Newsletter
28 02 2025
Spectacular 5th class artwork
Good afternoon parents and guardians,
I hope you have had a nice week. Thanks to Emer for coordinating the 3rd class coffee morning this morning. Next week we will have Patrick’s 4th class rescheduled coffee morning. I gather Jen is coordinating this. Thanks Jen.
This week we welcomed Celine’s job-sharing partner, Aoife to D7ETNS. I think she enjoyed her first week with us. Thanks to the children and staff who made her feel so welcome! I think she likes her new job! Thanks to our chairperson, Paul, who is always happy to volunteer his time recruiting staff for our school.
Thanks to those of you that were able to attend the AGM on Wednesday. It was an opportunity for everyone to get a snapshot of our year in progress. James and Esther spoke so well on behalf of the Student Council. It is only right and proper that some of our children let you know the important role of the student Council at our AGM. At our council meeting today, I asked the members if they would speak at the induction meeting for parents and guardians of our incoming Junior Infants. They all said they would be delighted to! Student Council were also planning to fund raise for an ice cream van to visit the school in summer. I look forward to hearing how they progress with this particular plan.
Thanks also Louise and PGSA for organising a fabulous talk on Wednesday by John Sharry. It was very well attended and feedback from the evening was positive. Thanks Jen, Louise, Stephen and Sarah serving coffee and tidy up afterwards! Much appreciated.
Reminder that HSE hearing and vision screening will take place this Thursday for all Junior Infants.
Best of luck to our 6th class students who will compete in Baldoyle next Wednesday in the Badminton Primary schools All Ireland Final. Jake, our taxi driver, will collect the children at school at 8.20am and we will organise a taxi to bring them all back to school at 3pm. Michelle, their coach, will accompany them.
Our senior soccer teams will train next week as leagues begin soon. We are hoping to train on the pitch in TUDublin but failing this we can train on the ball court here in school. The girls have their first game on Thursday in Pelletstown ET.
Our 2nd class and 5th class will meet authors in Dubray next week also as part of our World Book Day celebrations.
BOM Agreed Report
Child Protection Oversight Report and Bullying Report presented.
School lunches discussed at BOM & BOM AGM. School is exploring this topic but we want to make sure it fits in with healthy food, low packaging and our sustainability charter as an ET school. We are awaiting further quality standards to be issued on the government about this.
Liz Rogers school accountant presented the accounts, accounts approved.
Staffing requests discussed and provisionally approved.
Welcome to our new school secretary Aoife.
BOM AGM held thanks to all for attending.
Thanks to PGSA for arranging the very well attended John Sharry talk.
Bí Cinealta training held for all staff.
Update on Education Wellbeing Practitioner (EWP) David Stokes & Play therapy.
Update on shelving in the school.
World Book Day
We will be celebrating World Book Day next week on Thursday, 6th March. As a school, we are always working towards fostering an environment where reading is celebrated and encouraged, and it is wonderful to have a whole day dedicated to just that. In celebration of reading and to remind us of the endless, invaluable possibilities and learning experiences that books create, we are excited to share with you some activities organised for this year’s WBD:
One School One Book
Each class in the school will read and respond to the same book, The Lost Thing, by Shaun Tan. Classes will explore different aspects of the story and will be coming together to share their thoughts at assemblies. It will be nice for the children to all be on the same page, so to speak, and create a sense of community around the day. We look forward to hearing all the different responses and interpretations that the classes will bring to the assemblies.
Surprise Reader
We are hoping that each class will have one ‘surprise reader’ on WBD to bring in and read a story/excerpt from a book/poem – this could be a parent/grandparent or someone special to children in the class. If you are interested in being/suggesting the ‘surprise reader’, please contact your child’s teacher to coordinate the visit. Please remember not to let the surprise slip to your child!
Swap Shop
We will be having our very own ‘swap shop’ for books, organised and coordinated by our 6th class Library Committee. We ask that each child, where possible, brings in 1 – 2 books they no longer want from Friday 28th February to Wednesday 5th March. There will be tables at the bottom of the staircases to collect these. On WBD, each class will visit the ‘swap shop’ and choose a new book to bring home. Please ensure that any books brought to school are age appropriate and in good condition.
Book Tokens
As always, the children will be given World Book Day tokens to bring home and spend in their local bookshop if they wish.
As you can see, we have a jam-packed World Book Day organised for the week after next. In the interest of keeping books at the core of our celebration, we will not be having fancy dress as an activity. We really look forward to all that is planned and are sure that it will be a fantastic day!
Thanks so much to Ciara, Carol D, Peadar and Eimear for the time you have taken coordinating WBD
Irish lessons for parents/guardians
We’re delighted with the enthusiastic feedback received regarding Irish language classes for parents and guardians! Now that we have an idea of numbers interested we are in the process of sourcing teachers with Conradh na Gaeilge. I will update with proposals for dates, times and prices as soon as possible.
Patrick
A D7ET day of Meitheal- Sunday 9th of March: 9am-12pm
We are looking for volunteers to help us with our new school biodiversity plan.
We need to prepare the ground for planting a native hedgerow under the canopy & a vegetable patch at the side of the PE hall.
We need volunteers:
To clear planting space by removing stones, litter and some existing planting.
To remove the weed resistant tarp & add compost.
To section off areas of the space for class planting.
To plant the hedgerow.
Please bring your own tools that would be appropriate for these tasks.
If you would like to support us with this, please email patrick@d7educatetogether.com
A few hours of your time will have a lasting impact on biodiversity in D7 & benefit our whole school community.
We greatly appreciate any help offered.
Patrick & Anna
St Patrick’s Cathedral
On Wednesday both 4th Classes went to visit St Patrick’s Cathedral. We did a stained-glass workshop, and we also got a guided tour of the Cathedral. The tour guide showed us the famous door from where we get the saying ‘to chance your arm’, from a dispute between the Butler and Fitzgerald families, where a hole was cut in the door so the warring factions could shake hands to make peace with each other.
We looked at the stained-glass windows specifically the gable end which explains the story of St Patrick. It was really interesting, but the best part was when we got to design and make our own stain-glass windows.
First you sketched out your idea on card paper, then using coloured translucent paper, we cut the panels and glued them to a window frame. It was great fun. We finished off the activity back in our classroom and displayed them on the windows.
Thanks to Chloe, Aobh, Max, Lumen and Rachel who contributed to compose this piece.
Junior Infants spring nature walk in Grangegorman
5th class whacky faces
Have a lovely weekend everyone,
Fionnuala