Dublin 7 Educate Together National School

Newsletter

5 05 2023

Great excitement this week as some classes walked up to see our new school

Good afternoon parents / guardians,

I hope you have had a nice week. We are busy here making sure our new school is ready for us on Tuesday, May 28^th. Our Smartboards have been installed this week and furniture delivery will start next week.

However, it is business as usual here in Lower Grangegorman. Lots to report in today’s Newsletter.

Irishtown Cross Country Race 

On Thursday our D7 runners returned with an excellent haul of medals from the last Cross Country event of the year. The event was excellently organised by the Dublin City Council, running like clockwork and the weather Gods were kinder than on our last outing.  

Arriving early, we took the opportunity to walk the course route to familiarise ourselves with the route. We started with a victory in the 3rd Class race and continued our good form throughout the day with multiple trophies and medals being amassed. 

With almost 800 children competing from thirteen different schools, D7 definitely took home the lion’s share of the prizes. Congratulations to all our runners who all played their part in the success and a big thank you to our loyal supporters on the day, who cheered us from the sidelines. 

5^th class Science

Weird Science

Are lemons the solution to the energy crisis? What causes natural disasters? Do ghosts exist? Who among us isn’t kept awake at night pondering these very questions? In 5th class we attempted to confront these pressing questions by way of science projects. It was fun, it was messy, it was often inconclusive, and I would venture to say there have rarely been so many baked goods during school science project presentations

Thanks Wesley.

Safe Cycling

Both 6^th Classes continued today with their Safe Cycling lessons. Colm and Liam put the children through their paces as they navigated their way around the schoolyard. The series of lessons brings the children through safety issues facing cyclists and basic bike and helmet checklists. The lessons are carried out with a number of different games and challenges. We are really looking forward to progressing out onto to the public road in the next few weeks. Colm said going forward it would be beneficial for the children to bring their own bicycle if they have one.

 Van Gogh Immersive Experience.

On Friday the 5th of May Veronica’s 5th class went to ​​the Van Gogh immersive experience.

We arrived at the Van Gogh experience at 9:30am. Kevin’s Dad (the manager) works there, so he invited us to the experience. We were very lucky and we each had VIP bands so we could use the VR headsets.

When we got there, there was an information panel and a statue of Van Gogh from before he cut off his ear. In the next room there were replicas of most of his work, the Sunflower collection featured most prominently. There was also a replica of the Starry Night.

The most interesting room had a mirrored corridor into and out of the room. There were four big projections on the wall, about all his paintings, his motivational thoughts and his life, from his birth to his death. There were sun loungers that we could sit in and enjoy the projections.

Through that room was a colouring room. In the colouring room, there were some colouring sheets that you colour from Sunflowers to Starry Night. But, they were printed out.

The final room was the VR room. There were swivel chairs with comfy blankets. In the VR animation, it was where he grew up and where he got his main inspiration. It was as if you were there beside Van Gogh. It was a wonderful trip and we want to say Thank You to Kevin’s Dad for inviting us to this wonderful experience.

Thank you, Art, Jack K., Elliott L., Tilly and Manus

Hearing & Vision

HSE Hearing and Vision for Junior Infants will take place in school on Monday

Calendar

Please see our Calendar for 2023 24

School opens on Wednesday 30th August 2023.

School closures are as follow.

The last school day of the 2023/24 school year is Friday 28^th June 2024.

Community News

Seán Ó Seanchair and Emmet Ó Briain, parents of Íde and Yann in Deirdre’s Senior Infant class of D7 Educate Together, are inviting parents living in Dublin 7 to a meeting about organising “play street” events this summer across Dublin 7.

Play streets are neighbourhood-led initiatives to create opportunities for children to play freely together on their own doorstep [by closing a street to through traffic at an agreed time]. Children take over their street to do, well, whatever they want to do: make up games, kick a ball around, elastics, marbles, drawing, sit, skate, skip. This could be a once-off event for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon, something more regular, or a long-term permanent designation of a streets as “play streets” (there are precedents across the EU and beyond for each of these): it’s up to the people living on the street to decide.

We want parents from across Dublin 7 in Arbour Hill, Broadstone, Cabra, Phibsborough, and Stoneybatter to come along to the meeting, tell us what you think and consider getting involved.

A lot of you will remember being able to play on the street and roam much more freely than our children now can. Today, Ireland has one of the lowest rates of children’s independent mobility (the freedom to walk to places other than school or play outdoors without adult supervision) in Europe. The play streets initiative is about giving our children that experience of street play and greater independence on their own street.

The meeting will be held on May 17th at 6.30pm in Third Space in Smithfield. Spread the word!

RSVP to: d7playstreets@gmail.com

Have a nice weekend,

Fionnuala