Dear Parents / Guardians,
We hope you all is well with you this fortnight. Our news is as follows:
- Changes to our School Uniform Policy: Following consultation with our Student Council, Parents’ Association, staff and Board of Management, a decision has been made to move to our school uniform tracksuit as our only uniform that will be worn by all classes every day, with our formal school uniform discontinued. Please note that there will be no changes in this school year and these changes will only come into effect from September 2024. The rationale for this decision is to facilitate the children in being more active every day. We are hoping to improve fitness levels, support wellbeing and improve attention by having the children use our running track every day. Our school uniform tracksuit consists of a blue polo shirt, a navy half-zip top embossed with the school crest and navy tracksuit bottoms, with a light blue line down the side. Runners or shoes suitable for running should be worn with the school uniform tracksuit. Proper runners with supportive soles are required (no canvas runners, Converse, or Ugg-type boots, which are unsuitable for running are permitted). All shoes that require laces should have the laces tied. When the weather is warm, children may wear plain navy shorts with their uniform.
- Gardening Workshops: Gardening expert, Paddy Madden will engage all of our classes in gardening workshops on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. While much of the planting next week will be completed indoors, we look forward to the classes planting out their seedlings in the school garden in the coming weeks when the weather improves and we are excited about the fabulous crop of fruit and vegetables that we will be harvesting in the coming months. I want to thank Ms. Kelly for organising the gardening workshops and our caretaker, Ray for ensuring our garden is prepared and ready for Paddy’s workshops. Photographs of the planting will be available to view on the class blog pages of our school website.
- Quiz: Our Fifth and Sixth Class Quiz in Rathangan Boy’s N.S. has been rescheduled to take place on Friday 23rd February. Our Third and Fourth Class Quiz will take place on Wednesday next in our school hall and we look forward to welcoming the boys, who will work alongside our girls in mixed teams, with prizes up for grabs. We would ask you to support us at home in preparing the girls for their quiz by helping them to practise and develop their general knowledge skills. Later in the month we will be selecting our top four children, who will represent the school in the Cumann na mBunscol Annual Quiz in Newbridge on March 1st.
- Tag Rugby: Dermot Tierney, from Leinster Rugby has begun coaching our girls in tag rugby. He will be with us every Wednesday for the next few weeks, with each class getting three weeks of tag rugby coaching. The classes already involved are really enjoying the sport and we look forward to their skills developing further over the coming weeks.
- Basketball: Our Cumann na mBunscol basketball league has concluded for this year and I want to congratulate all of the girls who took part. Unfortunately, the semi-final did not go our way but we are so very proud of all the girls’ commitment and teamwork throughout the season. The girls will continue basketball training after the midterm break to prepare for the upcoming basketball blitz in March. I want to thank Ms. Gleeson and Ms. Costello who have been coaching the girls after school each week.
- Hearing Screening: An audiologist from the HSE will visit the school on Wednesday next and will carry out hearing screening with our Junior Infant pupils.
- Next year’s school calendar: Our calendar for the 2024/25 school year has been finalised and will shortly be available to view on our school website www.bunscoilbhride.ie.
- School Tours: Teachers have finalised school tour details for the summer term and all parents received an Aladdin app message earlier this week with all the tour details. A payment request for the school tours can be found under the ‘Money’ tab on the Aladdin Connect menu. All classes will go on a school tour this year. We are endeavouring to keep costs as low as possible. The reason we are eager to inform parents of the cost at this early stage, is to allow for children to save, in order to pay for their own school tour. School tours must be paid in full before Friday 31st May.
- World Book Week: This year World Book Day falls on Thursday March 7th. We have decided to extend the celebrations and celebrate ‘World Book Week’ from Monday 4th to Friday 8th March. All classes will be participating in various different book-related activities during the week. Our aim is to encourage children to read at home and to learn to love books. We would ask that you support us in this endeavour by encouraging reading and by taking your child to the library regularly. All children are asked to dress as a character from their favourite book on Friday 8th March (ensuring that they are appropriately attired for the weather). Book tokens to the value of €1.50 will be distributed to all children during World Book Week.
- Ash Wednesday: Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. We will take all classes from Second to Sixth over to 10am Mass in the church on Ash Wednesday, as is our custom.
- Homework: Homework is an important link between home and school and offers children the chance to consolidate their learning. Please ensure you check your daughter’s homework each evening and sign her homework journal.
- Party Invitations: As it may not always be possible to invite all children from your child’s class to birthday parties, we would ask that all children refrain from handing out invitations in school. This can instead be done outside of the school, in order to avoid upset to children not invited.
- Change of Contact Details: Please check that your contact details are recorded correctly on the Aladdin app and notify the school if you have changed your contact details (phone, email or address). It is important that we keep our records up to date, so that we can always get in contact with you should the need arise. Please ensure you have listed at least two emergency contacts on the app (contact the office if you need assistance with this). Please also let us know if you have not been receiving app messages / text messages / emails from the school.
- School closure: The Department of Education and Skills have instructed all schools to close for a full day during this this school year to facilitate staff inservice in the new Primary Mathematics Curriculum. We have just been notified that our school closure day is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 20th March. There will be no school for children on Wednesday 20th March. Our updated school calendar can be found on our website www.bunscoilbhride.ie
- Midterm Break: The school will be closed on Thursday and Friday next week; the 15th and 16th February for midterm break and will reopen on Monday 19th February. We hope you all have a lovely break.
Kind regards,
Maria Rogerson