Bunscoil Bhríde Fortnightly Bulletin – 28th November 2024

Dear Parents / Guardians,

We hope you are all well. Our news is as follows:

Concerts: Six of our classes will hold their class plays next Thursday night, 6^th December and on the night of Thursday 13^th December, with three classes performing each night. See timetable below. As you know, our hall is quite small so space is limited. We will not have seats for children and any children who have to come will have to sit on the knees of an adult. Children from our school should not come, where possible. They will have had the opportunity to see all the class plays during the school day. The timetable for the concerts is outlined below. All concerts will begin at 7pm, with doors opening at 6.30pm (please note that the doors will not open before 6.30pm). Entry: €5 per person (cash only please). We look forward to two nights of top-class entertainment. The remaining six classes will perform inMay (see the Calendar in the Aladdin app for dates).

Concert Date:	Class Performing:
Thursday 5^th December	Ms. Costello’ Senior Infants Ms. Ryan’s Second Class Ms. de Faoite’s Sixth Class
Thursday 12^th December	Ms. Coughlan’s Third Class Ms. Geraghty’ Fourth Class Ms. Marrinan’s Sixth Class

Debating: I am delighted to announce the wonderful news that our Bunscoil Bhríde Debating Team, having beaten Scoil Bhríde, Naas in their most recent debate, are now through to the quarter-finals of the Concern Primary Debating Competition. This is a wonderful achievement, and I want to congratulate the girls and their mentors, Ms. Costello and Ms. Banks, who are now busy preparing for their next debate. On Monday 9^th December, we will take on Ballyshannon N.S., Kilcullen, in proposing the motion that, “School holidays are too long”. The debate again, will take place via Zoom, with all classes from Fourth to Sixth having the opportunity to tune in. We will also hold a preparatory debate for all classes from Third to Sixth in the halla on Friday next, in which all children will hear the speeches and will get the opportunity to challenge the girls on the points made, in an open debate.

Internet Safety / Cyberbullying Workshops: I want to thank those of you who attended our Internet Safety Talk for Parents with Ger Brick on Tuesday night. Ger will engage our Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Class pupils in an internet safety / cyberbullying workshop on Friday 6^th and Friday 13^th December.

Basketball: Well done to our basketball team who were victorious last Wednesday in their match against Scoil na Naomh Uilig, Newbridge. In a tightly contested game, the girls played superbly. The match went to extra time, with the girls scoring the winning basket for a final score of 12-10. I want to congratulate the girls on their perseverance and teamwork and thank their coaches, Ms. Gleeson, Ms. Costello and Ms. Banks for giving so generously of their time. Currently, we are awaiting results of other games to see where we stand in the league. We are hopeful we have done enough to progress further! We are also planning to take part in a friendly basketball match against Kildare ETNS in the near future, with the date to be decided. Due to the cold weather at the moment, we have had to cancel recent training sessions. We will let the girls know before next Wednesday if training will be going ahead.

Farewell to Ms. Garrahy: I want to thank Ms. Garrahy for all of her work with us over the last two years. We all wish her the very best of luck as she leaves us tomorrow to begin her exciting adventure in Australia.

Friendship Week: We celebrated Friendship Week last week with the main message being “the only way to have a friend is to be one”. The week-long emphasis was on creating and extending friendship. The children sat beside somebody new every day and were encouraged to play with different children on the yard. Each girl had a ‘secret friend’ for the week who they made a big effort to be extra-kind / friendly to. Our Secret friends were then revealed on Friday! Friendship Week culminated with our ‘coffee morning’ when the girls came together with another class for a chat and a treat. The Golden Ticket draw for kindness prizes will take place at tomorrow’s assembly.

Noel Hendrick’s Visit: On Tuesday 19th November, we welcomed Noel Hendrick, Ireland’s Olympic Canoeist, to Bunscoil Bhríde. The children led Noel through a jubilant and colourful guard of honour before proudly singing Amhrán na bhFiann in his honour in the halla. The girls were enthralled by his inspirational talk about never giving up on finding a sport that you love and his personal story of resilience. We presented Noel with hundreds of creative designs for his new canoe and impressed the Kildare Olympian with a fiercely energetic and spine-tingling ‘An Haka Gaelach’ performance. This was a really special day in the history of the school which will be remembered for years to come. Huge congratulations to Ms. Freeborn’s class on their tremendous work in making this visit a huge success for us all. Videos and photos of the visit can be viewed on our website at the following link: https://www.bunscoilbhride.ie/olympian-visit-to-bunscoil-bhride/

Oral Language: For the month of December, our whole-school Oral Language theme is Vocabulary Development. All classes will be engaged in activities based around helping the children to develop their vocabulary. 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).

Reminder: No medicinesare allowed at school. If your child has a medical condition for which medicine/inhaler etc. must be administered, please contact the school, as Board of Management approval must be granted for this. Please see our administration of medication policy at www.bunscoilbhride.ie for more information.

Switching on of the Christmas Lights: The Rathangan Christmas Lights Committee have requested that our girls (from 2^nd to 6^th class) sing some Christmas carols at the switching on of the Christmas lights after Mass on Saturday (approx. 7.15pm). Children attending must be accompanied by a parent/guardian and will remain the responsibility of that parent/guardian for the duration of the event. We will be meeting outside Dillon’s across from the crib on the night.

Assembly: Our whole-school assembly for the month of November will take place in the halla tomorrow and will be led by Ms. Costello’s Senior Infants and Ms. Banks’ Fifth Class.

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. Incidents of really dangerous driving have been observed by parents and staff members. Such incidents place our children at risk. We would ask that you inform all individuals who drop / collect your child to / from school about these rules which are in place for the safety of all.

Annual 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 reviewing this Child Safeguarding Statement and would welcome your feedback on these policy documents. I want to thank the parents who have taken the time to complete our survey, providing us with feedback. If you have not already done so, we would be grateful if you would take a moment to complete it at the following link: https://forms.gle/TRFvAdou3DYa4cQR7

Scholastic Book Club: Don’t forget that our latest Scholastic Book Club is now online at https://schools.scholastic.ie/scoil-bhride-n/digital-book-club. There are hundreds of fantastic children’s books to choose from at reduced process, and every €1 you spend on this month’s Book Club will earn 20c for our school in Scholastic Rewards. Orders must be placed by December 3^rd.

Kind regards,

Maria Rogerson