Dear Parents / Guardians,
We hope all is well with you this fortnight. Our news is as follows:
- Support for Ukraine: Tomorrow we will hold a non-uniform day and are asking the children to wear blue or yellow (the colours of the Ukrainian flag) to show our support to the people of Ukraine. We are asking all children to bring in a small donation for the Scoop Foundation. The SCOOP Foundation (https://scoopfoundation.org) is an Irish NGO that is supporting displaced children in transit from Ukraine to Poland. Working in a network of local NGOs, SCOOP will help provide a safe space and professional support for Ukrainian children arriving to Poland.
- World Book Day: World Book Day is being celebrated in the school today. All classes are participating in various different book-related activities and are having lots of fun. Our aim is to encourage children to read at home and to learn to love books. We would ask that you support us by encouraging reading and by taking your child to the library regularly. Book tokens to the value of €1.50 have been distributed to all children to mark World Book Day.
- Seachtain na Gaeilge: Tá Seachtain na Gaeilge beagnach buailte linn arís (7ú – 16ú lá de mhí Marta). Beimid go léir ag úsáid cúpla focal chomh minic agus is féidir i rith Seachtain na Gaeilge. Beidh an Céilí Mór ar siúl againn ar an Máirt, an 15ú lá de mhí Márta. Beimid ag caitheamh éadaí glasa ar an lá sin. Beir bua agus bain taitneamh as Seachtain na Gaeilge! Please attempt the cúpla focal at home with your child(ren) as well. Tuesday 15th March will be a non-uniform day to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge and we will dress in green on that day. While all the classes will engage in activities to mark Lá Glas (Green Day) on this day, all classes will also take part in An Céilí Mór sa halla. Photographs of the event, together with activities of the day will be available to view on www.bunscoilbhride.ie
- Football / Camogie: We are delighted to announce that after-school training can recommence. Training will be held for Fifth and Sixth Class pupils on Wednesdays from 2.25pm to 3.15pm. The training will alternate between camogie and Gaelic football, allowing the girls to experience both sports. If you wish your daughter to take part, please ensure you have given permission via the Aladdin app. I want to sincerely thank Ms. Frawley, Ms. Millane and Mr. O’Sullivan who are so generously volunteering their time after school to coach the girls.
- School Tours: Teachers are currently finalising school tour details for the summer term. All classes from Senior Infants to Sixth Class will go on a school tour this year (Junior Infants will engage in a Teddy Bears’ Picnic here at the school in the last term). Details of the tour destinations and the cost will be issued to all parents of children in these classes in the coming fortnight. 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.
- Parent Volunteers: We frequently require parent volunteers to accompany us on school trips, work with classes or get involved in various activities here in the school. Under the National Vetting Act, all volunteers coming into our school must be Garda vetted through our diocesan office (Kildare and Leighlin). The process is very straightforward, but can take up to two / three weeks to complete. The forms required for Garda vetting for the school are available here in the office. Please let us know if you wish to be vetted. We would urge as many of you as possible to do so.
- Engineers’ Week: Engineers’ Week takes place next week (7th – 11th March). All classes will engage in coding activities during the course of the week, using Beebots and Robotic Lego. Fifth and Sixth Class pupils will also get the opportunity to meet with an engineer. They will engage in an interactive Zoom talk with Margaret O’Halloran, director of technology management on Monday. Information on Engineers’ Week can be found at www.engineersweek.ie .
- Oral Language: The theme for the month of March will be ‘Descriptions and Descriptive Language’. All classes will be focusing on this theme for the month and we would ask that parents support us at home, by using rich, descriptive language as much as possible, drawing children’s attention to such language in stories and discussing with them what they’ve learnt in school on this topic.
- Footwear Reminder: For health and safety reasons, canvas runners (Converse etc.) cannot be worn in school. All footwear must provide sole support.
- STEM Badge of Excellence: I am delighted to announce that our school has been selected as one of only fifty schools in the country deemed eligible to apply for the 2022 Badge of Excellence for STEM Awareness (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). The Badge of Excellence for STEM Awareness will focus on outcomes for increasing awareness and excitement about Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) among pupils, teachers and parents, with all classes engaging in STEM activities over the coming months. I want to thank Ms. Ryan who is leading our school in this initiative and all of the staff who have been working hard in the promotion of the STEM subjects in our schools.
- Punctuality: It is vital that your child attends for school on time. Arriving even 12 minutes late for class each morning effectively means your child is missing out on one hour of tuition every week.
- Apple Trees: I want to thank the Rathangan Tidy Towns Committee, who very kindly donated two apple trees to our school. They have been planted in the grass area on the Newtown Road yard and we look forward to watching them grow and enjoying the fruit they will produce in the coming years.
- Camogie: Tadhg Fennin will complete his last training session in our school next week. He will train the Junior and Senior Infant Classes, as well as Ms. Coughlan’s and Ms. Fitzpatrick’s classes on Tuesday next, 8th March. I want to thank Tadhg for his work over the past few months with our girls and I also want to thank Rathangan GAA for kindly allowing us use of their hurls and helmets. We hope the girls have been inspired to take up camogie with Rathangan GAA. For further information on the training, please contact either James Brennan (Underage Chairperson) on 0879063720 or Jason Page (Hurling Co-ordinator) on 0868270062.
- Half day closure: The Department of Education and Skills have instructed all schools to close for a half-day this term to facilitate staff inservice in the new Primary Languages Curriculum. Our half-day closure will take place on Wednesday 16th March. Children in Cohort 2 (Ms. Ryan’s, Ms. De Faoite’s, Ms. Costello’s, Ms. Rowley’s, Ms. McEvoy’s, Ms. Coughlan’s and Ms. Fitzpatrick’s classes) will finish at 11.40am and children in Cohort 1 (Ms. Frawley’s, Ms. Geraghty’s, Ms. Gorman’s, Ms. Millane’s, Ms. Ruttledge’s and Mr. O’Sullivan’s classes) will finish at 11.45am.
- Helping your child with spelling: As detailed in our last Fortnightly Bulletin, Brendan Culligan will deliver a talk for all of our parents on ‘how to help your child with the learning of spellings’. The session will take place on Zoom at 8pm on Monday March 21st. We would hope that most of our parent body would be able to join in on his Zoom session with us on March 21st. The link will be shared with you all closer to the date.
- 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.
- St. Patrick’s Day: The school will close for St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday and Friday 17th and 18th March. Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh go léir!
Kind regards,
Maria Rogerson