Newsletter

20 09 2023

Friendship week

Good afternoon parents and guardians,

What a lovely week we have had here in school. We celebrated Friendship week with the aim of getting to know each other, creating a positive school climate and embedding anti-bullying strategies early in the year (all while having lots of fun!). We learned about relating to others in positive ways through discussion, stories, music, art and games. Senior classes read books about feelings, friendship and kindness to junior classes. Classes came together for assemblies at the end of the week to share their learning. We continue to appreciate our new school building with our large library for buddy reading, our big corridors for assemblies and the wall space to display our beautiful Friendship week art.

Thank you Ciara for coordinating this.

Reminder that school is closed next Friday for Primary language Curriculum training and Monday, October 2nd.

GAA News 

Our Girls were up first this week with a trip to Fairview where they faced St Mary’s. With a depleted squad, there was nervous anticipation in advance of the throw in but their fears never materialized as it became obvious early on the gulf in class. Right from the start, D7 peppered the opposition goal building up a substantial lead before the half time whistle. 

There were wholesale changes made in the second half as our backs swopped with the forwards and stronger players were rested to give our opponents a chance to get into the game, however the onslaught continued and D7 ran out comfortable winners in the end. The girls are back in action on Wednesday in a crucial decider on quarter final positions.  

On Thursday the lads were at home to Our Lady of Victories Ballymun. The lads started brightly and showed great promise going forward but were thwarted time and again by a resilient Ballymun defence. Having been denied three clear goal scoring opportunities we were caught on the counterattack and conceded a few well taken points.  

Regrouping at half time, the boys resumed the battle with gusto and their endeavour was soon rewarded with a brace of quick-fire goals. Game on! The game developed into an end-to-end epic with lads flying into tackles. The width of the upright denied us another goal as D7 dominated the proceedings, but the winning score eluded us. OLV tagged on an insurance point to escape from TUD with a valuable away win. We couldn’t have asked for any more from the lads in Blue and they will get another opportunity to shine next Thursday when we face Holy Spirit at home. 

Training again for both teams on Monday. 

Arlene, Niamh, Michael & Padraig 

On Friday 15th September Arlene’s class celebrated ‘International Dot Day’. This is a day to celebrate creativity, courage and collaboration. We started by reading the story ‘The Dot’ by Peter H Reynolds and then we used the story to inspire us to create our own mark and make some dot pictures using paint and a variety of materials (bottle lids, cotton buds, cardboard tube and our fingers). Together our pictures make a beautiful display outside our classroom!

Finally, morning arrival is working efficiently. The children are doing very well waiting in their line until the bell goes at 8.30am. Thanks, everyone for the efforts you are making to have your children in school on time. Children love the start of the school day in class. It is an opportunity to chat and socialise with their friends before class starts at 8.40am. Also, while we love our Friday morning visits, we must continue to maintain the integrity of the school day. Parents and guardians must leave the classrooms at 8.40am. Today it was a little later than this when class could start as there were still some people in the building at 8.50am. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Please see some interesting flyers I have been sent this week.

Fionnuala McHugh, September 22, 2023