Newsletter
21 03 2025
Dear parents and guardians,
We hope you’ve had a wonderful week!
You may have noticed that Denis, our lollipop person, is back with us for a few weeks—welcome back, Denis!
A big thank you to everyone who provided feedback on smartphone use in primary school. The survey results show that almost all participating families prefer to delay the introduction of smartphones until after primary school (this does not include basic mobile phones such as the Nokia 3310). I will be meeting with local primary school principals to plan our next steps.
For anyone who needs to order school attire, please use this link: https://staffwear.ie/d7etns/
I reminded the children today to always lock their bicycles, even when on school grounds.
We hope the children enjoyed Abilities Awareness Day—it was fantastic to see their enthusiasm as always!
As we plan for the 2025/26 school year, please let us know as soon as possible if your family will be relocating before next September.
Finally, thanks once again to the PGSA for organising another great table quiz tonight. As always, the staff really appreciate the fundraising. This week alone we spent €3,000 on literacy resources! A special thanks to some of the organisers who are parents of children in 6th class on your last D7 table quiz!
Hope you have a wonderful night.
Celebrating Neurodiversity: Niamh’s 6th Class Abilities Awareness Project
For this year’s Abilities Awareness Day, Niamh’s 6th Class took on an inspiring research and art project celebrating neurodiversity and the incredible achievements of people with disabilities. Using the book, I Am Not a Label by Cerrie Burnell as their starting point, students explored the stories of well-known figures who are neurodiverse or have a disability. They learned about individuals from all walks of life—scientists, artists, athletes, and activists—who have made an impact on the world. To bring their research to life, the class created vector-style, colourful portraits of these figures. The bold, modern designs showcased their subjects in a vibrant and eye-catching way, celebrating their strengths and contributions rather than defining them by their challenges. The finished artwork was displayed around the school, sparking important conversations about inclusion, diversity, and the power of different minds. The project was a fantastic way for students to deepen their understanding of neurodiversity and celebrate the unique abilities of every individual.
Well done to Niamh’s 6th Class for their creativity, research, and inspiring work! 🎨✨
First Class Céilí:
Dance is an important part of the PE curriculum here at D7ET. All classes do it at least once a week during January and February due to the generally inclement weather of an Irish winter.
In First Class we looked at creative dance for January and folk dances for February. We really enjoyed the Irish dances and so kept up our practicing of them for the first few weeks if March to co-incide with Seachtain na Gaeilge.
We learned lots of dances: Shoe the Donkey (Cur Crúb ar an Asal), An Damhsa Mór, Sol & Bairicín, An Dreoilín agus Maverena Gaelach. We had great fun learning our 1,2,3s and used our cúpla focail to call out the songs as Gaeilge. We also had the opertunity during our practices to dance these dances to live music (tin whistle and fiddle) as well as recordings.
The three First Class learned some of the dances so well that we decided to perform 2 of our favourite dances for the parents on Thursday morning.
Bhí taispeántas gearr againn sa Halla maidin Déardaoin. Bhain na páistí a lán taitneamh as na damhsaí Cur Crúb ar an Asal agus Sol & Bairicín a dhéanamh do na tuismitheoirí. Go raibh maith agaibh as bhur bhfreastal. (We had a short performance in the Hall Thursday morning. The children really enjoyed the dances Shoe the Donkey and Sol & Bairicín. Thank you for coming.)
Rang Róisín & Kathleen, Rang Rebecca agus Rang Michelle
Soccer
The boys’ soccer team emerged victorious in their derby against St. Paul’s at the Law Society pitch in Blackhall on Wednesday. The tension was palpable as the two well-drilled teams traded goals throughout the game. D7 held a 3-1 lead early in the second half, but St. Paul’s fought back to level the score at a nail-biting 3-3. However, cool heads prevailed. Clearly inspired by the recent Italia ’90 reunion on the Late Late Show, the team made full use of the long-ball tactic cherished by Irish players for generations, leading to a flurry of goals in the final ten minutes. Their determined play secured a thrilling 6-4 victory. The team was a true credit to D7, not only for their skill but also for their sportsmanship throughout the match. Well done, lads!
Cross Country 2025
The athletes on Thursday were greeted with glorious sunshine for our annual visit to the Bogeys Cross Country race event. A pleasant change from the usual arctic conditions we have faced in the past and the children soaked up the much-needed vitamin D.
We left D7 with almost 80 competitors who raced over a range of distances starting at 600m for the 3rd class runners right up to the 1km course for the 6th class athletes. Arriving early, we managed to take a lap of the route to check out the course and loosen up.
The races ran like clockwork under the careful watch of Mary McKenna from Celtic Running Club. D7 were well represented on the finish podium with plenty of medals being garnished by the athletes.
The children were cheered on by a large vociferous team of parents/ guardians who roared each and every child in a D7 top. The whole day was a great experience for all involved and the children should be very proud of their efforts with the children persevering to the end. Maith sibh.
Planting
We had a few trees left over from recent planting, so each class level is going to plant their own native tree in the hedgerow. This links in with the idea of being an individual while also a part of a collective, the trees support each other as should members of the school. community. Hopefully taking part in the planting makes the children feel a bit more connected with the hedgerow in particular and biodiversity efforts in general. Trees that will be planted are Dog Rose, Crab Apple, Silver Birch and Rowan.
World Down Syndrome Day
Today, children in Grace’s class celebrated World Down Syndrome Day by wearing odd socks and learning some Lámh signs. We sang some songs and played Simon Says with our new signs.
Happy Down Syndrome Day everyone!
Have a great weekend everyone,
Fionnuala