Newsletter
January 26th, 2024
Carol’s Junior Infants create their own woodland scene with felt today in the Ark
Good afternoon parents / Guardians,
I hope you have had a nice week.
We have had a great week, the highlight, of course being Intercultural Day on Wednesday.
Lots to report from D7ETNS in the Newsletter this week.
Intercultural Day 2024
Our celebrated Intercultural Day in school this week. We chose the theme of arts and crafts this year, exploring and appreciating visual art of countries and cultures around the world.
We were very lucky to have many parents visit the school to tell the children about an art form or artist they have a connection with. Many classes were then inspired to create their own art based on this artist or artistic style. Some of the experiences included creating Tingatinga art from East Africa, arranging collages based on the French artist Matisse, learning about Indian culture, a Capoeira lesson, Chinese calligraphy and making headbands inspired by the Mexican artist Frieda Kahlo. Other classes created indigenous Australian art, constructed Egyptian pyramids, learned about Portuguese art and created carnival masks from Poland. Our school is looking very colourful after Intercultural Day as many classes have displayed their art outside their classrooms.
All classes had an opportunity to showcase their creativity at school assemblies. It was lovely to see how many countries and cultures are represented in our school community. We took lots of photos which will be included on the school website.
The staff and children would like to sincerely thank all the volunteers who visited classes this week and made Intercultural day so interesting and meaningful for the children.
Book Fair
We are delighted to announce that we will be holding a Scholastic Book Fair from 7th – 13th February. This will provide children with the opportunity to browse and buy books in school (paid for online at home). The school will receive up to 60c for every €1 spent, in the form of free books.
More information is available here: https://bookfairs.scholastic.ie/parents?nt=t (Please note we have not yet opened our online payment system. More information will follow next week re ordering books).
In order to run the Book Fair, we are hoping to recruit some parent and guardian volunteers. Volunteering might involve helping children browse the books, cross-referencing the online payment system with children’s requests, monitoring supply and delivering books to classes.
We realise that 7th– 13th February is a long time to be asking anyone to volunteer. Ideally, we would have someone (or maybe two people) to be there most the time and be familiar with the system, while other volunteers could just come in for a day.
So, on the off chance that you have a lot (or a little!) of time to offer, please email Ciara at ciara@d7educatetogether.com expressing interest. There will be a meeting in reception next Wednesday morning at 8:30 for anyone interested.
School Self Evaluation Committee
Our School Self Evaluation Committee are hoping to gather your thoughts and ideas about our current outdoor school environment and ways we can enhance it for the children of D7 ET and our wider school community.
We would really appreciate you taking the time to answer our survey and, contribute to the process of creating the most effective, enriching and nurturing environment we possibly can.
Many thanks,
Niamh Ní, Padraig
Crochet Crew
Over the past few Wednesdays at sos beag, the 6th class self-titled “Crochet Crew” have been meeting up and learning a new skill. What started as a small group has grown considerably in size, so míle buíochas to Molly, Naoise, Emmy, Amelia, Lua, Elif and Emilia who have been training our new members.
Any half-used / unused balls of yarn that might be gathering dust at home would be put to great use by our budding stitchers and can be dropped up to Ciara in room 23 / Celine in the office. Aran / chunky weight (i.e. thicker strands) would be particularly helpful.
5th and 6th class – Primary Schools track event in Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena on the Sport Ireland Campus
D7 had a very successful haul of medals at the inaugural Primary Schools track event in Abbotstown on Thursday. With two teams in each competition, the children managed to qualify for the majority of the A finals which meant we were competing with our classmates for podium finishes. Our 5th Class girls finished runners-up to a strong Loreto team led by a former D7 classmate. The 5th Class boys grabbed a bronze medal showing great determination to hold on at the finishing line. The 6th Class girls were a revelation as our first team powered home to gold followed by our second team who pipped their opponents right on the tape to claim a one-two for D7. The 6th Class Boys were unlucky with tough lane positions making their job a bit harder. The first team just missed out on a medal as they finished 4th in a very fast race.
The teams had a vociferous following from the stands as a large number of parents turned up to lend their support. Each team gave it their very best and were on hand to cheer on their colleagues at every race. It was amazing to have this opportunity to run in the fabulous surroundings, however I won’t lie, it will make the Bogeys, in a few weeks’ time a difficult sell. Big thanks to the organisers who ran the event like clockwork. Now where did I leave my waterproofs and thermals for the Cross-Country events?
Padraig
Carol’s Junior Infants had a great trip to the Ark in Temple Bar today! They each felted their own woodland scene following a demonstration by Niki Collier. The children were so proud of their artwork, and we all agreed that they deserve to be framed. We had a little lunch in Meeting House Square before getting the Luas back to school. A total success!
Enda’s 4th Class continued their study of China this week by completing a STEM project. The class were required to create a model of the Great Wall of China. The wall needed to meet minimum height, length and strength requirements. The class worked together incredibly well and the resulting structures were very creative
4th Class rounded off their study of China with a visit to the Lighthouse Cinema for a screening of Disney’s Mulan (1998).
Our creative car designers compete against each other during yard time
Have a lovely weekend,
Fionnuala