Bunscoil Bhríde Fortnightly Bulletin – 6th November 2025

Dear Parents / Guardians,

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

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.

Concern Primary Debating Competition: Our school debating team are busy preparing for Round 1 of the Concern Primary Debating Competition, taking place on Friday, 14th November. They will be proposing the motion “Fines are the best way to tackle textile waste.” 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 Valleymount N.S.. I want to thank Ms. Costello and Ms. Dillon for giving so generously of their time to prepare the girls.

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, 1^st & 2^nd – Spraoi, 3^rd & 4^th – Siamsa, 5^th & 6^th – 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, 14^th November. No cash accepted.

Flu Vaccines: A team from Rathangan Medical Centre will administer the flu vaccine at the school on Tuesday next, 11^th November. The vaccine will only be administered to children whose parents have completed and returned the consent forms.

Christmas Shoe-Box Appeal: If you wish to put together a shoebox for the ‘Team Hope’ Christmas Shoebox Appeal, we ask that you send your box into school tomorrow. Please see the leaflet sent home with all children for more information.

Parent-Teacher Meetings: Please ensure you have booked your time slot for Parent Teacher Meetings for the evening of either Tuesday 18^th or Thursday 20^th November. Booking slots are only available to parents who have not already met their child’s teacher at a Pupil Support Planning Meeting. Booking can be done via the ‘Parent Teacher Meetings’ tab on the Aladdin app. Please ensure you arrive promptly at your appointment time. Meetings will be 10 minutes in duration and we ask that parents knock on the classroom door at their appointed time. Chairs will be provided outside the classrooms. Please ensure you know your child(ren)’s classroom number(s). Rooms 1 to 6 are downstairs and rooms 7 to 12 are upstairs. While these are our annual, formal meetings, if an issue arises for your child during the year, the teachers are happy to meet with you if you make an appointment with Catríona in the office or send a message to your child’s teacher on the Aladdin Connect app.

Department of Education Parental Survey: The Department of Education isconducting an important survey on Primary Schools and is asking that all parents engage with the survey. Please see the attached letter from the Department, which contains details of the survey and the link to access the survey. You will need your Eircode to complete the survey.

Basketball: Basketball season has commenced again at Bunscoil Bhríde for the 2025/2026 year. We are again taking part in the Cumann na mBunscoil league, with 49 of our 5th and 6th class girls taking part. It is great to have such a high interest in basketball again this year. We are due to play three games over the next few weeks, against St. Brigid’s Kildare, Scoil Bhríde, Kilcullen and Scoil Phádraig Naofa, Athy (dates yet to be confirmed). I wish to thank Ms. Gleeson and Ms. Flood for volunteering their time to coach the girls each Tuesday after school. We wish them the best of luck in the league this year.

Parents’ Day: As you will have seen from the Calendar tab on the Aladdin app, we will hold a ‘Parents’ Day’ in the school on Wednesday 17^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. Feeney Jun & Sen Infants – Ms. Costello	Room 1 Room 2
9.30am – 10am	Senior Infants – Ms. Gleeson 1^st Class – Ms. Beary & Ms. Greally	Room 5 Room 3
10am – 10.30am	2^nd Class – Ms. Geraghty 6^th Class – Ms. Coughlan	Room 4 Room 6
10.45am – 11.15am	1^st & 2^nd Class – Ms. Dillon 3^rd Class – Ms. McEvoy	Room 11 (upstairs) Room 8 (upstairs)
11.15am – 11.45am	4^th Class – Ms. Brogan 4^th Class – Ms. Ruttledge	Room 10 (upstairs) Room 9 (upstairs)
11.45am – 12.15pm	5^th Class – Ms. Flood 5^th & 6^th Class – Ms. Marrinan	Room 12 (upstairs) Room 7 (upstairs)

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).

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.
Our Spooky Walk: Well done to all children and parents who put in such a fabulous effort in transforming themselves for our Spooky Walk on the Friday before midterm. We thoroughly enjoyed the occasion and were delighted to see so many of you out along our route to greet us. Thanks especially to Natasha Martin, from ‘Natasha’s’, who, dressed as Mary Poppins, generously distributed lollipops to all our pupils. I would also like to thank you all for your generosity on the day. €374.50 was raised for our Parents’ Association.

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