Dublin 7 Educate Together National School

Newsletter

30 06 2023

6th class students after their game against the staff on Tuesday

Good afternoon parents / guardians,

I hope you are all ready to settle into the slower pace of the summer. We have come to the end of another year in D7ETNS. As this is our final Newsletter for this school year there are many people I would like to say thanks to for making this year the success that it was for everyone in our school community.

I would like to thank all of our school staff who work diligently to support our students – teachers, SNAs, Martin our caretaker, Celine our secretary, our bus driver Jake, our cleaning staff Agneiska, Kashia and Alona and Toya and our lollipop people, Denis and Martin.

We have quite a team – 50 people in total involved in the day-to-day running of our school.

I would also like to say a big thank you to the staff who have coordinated many exciting specialist weeks such as Friendship Week, Seachtain na Gaeilge, Intercultural Day, Active  Arts Week. These could not happen unless staff were willing to work outside of school hours to organise them.

Massive thank you to the Management Team here who help in our school. Thanks Padraig, our Deputy Principal who leads the teaching of maths and PE. Thanks Ciara, our Assistant Principal who leads the teaching of English, Irish and SPHE. I would like to express my appreciation to Carmel for her expertise in leading the teaching of Special Educational needs in D7. Thanks to Peadar, who leads the teaching and learning in music, art and drama. Thanks Carol who leads our teaching of the Learn Together Curriculum and Deirdre, who is helping us coordinate our school literacy plan with Ciara. Finally, thanks Katrina who leads the teaching and learning of history, geography and science and keeps our finances in check. She also manages our induction process for all new staff. 

Without all of this support, our school simply would be a very different place indeed.

Parents and Guardians, I cannot thank you all enough. Throughout this year, you have trusted us in our work in D7 and we are always confident that if there were any requirements in terms of addressing your child’sneeds or the needs of our school, you are only a phone call away. This week we owe a massive thank you to the 5^th class parents and guardians who hosted the most fabulous party for our 6^th class graduates. This was the first time we got to trial our new servery and halla mór.. I think the 6^th class had a very memorable day. I appreciate so much the help with our school move especially unpacking our furniture deliveries. Also, thank you so much for the help with clearing our old school. A quote for €10,000 shrank to €350  when Gráinne and Stephen, with your help,   organised the redistribution of all our old furniture. Even today, thanks to everyone who stayed to help cover our books for next year. All of this parental support has been so meaningful and continues to make a big difference to our school.

Míle buíochas also to our Board of Management for their ongoing support. The Board is chaired by Mary Meaney. Mary is incredibly generous with her time and hugely supportive, especially when we have the difficult job of interviewing and filling staffing positions here in school. Mary’s guidance is invaluable and can be keenly felt throughout the school.I would like to thank all the members of our Board of Management – our Treasurer Stephen Kenny, Danielle Clarke Collins, Paul Butler, Olivia Fox Gill, Ben North and our Teacher Rep Katrina Maguire. I feel very lucky to have such a strong support network of people with a vast range of ideas, talents and experiences. They contribute indelibly to our school. 

And last but certainly not least, thank you to the children in our school. Thank you to all our children for being the most wonderful little people we could hope to teach. Our student Council representatives should be so proud of the way they conducted their council business. Seth, Vera, Zoey, Lily and Milo – I know no task was too big and I enjoyed every minute of our weekly meetings. On Wednesday we said goodbye to the class of ‘23 and look forward to our new Junior Infants taking their place and starting with us in August.

6^th class Students V Teacher game

The All-Star staff regained the upperhand following two years of heartbreak and re-established their superiority over the 6^th Class students last Tuesday in TUD. On the student team, 54 of the children signed up as the staff managed to tog out a very reasonable 18 ‘able bodied athletes. The humidity was high with the threat of rain never too far away as the teams lined out for the tip off. 

In the lion’s cauldron of the Astro pitch it was very obvious that the staff were going to have to dig deep for any result with the intimidating audience. The students struck first following a mazy dribble by their silky midfielder. Peadar, who was an outstanding last-minute replacement for Fionnuala, was unable to prevent the ferocious shot. 

Never wilting, the staff stuck to their game plan and used their strike duo to great effect as Anna broke free down the wing before finding Paula in the goalsquare with unerring accuracy from where she finished with aplomb, nudging the ball off her hip into the empty net. Game on! 

The half time whistle gave the staff time to regroup and our numbers were replenished from the junior end of the school. A few nonsense tackles from Martin and Michael set the tone as the pace picked up again. Carol was busy disrupting the students’ play while Arlene tormented them on the wing. The inevitable goal came from a free for a handball outside the box, Michael cooly finished it to the back of the net.  

A dubious free gave the students an opportunity to snatch a late equaliser, but the solid wall of defenders prevented what would have been a criminal end to the match. Breaking swiftly from their goal the staff swept forward and from a last-minute throw in, Arlene finished in style with a near-post header. Once more the staff were the masters, as the match ended 3-1. We now have a full year to bask in the glory and recuperate from our injuries. 

Free School books

In recognition of the cost of preparing children and young people for the return to primary school in September Minister forEducation Norma Foley T.D. has announced funding to provide free schoolbooks, including workbooks and copybooks, from September 2023.This scheme will eliminate the cost to parents of providing these resources. Funding is being provided directly to primary schools by the Department to implement the scheme and schools will now have responsibility for providing schoolbooks workbooks and copybooks to all children

There will be a payment for sundries – licences, ET affiliation, insurance, photocopying etc. We will let you know more about this when we return to school.

Thank you to Katrina and Carmel who have already bought all our textbooks, copies and stationery.

Once again if you see a novel or a Maths / Irish book that has a numbered sticker on it, this means it is a valued D7 Book Rental. Please return them to us in school.

Staff list

Sadly, we have a few goodbyes to say – to our 2^nd class teacher Susan Bailey and 4^th class teacher Patrick Kelly. We are also welcoming back 2 teachers who have worked with us before – Niamh Brennan and Aoife Carrigy. We have 2 additional teaching posts this year, one in 1^st class which means our current senior infants will remain in 3 streams. We have allocated our other second new teaching post to 6^th class.  We feel that this is an excellent opportunity for the children ahead of their move to second level. I have based the split on the expressed preferences of the children and taken into account the reality we see in class and in the yard.

Whilst I don’t wish to dismiss the understandable concerns of the children, I think as adults we need to have a measured response. The children will still be on the same floor-next door to one another, they’ll still be on the same yard together and they can still go to Grangegorman after school, as many of them seem to. In essence, they’ll only be split during teaching and learning time. I also know that the 6^th class teachers are keen to ensure there are ample opportunities to mix and cooperate and 6^th class is already a year when that happens a lot with trips, tours and workshops. I have received many mails both supporting and expressing concern about this. I have not been able to answer all of these. Please trust our experience. We are confident this will benefit our 6^th class next year.After a little assembly this morning, the children went into their new class to meet their teacher. We think we accommodated everyone with a friendship request, and they seemed happy in their new room.

Two of our 1^st classes will be taught by teachers who are job sharing. Again, please trust our experience with this. All 4 job sharing teachers have taught in this school, some for many years. I have done this myself with Katrina years ago and seen first hand how it can work. We will meet with the parents / guardians of the 1^st classes in the new term to answer any queries you may have in relation to the job share.

Please find the list of classroom teachers for 2023-24 below.

If there are any changes in our staffing arrangements, I will let you know.

School Calendar 2022 23

Please find our calendar on our website

Summer Programme

We are doing Summer Programme for the first 2 weeks of July. Any queries re this, please mail grace@d7educatetogether.com

Thank you, Grace, for coordinating this.

Úlla Orchard- message from Clodagh

Apples are beginning to appear on the trees in D7ETNS Úlla Orchard! It’s wonderful to see life in this small plot in Grangegorman.  If you’re passing the gates to the carpark beside the East Quad building of TUDublin drop by to see how your tree is doing (every class planted their own tree). The place is full of wildflowers so it’s worth the small detour! TUDublin are watering over the Summer, but these babies drink a lot so bring a bottle and give your tree a drink! Lots of water ensures the health of each tree and juicy apples when you’re returning to school. Huge thanks to all the parents and guardians who assisted in this project and of course all of the children 🌱

Have a wonderful well-deserved summer everyone.

I look forward to working with you all when we return on August 30^th.

Beirigí bua

Fionnuala

Be a Summer Star with Dublin City Libraries and earn prizes for reading!  Summer Stars is the free national public libraries reading initiative for children that runs from June 12^th until the end of August. 

All children are encouraged to continue to enjoy reading books throughout the summer months and earn Summer Stars prizes as they go.  Children can register for a Summer Stars reading card from their local library at any time during the summer.  

Summer Stars is free and is available for all Dublin City Libraries members.  Non-members can join here

If you would like to register for the Summer Stars reading challenge, please visit your local library

We also have a competition where children can send in a photo of a cover of a library book that they enjoyed over the summer along with a few lines about why they liked it.  Contact your local library or click Summer Stars for more information.