Dear Parents / Guardians,
We hope you all is well with you this fortnight. Our news is as follows:
- Fourth Active School Flag: Wonderful news – we have just learnt that our most recent application for the Active School Flag has been successful and we are to receive our fourth Active School Flag. The application process is a rigorous ordeal, during which each school must demonstrate their commitment to promoting physical activity in the school. I would like to congratulate and thank our wonderful Active Schools Committee, led by Ms. Rowley and Ms. Costello. They have been instrumental in ensuring that physical activity is strongly promoted in our school. Well done to all of the staff, who have worked to support and implement all of the actions of the Active Schools Committee and well done to all of our pupils whose enthusiastic, active engagement have been leading to increased fitness levels right throughout the school and an appreciation of the importance of physical activity. We hope to proudly unveil our Active School Flag on the last day of Active Schools Week – Friday 7th June and look forward to a celebration of this wonderful achievement on that day.
- Eleventh Green Flag Celebrations: As announced in our last Bulletin, we are the proud recipients of an ELEVENTH Green Flag. I would like to congratulate Ms. Kelly, Ms. Geraghty, Ms. Garrahy and our fabulous Green Schools Committee on such a remarkable achievement. There are not many schools in the country that can boast having eleven green flags. We are so very fortunate to have an outstanding committee, as well as an extremely supportive whole-school community. Well done everyone! We will unveil our Green Flag, alongside our Active School Flag on Friday 7th June. Our school will celebrate the day by taking part in a parade through the town with our green flag.
- Active Schools Fortnight: The Active School Committee have been very busy preparing for Active Schools Fortnight, which is taking place this week and next in our school. All pupils are celebrating with lots of fun activities including sports days to keep them fit and active over the course of the fortnight. We are very fortunate to get to visit the local tennis club and receive a coaching session from coach, Gary. Classes will also be busy engaging in peer-led P.E lessons, teacher challenges, discos, races, obstacle courses, parachute games and much more! Be sure to keep an eye on our website for upcoming pictures and videos of the celebrations. I want to thank Ms. Rowley, Ms. Costello and their Active School Committee for coordinating all our activities over Active School Fortnight.
- Chess Club: Over the past few months, the girls in Fifth and Sixth Class have been working really hard in developing their chess skills. They have been competing in an in-school chess tournament which has greatly improved both their expertise and confidence in chess. Their skills will be put to the test here at the school on Friday 14th June, when they participate in an exciting chess tournament against St. Evin’s School, Monasterevin. I want to thank Ms. Marrinan, Ms. Dillon and Ms. Beary for giving so generously of their time to run the after-school Chess Club. They do this voluntarily and we are very grateful for their tine and all of the work they do with the girls.
- Retirement: It is with regret that I announce the resignation of our wonderful caretaker, Nigel Martin. Nigel has been a hard-working, dedicated and valued member of our school staff since 2000. We were incredibly privileged to have Nigel working with us here at the school. He took great pride in ensuring that our school was always immaculately presented and in pristine condition. Come snow, wind, power outages, or whatever was thrown at the school, we always knew Nigel would be the first one in, checking all was safe for the Bunscoil Bhríde community. We will all miss Nigel a great deal and we wish him all the best as he sets off on his new adventure.
- Rathangan Library Visits: All of our classes will visit Rathangan Library over the coming fortnight. If your child is not already a member of the library, I would ask that you take the time to drop in to join her up. Membership for children can only be obtained in the presence of a parent. I would highly recommend that the girls get the opportunity to visit the library on a regular basis, especially during the summer period. A Summer Stars Reading Programme is being run by the library over the summer holidays to encourage the children to read as much as possible. There will be rewards here at school in September for all children who have taken part in the Summer Stars Programme, so please ensure your children retain their card so they can show us how many books they have read over the summer when they return to school. Children should be reading EVERY DAY. Visiting the library is a really important habit to develop for your child and facilitating this for her would be one of the most wonderful gifts you could give her.
- School Tours: School tour season is almost upon us, with a busy schedule of school tours over the next few weeks. Fifth and Sixth Class are kicking off the tours with their trip to the National Aquatic Centre and K-Bowl on Wednesday 12th June. Junior and Senior Infants will visit Lullymore Heritage Centre on Thursday 13th June, First and Second Class will enjoy a day at Clonfert Pet Farm on Wednesday 19th June and Third and Fourth Class will visit Dublin Zoo on Thursday 20th June. We hope they all have a thoroughly enjoyable day and look forward to hearing of their experience. I want to sincerely thank all of the parent volunteers who will travel with the girls on their tours.
- Sixth Class Heritage Trip: Ms. Marrinan’s and Ms. De Faoite’s classes will visit the rath and the old graveyard on Tuesday 4th and Thursday 6th May respectively, weather-permitting, as part of their local history / heritage studies. On their trek through the town, they will examine all the Georgian buildings and learn about the history of our village. They will be led on their historical walk by our former Principal, Betty Lawlor. We are very grateful to Betty for her generosity in sharing her time and vast historical expertise with us. We hope the girls have a thoroughly enjoyable day and gain a deeper appreciation of the wonderful village in which we live.
- Reminder: Phones, smart-watches, digital devices or toys are not allowed at school or on any of our school tours. Please see our Mobile Phones and Electronic Devices Policy and our Code of Behaviour on our school website.
- Open Afternoon for New Junior Infants: Next year’s Junior Infants (2024/25 school year) and their parents are invited to an open afternoon in the school on Thursday next, 6th June at 1.45pm. The children will get the opportunity to visit their new classroom, meet the current infant teachers and mingle with their new classmates. We look forward to meeting with them and their parents.
- Prizes for our School: I would like to thank Grace Spellman, from Mr. O’sullivan’s Third Class, who has recently won two pries for our school. She took part in a Science Quiz on Today FM and won €500 of Science equipment for our school. She also won the Pink Lady: BEEPink Competition, the prize being a visit to her class in June from a member of Federation of Irish Beekeepers’ Associations (FIBKA). This beekeeper will facilitate a bee-keeping demonstration for Mr. O’Sullivan’s class, complete with prizes for the children. Well done Grace!
- Attendance: As a staff, we are quite concerned about what we see as a serious deterioration in attendance at our school since pre-Covid times. We have a large number of children who are currently falling into the ‘at risk of chronic absenteeism’ category as defined by Tusla, i.e. children whose attendance is below 95% (currently 9 or more days absent out of 161 to date). We also have a number of children whose attendance is at less than 90% – defined as ‘Chronic Absenteeism’ by Tusla. These children have missed 17 or more days to date, which is a large chunk of the school year and has massive implications on academic, social and emotional development. Children who fall into either of these brackets are negatively impacted and will not be achieving to their full potential. This will be reflected in their standardised test scores, in class tests and in teacher observation. Chronic Absenteeism frequently leads to school refusal behaviours and is also linked to poor academic performance and early school drop-out. So concerned are the staff around this new trend, that we have made the decision to place attendance as the focus of our School Self-Evaluation in the next school year. Our Deputy Principal, Ciara Ruttledge will be making contact with families about whom we are concerned early in the new school year, with a view to offering supports to improve attendance. Our children want to be at school – it is a happy place to come, to learn and to socialise with friends. We are asking you all to prioritise your daughter’s attendance at school and to support us in bringing about an improvement in our whole-school attendance. You can check your daughter’s attendance statistics on the Aladdin Connect app. Please let us know if you have issues accessing this.
- Sixth Class Education Passport deadline: All the ‘My Child’s Profile’ sheets for completion by parents/guardians of Sixth Class pupils and the ‘My Profile’ sheets for completion by Sixth Class pupils should be returned to school by tomorrow. They will be sent, as part of your daughter’s Education Passport, along with her end-of-year report to her secondary school.
- After-School Activities: This year saw a number of different after-school activities take place for the children in the school. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of the teachers who were involved in the after-school programme of activities. These teachers voluntarily gave up their free time to organise and run the activities and we are very fortunate to have such a dedicated staff, who are willing to take on this task with such great enthusiasm.
- Non-uniform Days: To facilitate the Uniform Swap Day being organised by the Parents’ Association on the day of the holidays (details to follow), Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th June will be non-uniform days. This will give parents the opportunity to get the uniforms ready for the Swap Day. We would encourage all parents to come in and take a second-hand uniform for their daughter(s) for next year.
- Schoolbook Scheme Book Collection: All schoolbooks will be collected from children on Friday 21st June. Please ensure your child’s books are in good condition and ready for inspection on that day. There should be no marks on these books as they are the property of the school.
- Library Books: All books should be returned to our school library by Wednesday 19th June. Charges will be imposed in the case of damaged / missing books.
- Sixth Class Graduation: Graduation Mass for our Sixth Class girls will take place at 10am on Tuesday 25th June in Rathangan Church. All parents and family members are welcome to attend. All classes will attend this Mass, which also marks the end of a busy school year. Our Sixth Class will participate in the ceremony and our school choir led by Ms. De Faoite, Ms. Rowley and Ms. Dillon will provide the music and singing. Following the Mass, we will host a celebration for our sixth class pupils and their families, at which we will present the girls with their graduation certificates and hoodies. They have been an amazing group of pupils, who have been excellent ambassadors for our school, who have been motivated and eager to give of their best and who, most importantly, have emanated our school ethos and have displayed kindness to the younger members of our school community. We are very proud to have had the pleasure of teaching this group of girls over the past eight years and we wish them the very best of luck as they transition to secondary school. I would like to thank the parents from our current fifth class who have volunteered to bake for the event and to serve tea/coffee.
- End-of-Year Reports: End-of-year reports will be released to parents on the Aladdin app on Thursday 13th June.
- Thank you: As this is our final Fortnightly Bulletin of the year, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the teachers and staff of Bunscoil Bhríde for all their dedication and hard-work throughout what has been another busy and exciting year for the school. We are really blessed to have such a fantastic staff. I would also like to thank our Parents’ Association who have shown such generosity of time and energy and are a true credit to the school. Our Board of Management also deserves our praise and thanks. All members of the Board work quietly behind the scenes in a voluntary capacity to ensure the smooth running of our school. Their generosity of time and dedication to the school cannot be overstated and we all owe them a debt of gratitude. Finally, I would like to thank all the pupils and parents of our school, who have made my job as Principal a pleasure and who make Bunscoil Bhríde the wonderful school that it is.
- Next year: We will re-open on Wednesday 28th August at 8.50am. New Junior Infant children will come to school on the first morning at 9am and from the second day onwards they will begin at 8.50am with the other children. The new Junior Infants will go home at 12pm for the first two weeks (up to and including Tuesday 10th September) to ease the transition, and after this (from Wednesday 11th September) they will go home at 1.30pm.
- June Bank Holiday Closure: The school will close on Monday 3rd June for the June Bank Holiday weekend.
- Summer Holidays: The school will close at 11.45am on Thursday 27th June. I would like to wish you all a very enjoyable and restful summer holiday and I look forward to meeting and working with you all in September.
Kind regards,
Maria Rogerson