Newsletter
5 06 2023
6th class arrive at their new school on Tuesday.
Good afternoon parents / guardians,
I hope your week has been as good as ours.
Thanks to the great teamwork in D7ETNS, our children arrived safely here on Tuesday. Our building already feels like home, just a much bigger one.
RTE News2day presenter and past pupil Molly O Connor joined us for the occasion. Thanks to our Student Council and Essie for speaking so eloquently to RTE on our behalf.
See link below.
https://www.rte.ie/player/series/news2day-s23-e90/SI0000001210?epguid=IH10000965-23-0090
National Children’s Choir
Well done to our 6th class students who represented D7ETNS in the National Concert Hall last Saturday night. Thanks to Romey who led the teaching of this challenging repertoire. The results were awesome.
Working towards a diverse and inclusive teaching profession
On Wednesday, Grace, our Junior Infant Support teacher spoke at a conference in Maynooth University on ‘Working towards a diverse and inclusive teaching profession’.
Thank you, Grace, for this feedback.
“As the recent Irish census shows, Ireland is an increasingly diverse place, but diversity is not as evident amongst our teaching staff who tend to be female, white and middle class. At the conference, I spoke as a teacher with a disability on a panel with teachers from ethnic minorities, the travelling community and LGBT groups. 1 in 10 people in Ireland has some form of disability, yet there are very few teachers with disabilities. I think that there would be many benefits to having a more diverse and representative teaching profession. So much of what children learn in schools is informal and by having teachers with disabilities in classrooms it helps to normalise disability and the fact that there is so much variation in ability in our society. Teachers with disabilities also help children to understand that we are all inter-dependent. We all have strengths and things that we find difficult and we do not have to do everything ourselves. Needing help doesn’t make us lesser. Teachers with disabilities can also help children to understand the importance of persistence and creative thinking when they encounter a problem or something they think is ‘too hard’. When children on yard ask me to tie their shoelaces, they then have to watch as I do it using one hand and one foot, and I explain that learning to tie shoe laces is something that took me a long time to figure out how to do… but I did get there in the end, as they will with many things that they find hard. I think that teachers with disabilities also have an important role to play for young children who may have extra needs. It’s important to see people ‘like you’ in professional roles and in the media and public life. It can be nice to know that someone shares and understands your experiences, but also it’s hard for children to be something they don’t see. At the conference we explored why we don’t see more people from minority groups in teaching and steps that should be taken to address this. It was a very positive discussion!”
Grace@d7educatetogether.com
GAA news
So near but yet so far.
Both our teams have bowed out from their respective semifinal matches in the last week. First up our girls travelled to Lucan for a clash with Gaelscoil Pádraig. Our opponents got off to a good start and D7 were on the back foot for the rest of the match. The girls worked their socks off in an attempt to regain a foothold, but on the day, the Gaelscoil girls proved stronger.
Next up the boys had an epic journey to the Glencullen at the edge of the mountains. Our opponents were the local National School St Patrick’s. The game was very open and both sides had chances before the home side struck the first score. In a compelling first half, our boys threw everything bar the kitchen sink at the opposition goal, but they repelled all attacks. As the half wound down, a fortuitous free managed to evade all our defenders ending up in our net.
Regrouping at the interval, our lads headed back to renew the battle in the second half. As the game wore on, their 6th Class boys began to take control around the park, and they tagged on a few scores. Our lads’ heads never dropped, and they plugged away for the full match. As the clock wound down, our efforts were finally rewarded with a beautifully crafted goal of our own. The sun finally broke through and we were able to enjoy the spectacular panoramic vista as the final whistle blew.
That marks an end of this year’s campaign, so the training is also finished until September. Unfortunately, we won’t have our 6th class children togging out for the school again but the green shoots were evident from our 4th class participants and our 5th class representatives will be ready to lead the charge next year. Thanks, as always to all the parents for their support from the sideline, I’m sure a visit to Johnny Foxes was very tempting yesterday. That’s all for now but both teams should be very proud of their performances and positive attitude regardless of results. Sin a bhfuil, slán go fóill.
Thanks Padraig and Arlene who coordinated the training and games.
Forest School
Children from Michelle’s class have been enjoying Forest School sessions this term with Grainne our D7ET Forest School Leader. Please find a little flavour of what the children got up to here https://d7educatetogether.com/?p=6798
Thanks Grainne.
Revealing Grangegorman Event
Revealing Grangegorman is a jam packed two days of celebration and fun for all ages taking place in Grangegorman from 2-3 June 2023. The Grangegorman Development Agency, along with TU Dublin, HSE and Workday are hosting a series of free activities and welcome our community neighbours to take part in the fun with us.
Events include a family fun day, from 12-4pm on Saturday 3 June and will be followed by a family-friendly outdoor screening at 5.30pm. It will include games, rides, buskers, tours, historical talks, performances, exhibitions and even a Grangegorman Alien Mystery Tour!
Friday 2 June activities include open house tours of the new Dublin 7 Educate Together school and a public talk between building users, their architects and Grangegorman master planners, John Mitchell and James Mary O’Connor, looking at c.10 years of Grangegorman development. The evening will finish with an outdoor film screening of ‘North Circular’ starting at 6pm.
The full event programme is available on the GDA website at https://ggda.ie/Revealing-Grangegorman-A-Celebratory-Event-Programme.
Úlla Orchard
Our orchard planted in Spring by all the children of D7ETNS has a name! Super shout out and huge thanks to the Student Council for devising a plan so that all the children could be involved in the naming process and for gathering all of the wonderful names proposed by each class.
Úlla Orchard, The First Gathering, Revealing Grangegorman Festival, Saturday 3rd May, 2pm-4pm.
Come join the First Úlla Orchard Gathering to welcome the trees and all they bring to our community. Úlla Orchard has grown out of Seed STUDIO; Placemaking, a collaborative art project that explores and encourages children to imagine a place where human and non-human communities can coexist mindfully. Úlla Orchard was planted in Spring 2023 by the children and staff of D7ETNS. This gathering will begin with a short welcome speech by Gosia Kudyba, GGDA’s Sustainability Coordinator. Booking for this gathering is not essential. Please Feel free to bring a blanket and picnic. Access Úlla Orchard via the car park, East Quad, TUD.
Seed STUDIO; Placemaking, isa collaborative art project by Clodagh Emoe with D7ETNS, funded by DCC Arts Office Award and supported by GGDA and TUD. Huge thanks to Gráinne, (Forest School) for supporting this collaboration.
Thanks Clodagh
Message from Little Learners
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We hope you are delighted with the new school premises, and we congratulate all those who worked so hard over the years to get this huge project completed. We wish all the children, staff, and parents many happy years.
We are thrilled to be providing the afterschool for your children and look forward to many happy and creative hours in their company.
As requested by parents, we have amended our hours to suit as many families as possible. We will now offer three services:
- Playclub for Junior and Senior Infants (1.10pm to 2.10pm)
- Afterschool from either 1.10pm or 2.10pm up to 4.30pm (no hot meal)
- Afterschool from either 1.10pm to 2.10pm up to 6pm (hot meal included)
If you wish to book in for the service, please complete and return the attached application form, together with the deposit. The service will start on the first day of school in September. All fees and other information can be found on the application form. Please note, your child’s place will only be confirmed once we are in receipt of both a completed application form and deposit. Forms can be returned to this email address
We will respond to you once we have received and processed your application form. If you do not hear from us by the end of June, pop us an email.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us on this email address: afterschoold7@gmail.com
Looking forward to getting to know you all.
Happy Summer!
Nessa and the team.
Have a lovely long weekend.
School reopens on Thursday morning.
Fionnuala