Newsletter
September 8th, 2023
Good afternoon Parents / Guardians,
What a week of sunshine we have just had.
School has been busy, but things are settling nicely into the rhythm of term. Our Junior Infants need plenty of rest this weekend as they prepare themselves for the longer days next week.
Massive thanks you to the parents who covered all our Social Environmental Scientific books both before our holidays and this week. Some stayed here for entire school days surviving on water and fruit alone until the job was done! Some parents took bags of books home to cover. On Thursday, they were all complete. Our wonderful Transition year students helped bring the books to their allocated classroom. Carmel and Katrina can finally breathe a sigh of relief. They have coordinated the books, copies and stationery for all our children which is a mammoth task.
Best wishes to Mark Gillam, one of our SNAs, as he gets married next week. I hope the sun continues to shine for them.
We are still gathering permission via Aladdin Connect. If you haven’t already done so, just click on the new Permissions option on your home page in the App or log on to Connect via any device to grant/reject your permission.
Reminder that if your child has a mobile phone, they must submit a letter of request (available in the office) signed by the child and parent / guardian. Phones always remain off and in the bag during school. The same applies for Smartwatches. There are forms for smartwatches in the office too. They must always be on school mode.
GAA notes
Both teams start their respective league campaigns next week. The girls will be up first on Weds with a home fixture in TUDublin v Gaelscoil na Mide. The Boys kick off on Thursday in Setanta GAA where they will face Holy Spirit Ballymun. Training continues as normal on Monday, never thought I’d be hoping for cooler weather in September. Messages gone out to the parents about the matches (apologies if you were notified in error).
Padraig, Arlene, Michael & Niamh.
The 3 First Classes went on a walk around the Grangegorman Campus this morning to look at trees. We have been learning about the different types of trees in the local area all this week. We have been using tree wheels and fans to identify the trees using their leaves, doing leaf rubbings, naming the different parts of the tree and categorising them into Native and Non-Native species. Come and see our tree display on the second floor!
To put our learning into practice this morning we went on a looooong walk. First, we visited the Úlla Orchard planted by all the children of our school last year. We were delighted to see our saplings and how much they had grown. There was some confusion as to which tree each of our first classes had planted but thanks to Gráinne’s list we soon found the 3 relevant trees. While there we also had a look at our old school building and talked about some of the fond memories we had there and how we will make new wonderful memories in first class in our new school!
Next, we walked through the community garden in the main Grangegorman Campus and spotted the pears ripe on the pear trees. Some eagle-eyed first classers also spied some sloe berries on the blackthorn trees!
As we moved on through the campus towards the playground we identified Pine, Sycamore, Horse Chestnut, Beech, Holly and Hazel Trees. We were careful not to pick the fruit of the Hazel Tree as we are not allowed nuts in school. The children collected lots of leaves and conkers at the end of the walk which we brought back to the classroom to use in our afternoon lessons.
By this stage we realised it was nearly yard time and so we decided that we would have a quick trip to the playground instead of yard this morning. All in all, it was a lovely way to spend a sunny September morning!
Róisín, Hanora, Kathleen and Edel
My Little Library Bags
In June, the national My Little Library Bags initiative was launched where every child starting school in August/September 2023 could get a free bag of books from their local library. It has been a big success. Dublin City Libraries still have bags that can be collected. Please forward this information to the parents of your junior infants so that if anyone didn’t get a bag, that they know that they can still collect one from their local library… while stocks last. Bags can only be handed out in the library on a ‘one bag per parent/child’ basis.
More information about the My Little Library Bags initiative can be found here.
First 5 My Little Library Initiative | Dublin City Council
Cúla 4
TG4 are launching a new Irish Language channel for children today at 4pm. The channel will run from 6am – 8pm daily and is aimed at children up to 12 years of age.
It will feature home grown and imported shows as Gaeilge for children. Cúla 4 have promised that some content will also link into the primary school channel.
As well as being a terrestrial channel Cúla 4 can be views on the cúla 4 player and by visiting the website.
Www.Cula4.com is launching at 4pm today!!!
Attention 6th class parents / guardians
St Declan’s college, Nephin Rd invites 5th and 6th class boys and their parents / guardians to their open evening on Thursday , September 14th 2023 from 18.45-20.45.
Please see the school website for pre-registration details.
Mount Sackville Secondary School are holding an Open Day for Admissiosn 2024/ 25 on Saturday, 9th September 2023 at 9am.
TUD
