Castledockrell National School Newsletter

March 2024
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Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh

Dates to remember for March:
March 7th: World Book Day
March 11th-15th: Seachtain na Gaeilge
March 14th: Céilí Mór & Seisiún Ceoil– 9.10am
March 18th: Closed for the Bank Holiday
March 22nd:Easter Holidays, 12 noon
School Reopening: Monday 8th April

Lá na Máithreacha
We would like to wish all the mothers in the parish a Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday, March
10th.

World Book Day

This year we celebrate World Book Day on Thursday 7th of March. Children come to school
dressed up as a character from their favourite book. We will also do a Where’s Wally Hunt, a
Quiz, Buddy Reading and Book Bingo. We will also do an art activity in school based on a book
during the day.
We will hold a Book Swap on the day whereby children can bring in books that they no longer
read and swap them for a different book that somebody else is finished with. The children will
receive their World Book Day Book Vouchers on the day also.

Sacrament of First Confession

Second class will take then next step on their faith journey and make their First Confession on
Tuesday, March 12th at 6.30pm in the church. We wish them well on this special ceremony.

Green Schools
We had a great day out on Curracloe beach this week where we learned about marine life, made
some sandcastles and did a beach clean up with Harriet from “Flossie and the Beach Cleaners”.
We collected nearly 7kgs of rubbish! The virtual reality headset was a big hit with the children
on the day.
Ms. Stone and the Green School Committee have now sent in the application for our 7th Green
School Flag “Global Citizenship -Marine Environment”. We will find out if we have been
successful in the coming weeks. Well done to all pupils for all of their hard work and projects as
part of this process.

Parents’ Association News and

Notices

Clothing Collection
-We will have another clothing collection with bag2school in April, pick up will be on Wednesday,
17th. Happy Spring-Cleaning and thank you in advance for your support.
-The Board of Management wish to thank the Parents’ Association for their recent donation of
€2,500.00 from their Christmas activities, some of this money will be used to subsidise
swimming and the school tour.

Seachtain na Gaeilge
This year we are celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge in school from the 11th-15th of March. We
will concentrate mainly on activities in the classroom, encouraging children to use Irish
throughout the school day and giving out ‘ticéad glas’ as a reward for effort.
Activities will include: Céilí Mór & Seisiún Ceoil on Thursday, 14th 9.10-10.00, parents are
welcome to join us for this event. We will also have a Tráth na gCeist agus Cluichí.
Children can wear green/white/orange clothes on our Lá Glas, Thursday 14th also. This will be a
Parents’ Association fundraiser and will cost €2 per child.

Spring Clean
The National Spring Clean will take place in the school in April, when the children will be busy
giving our school and gardens a spring clean. Keeping our school litter free is a whole school
community effort; thank you for your cooperation.

Enrolment
The school is now taking enrolments for September 2024. Enrolment forms are available from
the school. If you know anybody who may be interested in enrolling for September; please ask
them to contact the school and we can arrange a time to meet with them outside of school
hours.

Swimming
We start back to our swimming lessons after the Easter Holidays. We have a six week block; the
cost of this is €60 or 6 weekly payments of €10. Siblings can pay a reduced rate of €15 per
week or €90 in total for two children. The bus alone is costing €160.00 per week along with pool
hire and 2 swimming instructors at a cost of €170.00 per week so parental contribution is
essential. Thank you. Lessons will begin the first day back, Monday 8th April for classes 1st to
6th. We look forward to seeing them progress.

Rackard League Hurling & Camogie

The Rackard League hurling and camogie matches will begin in the coming weeks and we are
delighted that some of our pupils are participating. Thank you to parents for providing
transport. Best of luck to all involved .

After School Music Classes

Helena’s after school music classes are off to a great start and we are delighted that so many
pupils are partaking every Monday, 2.40-3.40pm. New members are welcome.
We look forward to hearing the progress.