday next. We look forward to learning about how we can live more sustainably.
- Quiz: Our Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Class pupils are busy preparing for our annual quizzes, which will take place on Friday 9th (Fifth and Sixth Classes) and Wednesday 14th February (Third and Fourth Classes) in Rathangan Boy’s School and our school respectively. Teams will be mixed and the children will get the opportunity to work with the boys in practising their general knowledge and having lots of fun in the process. We would urge you to help the children develop their general knowledge at home over the coming weeks in preparation.
- Grandparents’ Day: I want to sincerely thank our wonderful Parents’ Association and the many parents who voluntarily gave up their time yesterday to help serve tea and coffee to our visiting grandparents. We really are blessed to have such generosity and kindness in our parent body. Allowing our grandparents to congregate over a cup of tea and a treat in the hall made a really fabulous day all the more special. I also want to thank our hard-working staff, who put so much work into preparing for Grandparents’ Day with their classes, ensuring that all our visitors had a day to remember. Ms. De Faoite has been busy collating all the photos of Grandparents’ Day and they can be viewed on our website at the following link https://www.bunscoilbhride.ie/grandparents-day-2024/
- Enrolments for 2024/25: Closing date for application for admission to our school for the 2024/25 school year is 5th February. Application for Admission Forms are available from Catríona’s office and can also be downloaded from our school website. Forms can only be processed when accompanied by the child’s birth certificate.
- Oral Language: The theme for the month of February is ‘Socially functional language’ (introductions, giving thanks, complaints). All classes will be focusing on this theme for the month and we would ask that you, the parents support us at home, by encouraging your child to use appropriate socially functional language and by modelling good use of such language at home. We would also encourage you to discuss with them what they’ve learnt in school on this topic.
- Vision Screening: Vision screening of Junior Infant pupils by staff from the HSE will take place in the school on Monday and Tuesday next, 29th and 30th January.
- Duplo Lego Donation Request: Our Bluebells Class are seeking donations of Duplo Lego. If you have Duplo Lego at home that is no longer in use, we would be really grateful if you would donate it to the school.
- Heavy school-bags: We are attempting to address the issue of children carrying school bags that are too heavy to and from school, by asking them to unpack fully their bags every morning and only repack books marked for homework. Your help in tackling this issue is required as many of the items contained in school-bags are unnecessary ancillary items e.g. multiple heavy pencil-cases etc. Please go through your daughter’s bag with her and remove any unnecessary items.
- Pause for Peace: As we celebrate Brigid 1500 throughout the school, all of our classes will support the global Pause for Peace on Thursday 1st February. We will join with people worldwide to stop for one minute’s silence, prayer or reflection for Peace at 12 noon on St. Brigid’s Day, February 1st.
- February Bank Holiday: The school will close on Monday 5th February for the new February Bank Holiday and will reopen on Tuesday 6th February. We hope everyone enjoys the long weekend.
Kind regards,
Maria Rogerson