Academic Calendar 2024-2025

SCHOOL STARTS

Thursday 29th August.

GRANDPARENTS’ DAY

Friday 18th October

MID-TERM BREAK

School closes on Friday 25th October 14:15.

School Re-opens Monday 4th November

PARENT-TEACHER MEETINGS

25th November-29th November. Teachers will be in touch nearer the time to organise meetings.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

School closes at 12.00 noon Friday 20th December School Re-opens Monday 6th January

SAINT BRIGID'S DAY

Monday 3rd February. School Closed.

MID-TERM BREAK

School closes Friday 14th February at 14:15.

School Re-opens Monday 24th February

ST PATRICK’S DAY

Monday 17th March. School Closed.

EASTER HOLIDAYS & MATHS TRAINING DAY

School closes at 12.00 noon on Friday 11th April .School closed for Maths Training Day Monday 28th April. 

School Re-opens Tuesday 29th April

MAY BANK HOLIDAY

Monday 5th MAY. School Closed.

STANDARDISED TESTING

Thursday 1st May-Friday 23rd May.

JUNE BANK HOLIDAY

School closed Monday 2nd & Tuesday 3rd June 

School Re-opens Wednesday 4th June

ACTIVE WEEK/ MULTI-CULTURAL DAY

Active Week will be from Monday, June 16th-Friday June 20th.

Junior Sports Day Monday 16th Booterstown Park 8:50-09:40.

Senior Sports Day Tuesday 17th Booterstown Park 08:50-10:00

Multicultural Day Friday 21st June 12:45-14:00. School Yard.

GRADUATION CEREMONY

Wednesday, June 25th at 10:00.

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

School closes at 12.00 noon on Friday 27th June

Details regarding Staff Training Days, First Holy Communion, Confirmation & 6th Class Graduation will be shared when we have dates.

  Academic Calendar

 School Calendar

Grotto Place, Booterstown, Co. Dublin A94 AC97
01-2886830
Friday, February 07, 2025
01-2886830
8:35 - 14:15
  01-2886830

School & Class News

Education and Parenting news stories of interest on Classes & Newsletters

SERVICE OF LIGHT:  Our Service of Light Ceremony is on Tuesday evening at 19:30 in Booterstown Church. We wish all the candidates a wonderful evening with their classmate & families.

IRELAND READS DAY: Ireland Reads Day is on Saturday, the 24th of February. The aim is to get everyone to ‘get lost in a good book’ on the 24th of February, Ireland ReadsDay – whether that’s reading a book, a newspaper, a comic – whatever works.There are lots of events taking place in libraries across the country too so please visit IrelandReadsDay or check in with your local library.Ireland Reads is a campaign from Irish libraries, Adult Literacy for Life, Children’s BooksIreland, Age Friendly Ireland, booksellers, publishers and others to get the whole country reading. This is an initiative of the government of Ireland funded by Healthy Ireland.

HSE MEASLES ALERT NOTICE: The HSE National Immunisation Office has asked us to bring to your attention a notice on measles.  The notice has been emailed to all via Aladdin and is available to read at the following link on our school website under the school news tab. HSE Notice on Measles Alert

BOOTERSTOWN CHILDCARE SERVICES: is now finalising bookings for September 2024.If you have not applied yet, please contact us as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Please contact Najwa Mc Guinn. Details have been forwarded to all by Aladdin email. 

HEALTH & SAFETY: Can all adults and children use the path on Grotto Avenue and Grotto Place in the morning when walking to and leaving from school. The roads outside the school are public roads and are used by staff and neighbours. In the interest of everyone's health and safety can we walk on the paths at all times. 

PARKING ON BOOTERSTOWN GROVE, GROTTO PLACE AND GROTTO AVENUE: Our school neighbours are very supportive of Saint Mary's and kind to all the students. With that in mind we have had a neighbourhood request that all parents/guardians/grandparents 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. 

FRÁSAÍ NA MÍOSA/ GAEILGE/ CONTENT LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING: Más féidir libh cabhrú le bhúr bpáiste frásaí na míosa a chleachtadh sa bhaile. 1. Lá Fhéile Bríde  2. Bain sult as. 3. Go n-éirí leat.4. An féidir liom páirt a ghlacadh? 

STEAM ACADEMY: is thrilled to share that there are still 6 open spots available for the STEAM Academy after-school programme at St. Mary's BNS. These spots are in the following group:
● 1st - 6th Class, RoboXplorers: Wednesdays 2:15pm-3:45pm. A link was sent out via Aladdin email to all parents/ guardian with more details.  If you have  any queries pleasecontact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Steam Academy will get back to you as soon as possible.

RCSI TEDDY BEAR HOSPITAL:  Teddy Bear Hospital is a free ticketed event that aims to alleviate childhood fears about healthcare environments and increase health literacy in school-aged children. Tickets can be booked through Eventbrite which will open in February and be advertised on  social media as seen below. This event is aimed at children aged 4-10, though children outside those ages are encouraged to come if parents feel it would be beneficial or if a family wishes to attend with their siblings. Older children for whom this event would be developmentally appropriate are welcome to the Sunday session where RCSI will have a higher ratio of volunteers to children.The event is volunteer-led and run by medical, physiotherapy, pharmacy, and therapeutic technician students from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. RCSI students are all interested in working with children and in providing a fun interactive experience for all who attend. RCSI encourage all children to attend with their Teddy so that the Teddies can get their annual check-up, fix up any rips or tears, and learn how to keep healthy. There will be 12 different stations that teach children and their teddies about different aspects of healthcare such as, surgery, food and nutrition, first aid and so much more!Description of session details for Teddy Bear Hospital weekend below:

Saturday, February 24th, 2024  Sessions 1, 2 & 3: All children aged 4-10 years old

Sunday, February 25th, 2024 Session 4, 5 & 6: Inclusive smaller sessions in a quieter environment for children with disabilities or chronic illnesses. There will be more volunteers to individualize the session for each child. More details found on : Facebook - @RCSIPaediatricSoc ;Instagram - @rcsipaediatric ;X - @RCSIPaediatric and Youtube - @paediatricsocietyrcsi329

MIND WANDERING STUDY: for Junior and Senior Infant parents: Are you a parent interested in mind-wandering in young children? Researchers at UCD & QUB are hosting an interactive World Café research event on 20th February at UCD! Click here to reserve your free ticket! https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/knowledge-exchange-workshop-on-mind-wandering-in-early-classroom-settings-tickets-756346521807?aff=oddtdtcreator

AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS: All have already started. Please see details bel0w. 

  • After School Sports: Ms. Cartwright/ Ms. Doyle Monday afternoons. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Homework Club: Monday to Thursday afternoons. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Johnny's After School PE Club: on Tuesdays for junior classes and Thursdays for senior classes in Booterstown Park. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Chess Club with Paul: Thursday afternoons:  Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Spanish Club with Olé: Thursday afternoons. Contact Cristina @ ✆ +353857884001 |  ︎ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Art Club with Evelyn: Tuesdays afternoons. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Alto School of Music: Ukulele and guitar lessons. Monday afternoon. Piano lessons have started on Friday afternoons. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more details.
  • STEAM Academy. Wednesday afternoons. Contact  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Please liaise directly with the club organiser if you have any queries regarding starting dates, days, times, costs, holiday breaks, and dates the relevant after school clubs finishes etc. 

TRAINING DATES & MATCH DATES: for soccer, hurling, and football will be given to classes and students involved when up and running throughout the school year. 

HANDLE WITH CARE INITIATIVE: Please remember that we are still continuing our ‘Handle with Care’ initiative. If your family is experiencing difficulties at home, we would like to provide additional support for you at school. We understand that you may not always be able to or even want to share details about what is going on and that is completely understandable. If your child is coming to school after a trying night, morning or weekend due to difficult circumstances, please email your son’s teacher in the morning before 8:15 a.m. with the message ‘Handle with Care’. Nothing else needs to be said but this will let your son’s teacher know that he may need extra help, patience, time and care during the day. We hope that this will be of comfort to those who need it.

SMARTPHONE/SMART DEVICE HONOUR CODE REMINDER:  A huge thank you to our Parents Association who collaborated with all parents in 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. It's also displayed on the main school door. 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.

HELPING SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES KEEP CHILDREN SAFE ONLINE:  Please see link below to the  Webwise booklet "Helping Schools and Families Keep Children Safe Online". Page 4 has some very practical tips about: having the chat, agreeing rules, seeking help, critical evaluation of information read, leading by example and discovering the online world together. Helping Schools and Families Keep Children Safe Online.

Kind regards, 

Noel Scully. 

Principal.