Dear Parents/Guardians,
I would like to update you on some initiatives which are currently on-going in our school.
8th Green Flag!
We have just been awarded our 8th Green Flag which is a huge achievement for all our pupils, staff and school community. The theme for the 8th Green Flag in Global citizenship. With this in mind and taking into account the young age of our pupils, we are focusing during the month of May on in our school and community as well as the other themes of recycling, litter awareness, energy conservation etc.. A special thanks to Mrs. Phelan for spearheading the Green initiative.
Active Flag
We are currently in the final stages of making an application to renew our Active flag where we are making special efforts to include active activities in our daily lessons and during recreation. Our 1st classes will begins swimming next week, Coach Morgan is continuing to coach gymnastics every week and PE equipment will be available to Senior Infant Pupils to use during play time on a trial basis next week also. We are also liaising with local sporting organisations and individuals giving children experiences of a variety of sports such as football, hurling, yoga, dance, athletics etc. Active Week will take place during the week of June 18th-22nd. Thanks to Ms. Mc Govern and Ms. Sweeney for spearheading this initiative.
Healthy Eating
In association with our Parents Association, we have a particular focus on Healthy Eating through our Healthy Eating policy, taster days and cookery demonstrations
Mindfulness initiative
Junior Infants have been practising yoga and mindfulness throughout the school year as part of our Wellbeing/Sphe programme. As the weather gets better we hope they will be able to practise their sun salutations under a real sun!!
Cumann Na Mbunscoil
Our First Class football team will be playing matches during April/May in the Cumann na mbunscoil competition, playing teams from St. Patricks, Educate Together, Curragh Boys and Ballymany Junior School. Thanks to Ms. Sweeney and Mr. Griffey for managing and training the team.
Discover Science and Maths Award
We are currently preparing to make an application to become a Science School of Distinction awarded by the Science foundation of Ireland. This involves pupils engaging with science in an interactive way, logging experiments and putting together a portfolio of Science and Science related activities throughout the year. Allied to this, we have been very fortunate to have been awarded funding for STEM related materials and activities from Henkel Group. Again, thanks to Mrs O Connor for spearheading this project
Bronze Digital School award
Last year, we were successful in receiving this award. Currently, our Junior Infants have been engaged in utilising ipads for literacy and this has been both successful and enjoyable. Thanks to Mrs. Mahon for leading this.
World meeting of Families
Representatives of this school, pupils and staff will be joining students and staff from schools all over the diocese on May 4th to participate in a special ceremony in preparation for the World meeting of families and the visit of Pope Francis in August 2018.
Junefest 2018
Our School Choir will be performing as part of the Junefest programme on June 7th . The choir have performed in the Holy Family Convent, Newbridge Day-care Centre and the Whitewater Shoppinng Centre. The children practice during lunchtime and have a large repertoire of songs at this stage-Thanks to Ms. Nea, Ms. Cuniffe, Ms. Deasey, Mrs O Driscoll and Mrs Hudson.
Newbridge Library/Riverbank Theatre
We are very grateful to Newbridge library and the Riverbank theatre for welcoming our pupils to so many events throughout the year from Lego Workshops, story-telling, drama productions etc . We are extremely lucky to have such a wonderful resource at our doorstep and I would encourage all our parents to make full use of such a fantastic facility.
Gaeilge
Gaeilge is taught through songs, poems, drama as well as through gnath chaint an lae (conversation through Irish) Our pupils learn about aspects of Irish Culture such as Ceili dances and traditional music where we have visits from traditional musicians such as John Spillane as well as our daily lessons through Gaeilge and seachtain na Gaeilge
Artist in Residence
An application has been submitted to Kildare County Council to participate in the Artist in residence programme. We look forward to a successful outcome where a professional artist will work with the pupils on a specific themed project. Thanks to Ms. Fenlon for putting in the proposal.
This is just a snapshot of the various initiatives that are ongoing and a special thank all the staff, pupils and families for supporting us. Please look at our website and twitter page for regular updates on the activities of the school. Thank you to all involved.
Margaret Harnett