Dear Parents / Guardians,
We hope you are all well. Our news is as follows:
- School Closure for inservice: The school will close tomorrow, Friday for inservice in the new Primary Curriculum.
- School Closure due to Industrial Action: Following a decision by the public service committee of ICTU, members of major education and public sector unions, including the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) and Fórsa have been directed to take part in a 24-hour national strike on Thursday next. Because our teaching staff and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are members of these unions, the Board of Management has assessed that we cannot ensure the necessary health, safety and supervision of students on this day. The school will be fully closed to all students on Thursday 12th November. If the strike action is cancelled or deferred, we will notify you immediately.
- Parent Teacher Meetings: While we usually hold our parent-teacher meetings in November, they have been postponed this year to January, due to the industrial action, as teachers have been directed by the INTO not to conduct formal parent teacher meetings outside of school time.
- Plays: All classes will perform on the stage in our school hall this year, with half of our classes performing in December and the other half in March. Ms. Coughlan’s sixth Class, Ms. Beary’s and Ms. Greally first class and Ms. Feeney’s Junior Infants will perform on Thursday 3rd December, with Ms. Banks and Ms. Frawley’s third classes and Ms. Costello’s Junior and Senior Infants performing on Tuesday 9th December. While the plays were scheduled to take place at 7pm on both nights, should the industrial action continue, the plays will have to take place during the school day. We will update you as soon as we are aware of any change to this.
- Concern Primary Debating Competition: Our school debating team are busy preparing for Round 1 of the Concern Primary Debating Competition, taking place next week. They will be opposing the motion “Digital technology makes childhood better.” The team has been researching, practising and refining their arguments with enthusiasm and commitment. We are very proud of their hard work and wish them the very best of luck as they get ready to represent our school next week, when they will take on St. Joseph’s N.S., Kilcock. I want to thank Ms. Costello and Ms. Banks for giving so generously of their time to prepare the girls. They will present their speeches to all classes from 3rd to 6th in the halla on Monday and we will have a roving mic, with which we will welcome rebuttals from the floor, allowing all children to hone their debating skills.
- Friendship Week: Friendship Week is being celebrated in the school this week. The emphasis for the week is on creating and extending friendship, with the motto ‘to have a friend, you have to be a friend’. Children in all classes are being encouraged to make new friends within their classes, with lots of fun activities taking place. Today the children are enjoying Friendship Week Coffee Morning (an annual tradition in our school!).
- Tag Rugby: Seán Brien, from Leinster Rugby will begin a four-week block of coaching sessions with all classes from Junior Infants to Second class on Thursday next, 12th November (or on Thursday 19th November should the strike go ahead). We look forward to seeing all the new skills the girls will acquire.
- Christmas Annuals: If you wish to order a Christmas Annual for your daughter (optional), please pay via the e-payment link which was sent to all parents this morning (available under the ‘Money’ tab in the Aladdin app). The annuals are as follows: Jr & Sr Infants – Súgradh, 1st & 2nd – Spraoi, 3rd & 4th – Siamsa, 5th & 6th – Sonas and the cost is €5 per annual. Please type in the name(s) of the annual(s) you wish to order when you are paying on the app (‘Notes’ section) – this is important so that we can order the correct annual for your child(ren). Multiple annuals can be purchased via the payment link. Payment must be made via the e-payment link by Friday next, 13th November. No cash accepted.
- Christmas Shoe-Box Appeal: If you wish to put together a shoebox for the ‘Team Hope’ Christmas Shoebox Appeal, the deadline for return has been extended to Monday. All shoeboxes will be collected from the school on Monday.
- 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).
- Junior Infants 2027/28: We are now accepting applications for admission to our school for the 2027/28 school year. If you know of any families who may be interested in enrolling their child in Bunscoil Bhríde, please spread the word. There will be a three-week window to make an application for a place in Junior Infants 2027/28 (or other classes), with Friday 13th November the application closing date. Applications can be made via a link on our school website homepage at www.bunscoilbhride.ie
- Illnesses: If your child is suffering from an infectious illness or you have found headlice in your child’s hair, 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.
- Bicycles: We love to see children cycling/scooting to school. There is a bicycle rack 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.
Kind regards,
Maria Rogerson