Newsletter
April 12th, 2024
Thank you to Holly Pereira for beautifully bringing our vision to life
Good afternoon parents / guardians,
I hope you had a nice break and are delighted to get back into the routine again.
Apart from it being rather damp, we had a lovely week here in school.
We are looking forward to a great and busy term ahead.
Swifts, snowdrops & dandelions, just a few of the native plants and wildlife we have welcomed to our yard spaces.
Thank you to Holly Pereira for beautifully bringing our vision to life and a huge thank you to our SSE team and the student council for collaborating on the design for our wonderful new murals. Thanks, Anna, who liaised directly with Holly during the holidays to have this wonderful surprise awaiting us all last Monday.
We hope the swifts returning to Ireland this summer will find the swift boxes on our top floor and will feel an extra special calling to make themselves at home in our new swift yard!
5th Class Projects
Bewildered, perplexed, confused, puzzled- these are the states in which I find myself on a daily basis, such is the chasm between my experience of life and understanding of it. In order to fill in some of the many gaps and close a few of the numerous loops of my own comprehension, I tasked 5th Class with the challenge of explaining complex systems in such a way that even I would understand! The Class used models and posters to present projects that explained things like how planes fly, why earthquakes happen, how the camera obscura works and much much more. They did a brilliant job and left me significantly more enlightened about much of the world and it’s workings.
Thanks Wesley.
PGSA Meeting
A PGSA meeting will take place on Wednesday 17th April at 7.30pm in the GP room in the main school building. The focus of this meeting will be to review the fundraising activity of the PGSA to date, to organise this year’s school summer fete and to plan for next year’s fundraising and social events.
Everyone is welcome and we hope to see as many of you as possible on the night.
Our final tally for the table quiz was a staggering €2,392. We are so grateful for this.
The D7ET girls lost out to a very strong Gaelscoil Cholmcille team out on the Bohemians pitch in Coolock on Thursday. Having gone one up in the first half through Alana, we tried to hold on to the ball and use the vast spaces on the pitch to our advantage. The strength of the other team started to show, and they scored two quick goals before half time to leave us behind and with some tactical decisions to make. Cometh the hour and on came Lelia to give their best player something to think about. With her threat nullified, we were able to dominate the second half and as they tired, our own pocket rocket Sheena did what she does best and got in behind their defence to lob the keeper and get an equaliser. With plenty of time to go, we pushed and pushed and, on another day, we could have had three or four more with the chances created. As this was a top of the table clash, we knew that it was winner takes all and when they were given a penalty in the dying minutes, we could only cross our fingers and hope. But their experienced penalty taker made no mistake and put it past Esther, despite her valiant efforts. We still had one last chance, but it wasn’t to be. The girls played their hearts out, all sticking to the gameplan and putting in a serious shift on one of the biggest pitches that they’ve ever played on. We are lucky to have such a great group and with 5 super subs, everyone played their part. So onwards to the last 16 in the Cup out in Rush next Thursday. Another performance like this one and we should give Rush a serious rattle. Thanks to the parents for making the trip and all the support on the sideline. Great battling efforts from all, maith sibh aris na cailini.
Thanks Paul Butler and Mauro for all the coaching and for this report.
Congratulations to the boys’ football team who had a great win over St Vincent’s to make it two wins from two in the league. The first half was a tight affair before Marco opened the scoring with a well taken goal. The boy started the second half well and went into a 3-nil lead with goals from Liam C and another from Marco. St Vincent’s pulled one back before Matthew and Iarla (from about 30 yards) put us back in a commanding position before St Vincent’s got another to leave the score 5-2. Well done to all involved: Manus Dunnion, Liam Condon, James Murphy, Liam Doherty, Rafe Foley, Lukas Souter, Alex Maguire, Jack Kenny, Jimmy Zhu, Matthew Raftery,Marco Fraunfelter, Naithí Culhane, Sonaí Donovan, Leo Miotti Senan F, Iarla Ó Faloáin
Thanks Enda and Jack
6th class on the roof!
6th class have been learning about renewable energy sources earlier in the year and took advantage of yesterday’s good weather to visit the solar panels. They also learned about the drainage system and lightning conductor, all while enjoying the sun!
Agreed Report
The Board of Management met on 19th March 2024.
County Photos were appointed as school photographer for 2024.
No bullying or child protection concerns to report.
All staffing requests approved.
Projected enrolment updated.
Calendar for 2024/25 will be sent out to parents this week.
ISM roles shared with BOM.
New LT school plan being devised.
Friday March 22nd on ‘Introduction to the Stress Factor for Parents of children with additional learning needs
Bom congratulate Jack and Enda who have completed the Droichead process.
Update on school tours, planting plan, NEPs psychologist focus, science blast, young environment award, basketball blitz, spelling bee, cross country, murals for the school, school soccer, basketball, new school library, ET Principal conference, scholastic book fair, TP students, Seachtain na Gaeilge, World Book Day, 6th class graduation, staff wellbeing week.
Updates on Administration of Medicine, Acceptable Use Policy and Admission Policy.
TENI did a staff CPD on February 27th.
New secretary appointed
Afterschool License agreement agreed
Update on Hall License Agreement
Finance, IT
PGSA: Thanks to all the parents who helped with the stones, Thanks to all the parents coordinating the coffee mornings, Thanks to those coordinating the table quiz.
Peadar’s class visited the National Gallery yesterday and afterwards went to Merrion Square for lunch.
Community News
Cycle Bus
A few parents in first class want to gauge interest in a cycle bus from Stoneybatter to D7ET.
The idea is that we steward a group of children safely along a route decided by parents in the area. Dublin City Cycle have indicated support (E.g. resetting times on traffic lights).
Some parents travelling from Cabra to the school already have one up and running https:// vimeo.com/588260699
The more the merrier! So if you’re interested, please get in touch with your street name by Friday 15th April and we can map a route. Contact: Brian Heffernan 0852206414
Parks Tennis
Parks Tennis is a not-for-profit organisation running since 1977. Our aim is to bring affordable tennis lessons to children of all socio economic and ethnic backgrounds, who might not otherwise get to play the sport. We operate four coaching programmes throughout the year for children aged 5-17 (normally split into 3 separate age groups: 5-7, 8-10 and 11-17). Our 2024 after Easter term lessons cost just €35 for eight weeks.
Our after Easter programme in Mount Bernard Park (Shandon), Phibsborough, D7 commences on Sunday 28th April. In the past we were able to distribute leaflets and posters into schools; as this is no longer possible, we have very few ways to inform parents who may not be aware of our programme. To this end, we would greatly appreciate your help and support by sending the below “Notice for parents” either by a class WhatsApp or newsletter. We have kept the notice deliberately short to accommodate, but please feel free to abbreviate further if necessary. I have also included a PDF with similar details, if this is easier for you to distribute to parents.
Please note: our 5-7 class is fully booked by returning parents, but we have a lot of spaces available in the 8-10 class and in particular the 11-17 class, which we’d love to see children avail of.
