Bunscoil Bhríde Fortnightly Bulletin – 7th December 2023
Dear Parents / Guardians,
We hope all is well with you this fortnight. Our news is as follows:
Debating: Our wonderful school debaters have made it to the quarter finals of the Kildare division of the Concern Primary Debating Competition! Their next debate will take place next Tuesday, 12th of December, and will see them take on St. Patrick’s N.S. Celbridge in proposing the motion that ‘Electric cars are the best way for countries to reduce their emissions’. Our girls have been working tirelessly researching, writing and practising their debate for next week. We will be streaming the debate in the senior classes on the day, to inspire our future debaters. We wish them and their mentors Ms Costello, Ms Banks and Ms Dillon the very best of luck.
Parents’ Day: We will celebrate Parents’ Day in our school on Friday 15th 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. We understand that lots of our parents will be unavailable to attend on the day, so please do not feel any pressure to come. All of the girls will be included in performing for the visitors who attend and welcoming them to their classrooms. I want to thank our wonderful Parents’ Association, who will be serving tea / coffee and some nibbles for our visitors in our school hall on the day. We would be very grateful of any donations of baked goods for the occasion. The PA are also looking for more volunteers, who would be available to help out on the day. If you are available, please contact the PA at pabunscoilbhride@gmail.com
Senior Infants – Ms. Costello1st Class – Ms. DillonBluebells Class – Ms. Kelly & Ms. Broe
Room 5Room 6Bluebells Class
10am – 10.30am
2nd Class – Ms. Rowley2nd Class – Ms. Garrahy
Room 4Room 7 (upstairs)
10.45am – 11.15am
3rd Class – Ms. Coughlan3rd & 4th Class – Mr. O’Sullivan
Room 8 (upstairs)Room 10 (upstairs)
11.15am – 11.45am
4th Class – Ms. Geraghty5th Class – Ms. Banks
Room 9 (upstairs)Room 11 (upstairs)
11.45am – 12.15pm
5th & 6th Class – Ms. Marrinan6th Class – Ms. De Faoite
Room 12 (upstairs)Room 3
Credit Union Art Competition: Well done to Holly Fallon in Ms. De Faoite’s Sixth Class, and Mairéad O’Reilly in Ms. Coughlan’s Third Class, whose winning Credit Union Art Competition posters progressed to chapter level – a wonderful achievement! There were a number of other winners within the Mountmellick Credit Union leg of the competition across all classes. They will be announced and their prizes awarded at a prize-giving ceremony here in the school next week (day to be confirmed by Mountmellick Credit Union).
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).
Code of Behaviour: Our Code of Behaviour has recently been reviewed and can be found in the School Policies section of our school website www.bunscoilbhride.ie Please be advised that mobile phones are not permitted at school. Their use at school falls under serious / gross misbehaviour, the consequences of which are serious and could lead to suspension.
Use of social media: Please be advised that social media apps such as Tiktok and Snapchat have a minimum user age of 13 and are wholly unsuitable for children in primary school. We are aware of a small number of children using these apps and can only assume parents are unaware of the dangers they present and the harm they can cause to children. Children at primary school level are emotionally and socially ill-equipped to deal with social media and we would urge all parents to exercise parental responsibility and to ensure children who are online at home are fully supervised at all times. Please check out www.webwise.ie and inform yourselves of the dangers of the apps your children may be using and please take steps to address this usage.
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.
Food Donation Drive: Tomorrow is the final day of the Bunscoil Bhríde Parents’ Association Food Donation Drive. If you wish to donate non-perishable food items, they can be dropped to the main entrance of the school up to tomorrow morning. All items will be distributed to families in the local community.
Switching on of the Christmas Lights: The Rathangan Christmas Lights Committee have requested that our girls (from 2nd to 6th class) sing some Christmas carols at the switching on of the Christmas lights after Mass on Saturday (approx. 7pm). 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 Dillons across from the crib on the night.
Carol Service: Our annual Carol Service will take place in the Church on Monday 19th December at 7pm. All classes from 2nd to 6th will take part in the Carol Service. Ms. De Faoite, Ms. Rowley and Ms. Dillon will conduct the choir and provide musical accompaniment. We look forward to a very enjoyable night.
Christmas Disco: On Thursday 21st December we will hold a Christmas Disco for all classes in our school hall. This will be a non-uniform day and children will be invited to wear Christmas-themed / red clothes. We will dance to Christmas music and look forward to what should prove to be a thoroughly festive experience. We are asking the children to bring in a small donation on the day, all of which will go to Sr. Celine Conway, who is helping less fortunate people of Brazil. Sr. Celine grew up in Rathangan and is a past pupil of our school. We are tremendously proud of the wonderful work she does in Brazil and endeavour to help her every Christmas by raising much-needed funds for her extremely worthy cause.
Christmas Assembly: Our whole-school assembly for December will take place on Wednesday 20th December and will be led by Ms. Geraghty’s Fourth Class and Ms Dillon’s First Class.
Junior Infant Vaccinations: The Junior Infant vaccinations will be administered by staff from the HSE on Thursday 21st December.
Special Visitor: I have heard a rumour that our Parents’ Association have been in contact with a very special person from the North Pole, who may visit the school on Friday 22nd December. We look forward to warmly welcoming our special guest!
Christmas Presents: Again this year, we ask you not to purchase Christmas gifts for teachers. What the teachers really value is the words of thanks and appreciation uttered by pupils and parents. This is worth far more to us than any gift that can be purchased.
Christmas Holidays: The school will close at 11.45am on Friday 22nd December. We would like to wish you all a very peaceful, happy and holy Christmas and every blessing for the year ahead. Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go léir!
Kind regards,
Maria Rogerson
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