Newsletter
March 3rd, 2023
Veronica’s 5th class at Science Blast
Good afternoon Parents / Guardians,
Newsletter this week is slightly delayed as I was in Galway at the Educate Together Annual Principals’ Conference. It was a busy programme, but I had a great opportunity to speak with principals from other schools and share our practices and school experiences.
Agreed Report – Board of Management meeting 28/02/2023
The Board of Management met on 28th February. The Board: Unanimously approved a person to be proposed to Educate Together (the school’s patron) as Community Member of the board. Noted the provision of various training courses by Educate Together. Noted various circulars from the Department. Noted that it is to reconstitute itself for a new term to start on 1 December 2023 and confirmed it will follow the required procedures for doing so. Noted that progress on the new school building appears on schedule for a handover date of 6 April. Noted that there were no child protection or bullying incidents to report. Noted the responses to its tender for provision of after-care services and formed a working group to analyse them and report back to the board at its next meeting. Approved various staffing requests. Noted the many activities the pupils have been part of and thanked the staff involved. Reviewed the accounts. Noted some queries regarding IT provision in new school building and agreed to follow these up. Noted that the after-school activities are going well. Offered its condolences to Sarah Graham on the loss of her father.
World Book Day
We celebrated World Book Day on Thursday 2nd March. Our very capable 6th class ran the inaugural D7ET WBD Swap Shop and every student was able to bring one new book home with them. All classes read Dan Santat’s After the Fall, the inspiring story of what happened when Humpty Dumpty got back up again. Some children had the lovely surprise of having their parents and grandparents visit and share stories with their classes.
To see more please click on the link below
Thanks to Ciara and Deirdre for coordinating World Book Day in our school.
Science Blast
On the 28th of February 2023 Veronica’s 5th Class attended the ESB Science Blast in the RDS. The ESB Science Blast is an annual event, it is where primary schools from all over Ireland present their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) projects that they were working on. Our project was “Marvellous Flying Machines – What is the optimum design?” A judge is assigned to your stand to assess your project and after judging they will give you feedback.
We went to the RDS on a bus. When we got off the bus, we went to the stand to see our display and meet our teacher and the first group stayed on the stand, and the rest of us went to a stage show all about gas. When the show was over the second group went on the stand, and then the rest of the class went around to other schools’ stands. Then most of the class came back to our stand and the judge as well as the tv cameras were at our project. Everybody went over to the tv camera except one person who was talking to the judge. We were all on News2day.
https://www.rte.ie/kids/news2day/2023/0228/1359466-news2day-28-february-2023/
The judge left and soon after the tv left, and the next group were on the stand and the rest of the class went around to the other stands. The judge came back to hear more about our project. Then at 12 noon we went to a science show about sport. It was very interesting and great fun and Lelia Ryan represented our school on stage. We then went back to our stand and got our feedback from the judge. She thought our project was amazing – she even wrote “WOW”on our feedback form. Afterwards we packed up our stand, the bus arrived and we came back to school . THANK YOU VERONICA FOR THE GREAT EXPERIENCE !!!!
By Tilly, Naoise, Freya and Lelia
Thanks Veronica for giving our 5th class this opportunity.
The Roar of the Greasepaint, the smell of the crowd…
Vultures of the cultural variety that we are, this week we decided to take in a midweek matinee theatrical performance. In true D7 style, we set off for The Abbey’s cooler and, literally and figuratively, more underground sister-theatre, The Peacock. As per our expectation, there was a welcoming party and refreshments on arrival. The play itself, Christian Ó Reilly’s civil war allegory The Table, received rave reviews
“10/10” “Amazing singing and acting” “A great production in general” “fantastic puppetry”
We were delighted to get out for some culture and a stroll and look forward to more trips as the days brighten and warm.
Wesley
Anna’s 3rd class
Anna’s 3rd class had a week full of books & story. We were very lucky to be invited to Dubray bookshop to meet with Marita Conlon-McKenna. She spoke to us about where her inspiration came from to become an author & shared with us a little excerpt from her new novel Fairy Hill.
We followed this up with a visit to Marsh’s Library which some of the children thought was haunted!
We enjoyed a hot chocolate in St.Patrick’s park to end off our day.
Katrina’s 1st Class
First Class enjoyed a trip to Dubray to meet author Alma Jordon. We listened to an extract from her book The Stormy Night and Alma told us about the farm she grew up on which inspired her stories. Alma was joined by illustrator Margaret Anne Suggs and she showed us how to draw the foxes, dogs and cats which feature in Alma’s books. Margaret was very impressed with our talent for drawing.
Our class were excited to leave with a copy each of The Stormy Night so we can find out what happens next.
Sixth Class Choir
Our sixth-class pupils have been taking part in the National Children’s Choir programme this year. They have risen to the challenge of learning songs from a variety of genres, not only in three-part harmony, but in several languages also, including Latin, Irish, Italian, Spanish, Slovakian and more. To date they have learned twelve songs and are very close to completing the repertoire, with only three to go!
This week they joined children from schools in Finglas, Dunboyne and Huntstown, to rehearse together for a full day of song, under the musical direction of Orla Gillan from NCC. The singing was simply wonderful, full of enthusiasm and energy.
With only one more such cluster meeting left, they are very close to their goal of joining hundreds of other children to sing together at a Gala concert in the National Basketball Stadium in April. The date for this has yet to be announced, but we can’t wait.
Thanks, Romey for this update and for coordinating our NCC Choir this year.
And to finish, just a few housekeeping reminders.
We seem to have a lot of instances of headlice in school, at the moment. Can I remind you all to be vigilant in checking your child’s hair on a regular basis. If it is long, please keep it tied up.
Chewing gum is not allowed in school.
If your child had a mobile phone or a smart watch, they must fill out the form in the office. Phones are to be switched off at all times in school.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend,
Fionnuala
Community News
FFA is a Football Association of Ireland and club initiative that provides football for kids and young adults with special needs. Club coaches run weekly sessions in their club environment with sessions tailored to the needs of the kids and young adults who partake in the sessions. Sessions are fun oriented and non-competitive and people of all abilities are welcome