Newsletter
09 03 2025
Thanks to all our volunteers this morning
Good afternoon parents and guardians,
I hope you have had a nice week.
We had a great week here, the highlight being World Book Day. We are all looking forward to Seachtain na Gaeilge next week.
Thank you to those who have contacted me about the play therapist. I am sorry I have not responded to each mail directly. We have met with the play therapist last week. We have formed 3 groups based on what the play therapist thinks will work well group wise. Carol Dempsey will be in touch next week with all families who have requested play therapy for their child. The play therapist will meet the parents and guardians of selected children next Friday morning in school. We hope to have another set of play therapy sessions if your child has not been selected this time.
Thanks so much to the parents and children who are here working with us now, clearing the hedging. We are so pleased to have space for planting a native hedge under the canopy and vegetable patches at the front of the school beside the PE hall. Many hands made light(ish) work!
It was great to have Ludovic’s expertise and Katie’s treats!
Thanks Patrick, Martin and Anna for coordinating it all.
World Book Day
We had a jam-packed World Book Day on Thursday. Classes enjoyed reading and responding to Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing, bringing home new books from our Swap Shop, being surprised by mystery readers and doing a bit of buddy reading. We had a tough decision picking a winner for our Ten Word Tale competition. Huge congratulations to the winners and well done to all those who took part in Peadar’s Staff Reads World Book Day Quiz. Go raibh míle maith agaibh to all the mystery readers who gave up their time to visit classes, to all who sent in books for the amazing Swap Shop and to our stellar library committee who kept the show on the road.
Ten Word Tale competition winners
World Book Day Author visit in Dubray books
Second class visited Dubray books to listen to Author Paddy Donnelly share his new book ‘Fox and son Tailers’. It was just fantastic to get to ask the author about his process of writing and illustrating. The highlight was seeing him draw a ‘Pangolin, Cheetah, Rabbit’ in 30 seconds! A huge thank you to Dubray Books for providing such an amazing learning experience. The budding authors and illustrators in second class have promised the teachers that when their books are on the shelves in Dubray that they will hold a special event for D7ET students to come to.
Dubray Books again!
On Wednesday, all three 5th classes visited Dubray book on Mary St to hear children’s author Kevin Moran reading from his novel: “The Doomsday Club”. Being a teacher himself, Kevin was a lively host and well able for the questions fielded.
D7 authors
6th class reading to Junior infants their very own book that they created.
All Ireland Badminton Primary Schools Finals
Congratulations to the D7 girls badminton team who came 3rd in their division in the All-Ireland Badminton Primary Schools Finals. They played their hearts out and narrowly missed a spot in the quarter finals. Despite this, they had a brilliant experience and will be looking forward to playing more badminton in the future.
Thanks, Rosa, for this article and Michelle for being their coach.
Our 6th class were delighted to get their hoodies this week. Niamh Ní suggested we get them earlier this year so they can have more time to wear them proudly around school before they leave us. Thankfully, there are large initials on all hoodies! They won’t get lost!
Thanks, Bridget, for coordinating the detail of sizing and initials with this order!
On that note, gentle reminder to label all your clothing. Our lost property helpers go through the rail, looking for names to return the clothes to their owners. If your child’s clothing is not labelled and unclaimed, it will go to charity.
Pancake Tuesday
Donna helped all three 5th classes to cook their own pancakes – with all the trimmings. Pupils cut fruit, poured in ingredients, whisked it up and helped cook on a hot plate.
Over the past few weeks Róisín & Kathleen’s 1st class have been learning about the groundbreaking vet Aleen Cust. Aleen was born in Tipperary in1868 and studied to become a veterinary surgeon in Edinburgh. Because she was a woman it was 1922 before the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons recognised Aleen as a vet – 25 years after she qualified. She was the first woman to be recognised as a vet in Ireland or the UK.
Aleen was born in a time when women had much less rights than they do now. They were expected to get married young and have lots of babies, whether they wanted to or not. Aleen fought to do a job she loved and to get recognition for it.
In learning about Aleen and veterinary we discussed women’s rights, why suffragettes were important and how unfair gender discrimination is. We also had a veterinary role play corner in our class where we looked at real x-rays and played at being vets.
This week we had a visit from Real life vet Richard and his dog, Madra. Richard told us about all the different animals that vets treat in Ireland and all the different types of vets. He also told us that in 2024 for the first time in Ireland there are more registered vets who are women, than men.
Madra finished off the visit by allowing us all to listen to his heartbeat worn a stethoscope and to examine his teeth. He was rewarded with some lovely doggy treats.
Thanks, Róisín.
D7ETNS Soccer
D7 Girls soccer team won their first match against Pelletstown ETNS on Thursday.
The score was 2-0 to D7. A great effort made by everyone on the team with Sheena and Alannah scoring our two goals. Our goalkeeper Esther saved both a penalty and the rebound which contributed to the great win. Well done everyone!
D7ETNS climbers
Congratulations to all our D7ETNS climbers who competed this week in Awesome walls.
They all did brilliantly and had a fantastic time. The competition results will be in a few weeks, once all the schools have competed.
Enjoy the rest of this bright Sunday afternoon,
Fionnuala
Community News
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