RETIREMENT OF MS BERNADETTE SPELMAN. Our Assistant Principal and SET Co-Ordinator Ms Bernadette Spelman will retire on Friday 27th October 2023. Ms. Spelman’s career has spanned over 37 years and she has spent 25 of these years in Saint Mary’s Boys’ National School. We have been so fortunate to have benefitted from Ms Spelman’s kindness, compassion, expertise & professionalism.
We are eternally grateful for how she so empathetically, generously and selflessly guided the children in her care. We really appreciate how she shared her wisdom and knowledge with all our staff and parents in our school community.
We thank Ms Spelman from the bottom of our hearts and we wish her well deserved blessings, health and happiness in her retirement.
ADMISSIONS 2024-2025: Saint Mary's BNS will start accepting admissions for 2024-2025 on Monday 2nd October. Online admission applications will be live from that date. The closing date is Friday November 10th. Please see our Notice of Admissions, our Admissions Policy and our school Code of Behaviour on our school website for more information. Admissions 2024-2025 and the admissions form at this link. Enrol Now
CHILD SAFEGUARDING & RISK ASSESSMENT STATEMENT: In accordance with the requirements of the Children First Act 2015, Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children 2017, the Addendum to Children First (2019), the Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post Primary Schools (revised 2023) and Tusla Guidance on the preparation of Child Safeguarding Statements The Board of Management of Saint Mary’s Boys’ National School has adopted and will implement fully and without modification the Department’s Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post Primary Schools (revised (2023) as part of this overall Child Safeguarding Statement. Please see our revised Child Safeguarding & Risk Assessment Statement on our website.
Policies: Child Safeguarding & Risk Assessment Statement.
SACRAMENTS 2023-2024: Please see the dates below for sacraments for 2023-2024. If you have a child receiving a sacrament can you put the relevant dates in your diary. More details will follow nearer to the time from the parish.
Tuesday 27 February: Service of Light at 7.30 pm
Thursday 7 March: First Confession at 7 pm
Friday 26 April: Confirmation at 12 Noon
Saturday 11 May: First Holy Communion at 12 Noon
FRIENDS OF SAINT MARYS FUNDRAISING: A huge thank you to the Parents’ Association for hosting a coffee morning at drop off in the School Hall on Grotto Avenue on Friday 29th September. It was lovely to meet so many new parents. We thank the Parents’ Association for sharing information on Friends of St Mary’s, the PA’s main fundraising scheme and we encourage all parents/ guardian to join the Friends of Saint Mary’s fundraising draw. Please see the link for same.
Friends of Saint Mary's Brochure
A big shout out to Eamonn, our caretaker, who helped set up and tidy up the school hall.
PARENTS ASSOCIATION AGM : The Parents' Association AGM will be held on Thursday the 19th of October in the school. Please pencil it into your diary. We really welcome and appreciate all your support. More details will follow nearer the time.
COPYBOOK DONATIONS 11th-13th OCTOBER: Many parents have stated they have unused sets of new copybooks at home. If you wish to donate these copybooks to the school you can drop them off in reception next week on the 11th, 12th or 13th of October.
FIRST AID COURSE FOR PARENTS: On Tuesday 3rd October join the Parents Associations of Our Lady of Mercy Convent School & St. Mary’s BNS to attend First Aid Training in the girls' school hall. This 2-hour seminar provided by First Aid for Everyone covers emergency situations such as: Activation of the emergency services; The First Aid kit; Choking; Wounds and bleeding; Head injuries; Allergies; Epilepsy and various other topics. Please join the PA at Our Lady of Mercy School from 7-7.30pm for tea, coffee, homemade baked treats & a quick catch up with the school community before the course commences at 7.30pm.
ALTAR SERVERS: Pupils in 3rd to 6th class are invited to join our parish altar servers group.A talk was given to the pupils in 3rd -6th classes yesterday, September 28-9-23 about the role of altar servers at mass.Any pupil who expressed an interest was given the form.Training will be provided in the church at a convenient time after school on a given date before they start, and a refresher course later in the year.A rota will be prepared and, generally, numbers permitting, the children will serve fortnightly at one of the masses of their choice. Mass times are 6pm Saturday, and 9am and 11am Sunday.Please check your son's school bag if her taken home a form.
SCHOOL X-TWITTER ACCOUNT: Please continue to follow us on our school X/Twitter account at stmarysboys1. We are unable at the moment to view it directly on our school website and are trying to resolve this issue.
SMARTPHONE/SMART DEVICE HONOUR CODE: A huge thank you to our Parents Association for collaborating with all parents and formulating a Smartphone/Device Honour Code. Please read the Honour Code & discuss it with your child. It's on our school website under the School News tab. See link. Smartphone/Device Honour Code. You may also wish to read the latest report from Cybersafekids.ie on "Keeping Kids Safer Online. Online. Safety. Matters." Keeping Kids Safer Online: Online. Safety. Matters. Trends & Usage Report 2022-2023. Please note that this is an honour code, built on trust and it is established to ensure the online safety of all children in Saint Mary's; in school, at home and in the whole school community.
CYBERSAFEKIDS.IE : Cybersafekids.ie will visit Saint Mary's on Wednesday 4th October and facilitate online safety workshops with 3rd-6th classes.
Cybersafekids.ie Talks for Schools
CLUICHÍ GAEILGE DO PHÁISTÍ PADLET: Fantastic interactive padlet with lots of Irish language games for all levels. Cluichí Gaeilge do pháisti ar fáil anseo.
FRÁSAÍ NA MÍOSA/ GAEILGE/ CONTENT LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING: Más féidir libh cabhrú le bhúr bpáiste frásaí na míosa a chleachtadh sa bhaile. 1. Dia Dhaoibh...Dia is Muire duit. 2. Slán Tamaill.3. Cé leis é? Is/ Ni liomsa é. 4. Líne dhíreach gach duine.
TECHKIDZ COMPUTATIONAL THINKING & IT SKILLS: Techkidz continue their computational thinking and IT skills workshops with 4th-6th classes. Techkidz are doing a wide range of technology-based activities including coding, robotics, animation and design. They have started with an introduction to the basic building blocks of coding and will progress towards each child building their own basic website. Techkidz will support and mentor students in shooting and editing their own 3D animations, building and programming their own robots. The classes will also be coding and playing our own games. These classes will be every Thursdays during school time. More details have been emailed to the classes participating in this programme and the costs for same.
PARKING ON BOOTERSTOWN GROVE, GROTTO PLACE AND GROTTO AVENUE: We have had a neighbourhood request that all parents/guardians refrain from parking in these areas. Booterstown Grove has double yellow lines, therefore parking is not permitted. We also request that you do not block home entrances or park in private parking spaces on Grotto Place and Grotto Avenue. Thank you for honouring this request.
USING PATHS ON GROTTO PLACE AND GROTTO AVENUE: For Health and Safety reasons please continue to ensure that all children and adults use the paths on Grotto Place and Grotto Avenue when coming to and leaving school. For health and safety reasons please avoid walking on these roads as there are cars entering and leaving the school and the neighbourhood.
ALLERGIES/ ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICATION: Just a reminder that we are a "Nut Free" & "Kiwi Free" School. If your child has any allergies or any other medical condition that may require the administration of medication please alert his new class teacher immediately.
ALADDIN CONNECT & ABSENCES: Thank you very much for engaging with Aladdin Connect in notifying teachers directly of your child's absences and the reason. Please continue to do so. This allows you to also keep an eye on your child's attendance. If the class teacher does not receive a notification explaining your child's absence it is recorded on Aladdin attendance records as unexplained. Attendance is recorded at 09:30 every school morning.
COVID-19 UPDATE FROM HSE: Please see the latest advice from the HSE on Covid-19 for children who test positive for Covid -19, how long they should stay at home and when they should return to school. Covid-19 and Returning to School.
Kind regards,
Noel Scully.
Principal.
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