September 2010
Phone: 059-9179453
Dear parents,
Firstly, I want to take this opportunity to welcome all our new
families to our school and the welcome back everyone from last
year. As you’ve probably already seen, our school has grown a
lot over the summer. There are now 96 children attending our
school. We also welcomed four new members of staff – you can
read about them later in the newsletter. We also welcomed back
all staff from last year, which we’re delighted about! Because our
school has become so big, we won’t be able to fit in all our news
in it. However, you can catch up on all the latest news as it
happens by checking out our web site,
http://www.carloweducatetogether.ie, or by becoming a fan of our
school on Facebook.
Our first month in school has been great fun! We have started a
number of new after-schools clubs including Playball and
Spanish. Octboer we’ll be getting musical by adding tin whistle
and violin classes into the mix. If you have a special talent and
would like to run an after-school club, please talk to me. We’re
also hoping to get parents to come into class to help out with
fun classes like art. We’ve already had one or two parents and
grandparents in and it’s been a great success.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the year with us and if you need
anything, as ever, feel free to chat to me any time.
All the best
Simon
New Junior Infants
We were delighted to see so many happy Junior Infant children
starting with us this year. There are 21 children in Samantha’s
class this year. Within a month they are settling in really well
and they are having great fun making lots of new friends.
Board of Management Position
Our Board of Management is now looking for a female parent
representative due to the resignation of one of its members.
The position is open to any parent of a child in the school. The
position gives you a great opportunity to get involved in the
running of the school in a more direct level. The Board meets
6-7 times per year. As Boards of Management revolve
nationwide every four years, the position will last until the end
of this academic year. Training will be provided. If you are
interested in putting your name forward, please talk to Simon,
Eleanor (Chairperson) or Siobhán. Closing date for application
is October 8th, 2010.
Fax: 059-9134566
Email: simon@carloweducatetogether.ie
Spanish Senoritas on European Languages Day, 24th
September 2010
Small Bits of News
The minutes from our June Board of Management meeting
have been proposed and seconded by the Board of
Management. They are available to read in the entrance of
the school. If you wish to have a copy, please contact the
school and we will email them to you.
Samantha gave a talk to Junior Infant parents about our
Jolly Phonics programme. For those of you who missed the
talk or have any questions about the methods we use in
this programme or even ways that you can help your child
in the programme, please feel free to see Samantha after
school anytime.
If your child is absent from school, you can now fill in an
absence for online. This tool hopes to make the process of
sending notes in easier. When a child misses 20 days of
school, we are legally obliged to report the absences to the
welfare board.
Mairéad Darcy is back this year for meditation classes
every Tuesday with the senior class. All the children are
learning about the benefits of meditation and stillness.
Laura has also returned to do play therapy, which is going
really well too.
We’ve updated our staff and Board of Management pages
on our web site. You can now see all members of our staff
and Board by clicking on the About Us menu.
We will shortly be sending you out a survey around
enrollment in our school. We are considering the possibility
of putting in a sibling’s policy. This would mean that
current parents would have a year from their new child’s
birth to enroll him/her in the school and be assured of a
place in the school. Currently, we work on a strictly first
come, first served basis.
Our new after school’s service is open under the name Little
Leaders. Trish Magee is the person to talk to about using
the service. She is available in the school from 1:30pm
everyday.
New Staff
This year Carlow Educate Together welcomed four new
members of staff. We’d like to introduce them to you.
Eimear Coady-Morrisey joined our
school after teaching in Lucan Educate
Together for the last seven years. She
is from Kilkenny and has decided to
leave Dublin to be nearer home. She is
teaching the 4th, 5th and 6th class children this year.
Michael Ryan joins us after teaching in
Tinryland National School in Carlow.
Michael is teaching in a support role
this year and will be starting a Green
Schools initiative through the year.
Adrian Coffey hails from Offaly. After
several years working in I.T., Adrian
qualified as a teacher. He has moved
to Carlow with his wife and children
and has taken up a learning support
role in the school.
Majella Geoghan is our newest Special
Needs Assistant. Majella has done
some substitute work in our school so
we’re delighted to welcome her back.
Majella has extensive experience
working with children with Special Education Needs.
European languages day
day
European Languages Day was a brilliant success! It
started with a super fashion show
with children dressed in national
costumes of France, Spain,
Romania, Lithuania, Greece,
Turkey and more. After that we
had a cooking demonstration
from Colin who made “Pain
Perdu” (French toast) and Chris
taught us the names of the
ingredients in French.
While the toast was cooking we were entertained by all
the different classes in the school. We had a song in
Spanish from Emer’s class. Ciara’s class sang a song
about how to say hello in loads of languages. Clare
and some of her language class played and sang a
Hungarian folk song. You can watch videos of our
songs on our YouTube page.
A big thanks to everyone for coming. It was great to
see so many children and parents in the school. A big
thanks too to all the staff for all their work in
organising such a fantastic day.
Communion / Confirmation
A meeting will be held at 2pm on Wednesday 6th
October for all parents who wish for their children to
make their Communion and Confirmation. The meeting
is open to parents of children in 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th
class. In the meeting we will discuss the plans for our
children to receive their sacraments and the latest news
from the Kildare Leighlin Dioceses. The meeting will
aim to establish a parents’ committee to liaise with the
parish and to organise the preparations. The school can
provide classrooms after school hours and two of our
staff have offered to teach the programmes. If you
cannot make the meeting, minutes will be taken and
made available in the school.
A Special Report from 2nd and 3rd Class!
2nd and 3rd class are all settled in in Ciara's class and
have had a very busy month. We are trying very hard
to remember to keep the Golden Rules and to behave
well to earn some stars for our teams each week. We
have also been learning lots of cool new things,
especially in Art where we have been working on
portraits and have painted a self-portrait, drawn a self-
portrait and also learned about the Andy Warhol
technique which is on display on our noticeboard. We
have been reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
in class and acting some of the scenes out in Drama.
We also learned how to say "hello" in lots of different
languages and performed a song for the school and
parents on European Day of Languages. Overall, it's
been a great month so let's hope we can keep up the
good work in October!
Dates for your
your Diary
October 10th – 14th Maths Week
Lots of fun maths activities – check our Facebook page
for more
October 22nd Autumn Festivals Party
From 10:45am to 12pm. Children and parents will join
us to celebrate Halloween, Samhain and Divali.
October 22nd Staff Meeting
All children finish at 12pm
October 25th – 29th
Mid Term Break School Closed
November 1st
School reopens full day
Remember, parents are welcome to our school every
Friday for a cup of coffee and a chat. So come along
from 9am to the staff/parents room to meet up. All
families are welcome!