Newsletter
13 12 2024
D7 Chess tournament
Good afternoon parents and guardians,
I hope you have had a nice week.
Thanks to parents and guardians in Paula / Hanora’s 3rd class for coming to the coffee morning today. Our next coffee morning takes place on January 10th. It will be for the parents / guardians from Jack’s 3rd class.
As per school calendar, school closes next Friday at 12pm for all classes. Parents and guardians have said that on days when we all finish at the same time, yard can be very hectic. For this reason, we will allow the Junior and Senior Infants to leave at 11.50pm. 1st – 6th class children can be collected at 12pm. I hope this eases the congestion on the yard.
Winter solstice
We are excited to remind you that next week, we will come together to celebrate the winter solstice! This ancient celebration marks a time of stillness and renewal, a moment to reflect on the past and welcome the promise of brighter days ahead. Join us next Thursday 19th December for a gathering to embrace the beauty of the season, honour nature’s cycles, and share in the warmth of community!
On Thursday morning, children will arrive and gather in their usual lines. Afterward, they will make their way to their classrooms to collect their lanterns before we then process to Grangegorman. Parents and families are invited to wait along the tree-lined avenue between the soccer and G.A.A pitches, marked Yellow in the map below.
We are also still collecting any spare evergreen branches you may have from your garden, or maybe some cuttings from your Christmas tree. A box for these will be left at the front of the school.
We hope to see you there to mark this joyful occasion as we gather in light and unity.
Warmly,
Wesley, Anna and Carol.
We had our Board of Management meeting on Tuesday night.
Thanks, Grainne, for the Agreed Report.
Agreed Report
The Board of Management met on 9/12/2024
Child Protection and Bullying reports given.
ET’s The Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) of Educate Together will be held on Saturday 10 May 2025 at 10.00 am in Carlow Educate Together National School, Athy Road, Carlow Town.
Revised Roles of ISM shared.
Thanks to Louise, Chair of PGSA and Jen for coordinating, to Stephen, for lodging money and to all the parents fand children who helped raise so much money. Thanks to all families for supporting, we raised almost €7500.
Thanks Ciara and Carol D for enormous effort in creating a beautiful library for our school.
Two staff members to attend a training on Procedures to Prevent and Address Bullying Behaviour for Primary and PP schools.
The school is taking part in ‘Counselling in Primary Schools Pilot’.
Thanks to the PGSA reps for coordinating our weekly coffee mornings.
Thank you to all who coordinated the Digital Detox and to all our families for raising €6000 for the school.
Thanks to all of our families for their voluntary contributions.
Finances shared.
8 new tablets for first class purchased and set up.
School Biodiversity Plan: Experienced volunteers wanted
We are looking for advice from parents/guardians who work as landscapers or gardeners to help us make the green space at the front of the school as biodiverse as possible. Please email Patrick@d7educatetogether.com if you are available to drop into school next week for a chat, largely centred around which species of native plants, trees and shrubs are suitable for our space, and which would be impractical.
In the new year there will be opportunities for greenfingered parents/guardians with enthusiasm as well as expertise to join in and help out with the planting. Everyone has a part to play!
Flag Football
Last Friday children from Padraig’s 4th Class participated in an inaugural tournament run by the NFL and Dublin City Sports Department where 12 primary schools competed in an NFL Flag Football competition. Similar to tag rugby, the sport is non-contact and played along the lines of American Football.
A last-minute drop out by another school allowed us to bring a second team so 20 children were able to experience the day out. The event was held in the National Sports Campus so we didn’t have to worry about the weather. A great day was had by all and each team had four matches over the course of the day.
The eventual winners, Springdale National School, were the fortunate recipients of a trip to Florida where they will compete in an international tournament. As the only 4th Class team competing, both our teams should be very proud of their involvement and hopefully will get another opportunity next year to sample the event.
Indoor Relay
On Monday a 48 strong team headed out to Abbottstown to participate in the Primary Schools Indoor Relay event. Following from last year when the idea was first launched, Dublin City Council decided to make it an annual event. There was a great buzz about the arena as the different schools went through their warmups.
As the heats began, D7 was struck with a number of illnesses/injuries which resulted in some of the girls being asked to double up on the boys’ relay teams. This didn’t prove to be any hinderance as the teams managed to get podium finishes with a particularly sweet first and second position being achieved by the 4th Class boys with 3 girls in their ranks.
Similarly in the 5th Class girls’ event, one of the boys was required to make up the numbers. All told, we ended up with a massive haul of medals and enjoyed a very successful running meet. Roll on the Cross-Country season, however the warm, dry indoor venue does have its merits.
Inter-school chess tournament
The inter-school chess tournament at D7 Educate Together was a great success, with 90 students from 14 different schools coming to compete against each other in a 6 round rapid tournament which, with no clear first place, was fiercely competitive. Big congratulations to the representatives from D7 ET – James, Daniel, Fionn, Gowtham, Frank, Iggy and Hughie Delaney who all fought hard and scored a positive average score of 3.1/6, and extra commendation to James who was first in the group scoring 4/6!
Lighthouse Cinema
On Thursday the 3 first classes, 2 second classes and Katie-Rose’s ALC class went to the Lighthouse cinema to see A Muppets Christmas Carol. We walked down to the Lighthouse for 10am and were back to school in time for big break. It was very exciting to have the whole cinema to ourselves and to be able to go with all of our friends. We all enjoyed it and were very good – even for the scary bits with the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Gingerbread biscuits
Róisín and Kathleen’s first class decorated gingerbread biscuits on Wednesday afternoon. We enjoyed these lovely treats the next day at the cinema.
Tom Crean
Róisín and Kathleen’s 1st class have been learning about Tom Crean for the past few weeks. He was a famous Irish Explorer who went to the South Pole. He saved the lives of many of the men on his expeditions. The children did their first project on Tom Crean, which they have been presenting to the class the past 2 weeks. The also created portraits of Tom using charcoal. See our display of projects on the second floor!
Róisín
These have been left behind after the winter bazaar. Please collect them form the windowsill in the sports hall.
Have a lovely weekend,
Fionnuala