SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION: We wish all the students making their Confirmation a wonderful day with their classmates, families and friends on Friday 26th April at 12:00 in Booterstown Church.
SCHOOL CLOSED MONDAY 29th APRIL: Just to remind all the school community that Saint Mary's will be closed on Monday 29th April 2024. It is a training day for the new Primary Maths Curriculum for the teaching staff.
BRAINBOX: MOVING ON UP: Evan Costigan from Brainbox will host "Moving On Up. Transfer To Secondary" workshops with 6th class in OLOM Convent School and Saint Mary's BNS on Thursday 2nd May 2024. Evan will be in Saint Mary's from 08:45 to 10: 45 and in OLOM from 12:00-14:00. From 19:00-20:15 on the night of Wednesday May 1st Evan will host a parent's evening for the parents/ guardians of children in 6th class in both schools. This will be held in OLOM Convent school hall. Please see the link to the Brainbox Website. https://brainbox.ie/Evan has a wealth of pragmatic knowledge and experience on student and parent concerns regarding the transfer to Secondary School and we strongly advise parents to attend the Information Evening. We have had extremely positive feedback from students & parents over the years on Evan's workshops and Information Evenings.
BCC:SOCIAL EVENING & ART SALE FOR LIGHTHOUSE AUTISM CLASS: Booterstown Community Centre is hosting a Social Evening and Charity Art sale on Friday 26th April from 19:30-21:30 in the Booterstown Community Centre. Please join BCC in commemorating 40 years of Booterstown Art Exhibitions, which were founded and arranged by the late Rosemary Madigan. Simon Madigan has kindly donated paintings by a range of artists for sale. All the proceeds shall be donated to our Lighthouse Autism Class. Parking will be available on the school grounds. Admission is free. A raffle will be held on the night and first prize will be a painting. Saint Mary's wholeheartedly thanks the Madigan Family and Booterstown Community Centre for organising this event and donating proceeds to Saint Mary's BNS.
AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS REQUEST: Please note that these classes are separate to the school administration and are not run by the school. A school classroom may be rented by the club, or in some case the clubs are run off the school grounds. 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 club finishes etc.Collection times and locations of children after these activities is arranged between parents/ guardians and the afterschool club organisers. Both are not done by the school reception. Contact details between parents and the club organisers should be shared and be available to each other at all times.
AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH: April is Autism Awareness month.In Saint Mary's over the coming weeks we will introduce to the whole school one Lámh sign per week.Lámh is a manual sign system used by children to communicate. It can be a stepping stone to communicating with the world.Lámh supports communication between parents and child, between siblings, between friends and between teachers/SNAs and students. Some of our children are beginning to learn Lámh and to help support them the whole school will be introduced to one Lámh sign a week until the end of the year.
LÉIGH LIOM IRISH GRADED READING SCHEME: 1st to 6th classes have started a new Irish Graded Reading Series called Léigh Liom by Folens. They will continue with this series until the last week of school in June. Children who do Irish will get one book a week(minimum) to bring home and read with their parents. There is a QR code on the inside cover of each book, that when scanned brings you to all the booklets. You select the colour coded booklet your child is reading and click on audio to hear the text. There is also advice on the inside back cover of each booklet for parents. Bain triail agus bain sult as. Try and enjoy. Support for Parents is also at the following link: Support for Parents: Léigh Liom Irish Graded Reader. Please note our 4 frásaí/ phrase for the month of Aibreáin/April are based on the series. As the reading scheme was quite expensive and will be used by many different students, we ask you to help us ensure that the books are looked after and returned to the class teachers each week in good condition.
FRÁSAÍ NA MÍOSA/ GAEILGE/ CONTENT LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING: Más féidir libh cabhrú le bhúr bpáiste frásaí na míosa a chleachtadh sa bhaile. 1. Léigh Liom/ Read with me. 2. Cad is brí le...? What does.......mean? 3.Údar/ Author 4. Frásaí le léamh/ Phrases to read.
INSPECTORATE UPDATE FOR MEMBERS OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOL COMMUNITY: Please see link to latest Inspectorate Update for Primary Schools from Chief Inspector Yvonne Keating as we all continue to work collaboratively to develop school evaluation practices. Inspectorate Update April 2024.
IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: More details to follow nearer time.
- Confirmation: Friday 26-4-2024 at 12:00
- School Closed: Monday 29-4-2024. Primary Maths Curriculum Training for staff.
- County Photos Confirmation Photos: Tuesday 30-4-2024
- Brainbox: Transfer to Secondary Workshop. 6th class. 1-5-2024. Parents' Presentation at 19:30 in OLOM Convent School
- Standardised Testing: First-Sixth Classes 1-5-2024 until 24-5-2024
- First Holy Communion: Saturday 11-5-2024 at 12:00.
- New Junior Infants Parents’ Meeting: Friday 24-5-2024 at 09:00
- Active Week: Monday 17-6-2024-Friday 21-6-2024
- Multicultural Day: Friday 21-6-2024
- Graduation Ceremony for 6th class: Wednesday 26th June 2024
- Summer Holidays: Friday 28th June. School closes at 12:00 for all classes.
HEALTH & SAFETY WALKING ON PATHS: 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 ensure that everyone walks on the paths at all times.
CARS ON GROTTO AVENUE AND GROTTO PLACE: In the interest of health and safety of all the children in Saint Mary's we ask all parents/ minders/ grandparents not to drive their cars on Grotto Avenue and Grotto Place as there are so many children and adults walking / scooting and cycling to school up both these roads throughout the school day.We realise that there are public roads, but we are asking for your co-operation to help minimise the chance of any accidents and prioritise the health and safety of all children. We thank you for your support and continued co-operation in this health and safety initiative for all our children in Saint Mary's.
TOUCHTYPING SKILLS: Some children may wish to begin or upgrade their touchtyping skills. The following camps/courses have been used by students in the school before and have been recommended. TTRS Online with Dublin City Libraries & Searsol Computer Camps
CO-OPERATION BETWEEN BOOTERSTOWN SCHOOLS ON SMART DEVICES CODES OF HONOUR: Our Lady of Mercy Convent School, Booterstown National School, and St. Mary’s Boys National School fully support our Parents’ Associations with the implementation and carrying out of these honour codes established by our parental bodies. We thank the parents’ associations for their work on these, and hope their impact will have positive effects on the social and emotional growth of all students. Our schools already have ‘Mobile Phone and devices’ policies, which all state that our schools do not allow the use of mobile phones or devices within our schools. We will continue to implement these policies. See more details on our school website under the school new tab. School News
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.
AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS:
- 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 https://steamacademy.pro/ireland/registration/
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.
Kind regards,
Noel Scully.
Principal.