Dear Parents / Guardians,
We hope you all is well with you this fortnight. Our news is as follows:
- Drumming Workshop: All children in the school are participating in a DRUM NATURE drumming workshop today and tomorrow. The aim of DRUM NATURE is to use rhythm-based events to create a positive outlet for creativity, energy and self-expression. Using drums and percussion, the children, together in their class groupings will create a unique in-the-moment rhythm consisting of everyone’s individual contribution. A facilitator will assist this process, but ultimately the music will be made by the children. Drum circles are about community, creativity and fun. I want to thank our wonderful Parents’ Association, who are fully funding these workshops.
- Football: Our wonderful senior girls were victorious in their game against Sallins National School yesterday, finishing on a scoreline of 3-5 to 3-1. The girls will be playing away to Gaelscoil Chill Dara next week, with a date and time to be confirmed. Well done to the girls and their coaches Mr. O’Sullivan and Ms. Marrinan
- Food Dudes: We are commencing phase two of our Food Dude’s healthy eating intervention on Monday. Under this phase, your daughter will receive five days of fruit and vegetables for a “Food Dudes Week”. This is to help maintain the healthy eating ethos in the school and to encourage your daughter to eat and enjoy fruit and vegetables. Information about Food Dudes can be found on the information sheet that was distributed to all children this week.
- Half-day School Closure: The school will close at 11.45am on Monday next, 15th April to facilitate staff inservice and planning.
- Enrolment Meeting: A meeting with the parents of children who will be enrolled in the 2024/25 Junior Infant class will be held in the school hall on Wednesday 17th April at 8pm. The new parents will get the opportunity to meet with the current Junior Infant teachers and to mingle with one another over a cup of tea, kindly provided by the Bunscoil Bhríde Parents’ Association.
- Lego Workshops: Our Third and Fourth Classes will take part in Lego workshops exploring biodiversity on Tuesday 16th April. The workshops will be led by heritage expert, Jessica Farrell and we look forward to seeing the children’s creations, which will be available to view on their class blog at www.bunscoilbhride.ie . The workshops will be fully funded by our Parents’ Association.
- Heritage Trips: Ms. Geraghty’s and Mr. O’Sullivan’s fourth classes will visit the Curragh and Pollardstown Fen on Monday 22nd April and Ms. Coughlan’s and Mr. O’Sullivan’s third classes will visit the Bog of Allen Nature Centre on Tuesday 23rd April. They will be guided on their trip by heritage specialist, Nuala Madigan. It is hoped that the children will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of these local natural sites. The trips are part of our Whole School Geography Plan and will be fully funded by the Parents’ Association.
- Oral Language: The theme for the month of April will be ‘Idioms, Riddles, Jokes and Proverbs’. All classes will be focusing on this theme for the month and we would ask that parents support us at home, by sharing some proverbs, jokes, riddles and idioms with children and discussing with them what they’ve learnt in school on this topic.
- Addition to our staff: We are delighted to welcome back Mary Cunningham to our staff this term. Mary is a client of KARE and is engaging in work placement carrying out cleaning duties around the school for an hour every Thursday in term three. I know the staff and children will be delighted to see her smiling face back in the school again.
- Bake Sale: As our Rang a Sé enter their final term, they have begun to plan their final farewell from Bunscoil Bhríde. As is tradition, the Rang a Sé will be fundraising to raise money to cover the costs of their sixth class hoodies. They will hold a ‘Final Farewell Fair’ on Friday 19th April in the school halla. The fair will involve a now annual bake sale, but in addition to that, the children will have various other items on sale such as books, toys, jewellery, arts and crafts etc. They will also have games, including ring-toss, guess the weight, guess the number of marbles in the jar and pin the tail on the donkey and will they will provide nail painting, baking demonstrations, karaoke stands etc. Any donations of baked goods on the day would be greatly appreciated and we look forward to seeing the girls wearing their hoodies on Graduation Day on Tuesday June 25th.
- School Rules reminder: Jewellery (with the exception of small stud earrings and a watch) are not permitted at school.
- Anti-Bullying Policy: The annual review of our anti-bullying policy will take place during term three. It can be viewed on our school website www.bunscoilbhride.ie. It addresses cyber-bullying, which as we know has become an issue of national concern. I’m sure you are all already aware that there are risks and dangers associated with your child using social media. If you allow your child to use social media, parental supervision is required at all times. I would like to make you aware of the fact that the legal age for using most social media apps is thirteen. Our school has safeguards in place with regard to pupil internet/website access at school. It is important that all parents are aware that use outside school falls under parental responsibility.
- Attendance Campaign: In an effort to improve our attendance, we have begun an attendance drive which will run for the duration of the third term, and aims to improve attendance levels. We would ask all parents to support us in this attendance drive. Worryingly, we have seen a significant increase in poor attendance post-Covid. This appears to be a national issue and the Department of Education are encouraging all schools to attempt to address it. We are concerned that some of our families are still impacted by the messaging that was in place during the period of Covid restrictions, about keeping children at home if they had any sort of a cough etc. and children are subsequently falling into patterns of poor attendance. While sick children should never be sent to school, we need to look at how we define sickness. All of us will get headcolds and minor illnesses during the year. In general, children should be sent to school if they have a headcold or a cough as long as they do not have a high temperature or have not been instructed by a GP to stay at home. We would encourage you to look at your child’s attendance on the Aladdin Connect app. Tusla inform us that most children should be at school more than 95% of the time i.e. over 95% attendance constitutes “normal / regular attendance”. Children whose attendance falls into the 90% – 95% attendance category are “at risk of chronic absenteeism” and children whose attendance is below 90% are defined as having “chronic absenteeism”. Such levels of absenteeism have an effect on children academically, socially and emotionally and we are eager to minimise this risk for our pupils and get our attendance levels back to pre-Covid times.
- Bus Éireann School Transport: Applications for school transport for the 2024/25 school year can be made online at https://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=256 and must be submitted by 26th April. It is important that applications for school transport are made on time as late applicants are not guaranteed seats.
- Dates for the Diary: All upcoming events for the remainder of the school year, as they become known to us, will be recorded on the Aladdin Connect app, in the ‘Calendar’ section.
- Message from Rathangan F.C.: Rathangan Football Club are eager to start a Girls Only Soccer Academy (Girls born in 2017,2018,2019 & 2020) and an Under 8/9 Girls only (girls born in 2015 & 2016) team this year. They have asked that I circulate the following links to Expression of Interest Forms to all relevant parents. All information is contained within the links.
Girls Only Academy – https://forms.gle/Pvdrpsefukb1ZYMi6
U9’s Girls on Team- https://forms.gle/UH5VpQa58ocR2Fia7
Kind regards,
Maria Rogerson