SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION: We wish to congratulate all the students who made their Confirmation.It was a lovely occasion with their families friends, teachers, SNAs, cathechists, celebrants and classmates. The choir sang beautifully. A huge thank you to all the teachers who put so much work into this special occasion. It is so much appreciated by the Saint Mary's School Community.
SCHOOL CLOSED MONDAY & TUESDAY 6th & 7th MAY: Just to remind all the school community that Saint Mary's will be closed next Monday and Tuesday, the 6th and 7th of May for the Bank Holiday Weekend. Please see link to the school calendar for holidays. School Calendar 2023-2024.
COUNTY PHOTOS CONFIRMATION PHOTOS: County Photos will visit the school on Tuesday 30th April at 10:00 to take Confirmation photos. We ask the Confirmation candidates to wear the outfit they wore on Confirmation Day.
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.
BARNARDOS INTERNET LEGENDS WORKSHOPS WEDNESDAY 8th MAY: 3rd-6th CLASSES:
Barnardos facilitator Julie Passi will lead workshops with students in 3rd-6th classes on Wednesday 8th May. Julie will cover the Barnardos' "Be Internet Legends" code of fundamentals which looks at: "Think Before You Share; Every Word Matters; Check it's for Real; Protect Your Stuff; Respect Each Other and When in Doubt, Discuss."
BOOTERSTOWN COMMUNITY CENTRE ART SALE: The Art Sale run in the Booterstown Community Centre was a huge success.It was a very sociable evening and was a lovely occasion for people from the Booterstown community to meet, catch up and support The Lighthouse. Approximately €6,000 was raised by the event and all the proceeds will go towards buying resources for The Lighthouse.This is on top of the non uniform day in school which raised a total of €1900. A huge mile buíochas to all who donated. We wholeheartedly thank Simon Madigan for his incredibly generous gesture of donating the art works that belonged to his mother Rosemary Madigan.It was lovely to meet Simon on the night and thank him for this very benevolent gesture. On behalf of the school we would also like to thank Michael and Brid Brassill who put in trojan commitment & work over the last few weeks organising the event.We thank the trustees of Booterstown Community Centre for their support. We thank SuzanneWalshe, their Chairperson, who did a great job as MC and Ann McMahon who managed the sale of the paintings & Sean Finlay who did the Raffle draw. Rosie Head did huge work on the paintings and gave a very heartfelt speech about her friend Rosemary Madigan. Jeanann Clissmann, Aimee O'Reilly and Emma Cahill were all extremely helpful and supportive from the school side.We thank Críona and Áine Brassill, Dee McMahon and Ray Lambe who all worked non-stop right throughout the night organising raffle sales and refreshments. We thank all our sponsors for the raffle prizes and local politicians who came out to this wonderful community event and we wholeheartedly thank you all for your continued support.
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.
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.
- 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 19:00-20:15 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.
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.