19th September 2019
Dear school community
Important Dates
Monday 30th September – School Closure for staff training. The school will be closed for pupils on Monday 30 September in order to facilitate staff training in the new primary language curriculum. Our aftercare facility will open from 8.45am until 5.30pm on that day for any families who would like to avail of it. Bookings can be made on our new Easypayments tool. Link on our website www.wicklowetns.com
Friday 18th October 2019 A celebration of Fran’s time in WETNS and the official opening of the Outdoor Classroom 9:30am – 10:30am followed by tea and coffee in the school hall. All Welcome
Parent Teacher Meetings will take place 21th & 28th of November
New School Secretary-We are delighted to announce that Alma Culleton will join the staff of WETNS as the new school secretary and warmly welcome Alma as she starts her new role from next week. We wish to extend sincere thanks to Deirdre who has been working in the office since the end of August.
Readiness to Learn – This year “Readiness to Learn” will form part of our school self-improvement plan. As part of this we ask you to make sure that your child has all of the equipment / items listed in their booklists. If a child is missing something from their pencil case we will send you an email to remind you.
We would also ask that you please make sure you sign your child’s homework journal. The homework journal is an important communication tool. As with missing items we will send you an email to remind you if your child’s homework journal isn’t signed.
We look forward to a busy year of learning and ensuring that everyone is Ready to Learn.
Morning Reading Volunteers – We are looking for volunteers to assist with morning reading in First Class. This will be happening every morning at drop off time starting on Monday 23rd September. If you can help for any amount of time on any day please contact Mercedes on [email protected]. Volunteers must be Garda vetted.
Set Down Reminder – We would like to remind all families to please abide by the speed limit when entering and leaving our school grounds and to please ensure they do not park or set down in the blue “permit only” parking spaces as these spaces are reserved for those with parking permits. While we understand that this is a busy time of day for everyone we would ask that as a school community we show respect to each other at all times.
Aftercare/Homework Club – Our aftercare facility is available from 1.30pm – 6pm daily Monday to Friday. Our Homework club is available from 2.30pm – 3.30pm Monday to Thursday for pupils from 1st – 6th class. Please note, all bookings must be made through the new Easypayments tool. We can no longer accept bookings by email or phone. Document available at the school office to help with the activation and booking process.
Aftercare Food – Please ensure children attending our aftercare facility have an extra snack for the afternoon. This can be added to their existing school lunch or dropped at the school office in the morning to be stored in the fridge. Children attending 1.20pm – 2.30pm aftercare have a snack time at 1.30pm. Children attending homework club have a snack time at 2.30pm before they start their homework and children staying after 3.30pm will have a sit down snack time in the hall at 3.30pm. Please be mindful of our no nuts no strawberries policy when preparing aftercare snacks.
Extra-Curricular Programme – Our extra-curricular programme for this school year will begin on Monday 7th of October. Full details of term one activities will be sent by email at the end of next week. All activities this year will be booked through the Easypayments tool so please ensure you activate your Easypayments account in advance of the activities going live on the tool for booking on Tuesday 1st October.
Outdoor Classroom – Remains out of bounds for the moment, we are mindful of the new grass that has been sown and the exterior finish is not yet complete. Many Thanks
Party Invitations – reminder that party invitations should not be distributed during school, including line up time in the morning and at home time.
Dogs are not allowed on school grounds with the exception of assistive dogs.
W.O.W. (Walk/wheel on Wednesdays) – Welcome back! For those of you who are new to our school, here is what happens every Wednesday! We want as many families as possible to walk to school on the day. There are lots of great reasons for this. Firstly, travelling by car causes lots of pollution, it also uses lots of resources and causes traffic problems too. By walking to school, you can stay fit and healthy, be wide awake for school & keep our planet green!
Children and parents don’t travel as part of a formal walk to school scheme like a walking bus, they walk their own route & at their own time. Don’t worry if you can’t walk on the day, there are lots of other ways to travel that are good for you and for the environment! You can scoot, cycle, use the school bus, car pool or “park ‘n’ stride”. So, if you do have to come to school by car, try stopping a little bit further from the school than usual and walk the rest of the way.
The class that scores the most points for coming to school by walking, scooting or cycling, car-pooling, “park ‘n’ stride” or by bus, will win the ‘Golden Boot’ Award! The winning class will be announced at assembly on the last Friday of every month! Be safe, be seen! Please wear hi-vis vests if you have them.
Middleton Centre for Autism Training in Marino School – Marino School is pleased to facilitate Middletown Autism in providing training modules to parents and professionals locally. Middletown Centre for Autism designs and delivers training programmes cognisant of the needs of parents and education professionals.
Parents of children with Autism are welcome to attend the training in Marino School, even if their child attends another school in the locality. They will need to register on the Middletown website as a parent and then book the courses they wish to attend.
Refreshments will be provided by Marino School. We hope to see members of other school communities locally, as it is an opportunity for professionals to share knowledge and experience, and also for parents to further develop a support network.
Sustainable Gardening Course – Wicklow County Council and Bray Tidy Town with the support of Killruddery House and Gardens are offering a five week sustainable gardening course, free of charge, which may be of interest. Spaces are limited so book early if interested Please contact Aoife Munn [email protected] and write Killruddery in the subject line if interested in booking a place on the course. The course will commence on the 29th of September and run for five weeks.
Catholic Communion & Confirmation Information – The parish office have confirmed that religion classes will begin on TUESDAY the 17th of September. Communion year 1 and year 2 are 3.20pm to 4pm. Confirmation year 1 and year 2 are 4.10pm to 5pm. Enrolments will take place on Tuesday the 10th from 9.30 to 4.30 and on Wednesday night the 11th from 7pm to 8pm in the parish office. Please note the change of day! The classes are now on a Tuesday and not Wednesday.
PTA Update On behalf of the PTA we would like to welcome all new students and their families to the school. We have a few places on the PTA Committee and if you are interesting in joining and are able to give a small amount of time please contact [email protected]. We held our first meeting of the new term on Tuesday evening, thank you to all that attended. It was a very productive meeting.
Anyone who wishes to help out with activities within the school must complete their Garda Vetting. Please contact Lisa at the school office.
Glam Glitz – Our very successful Glam Glitz stall will be returning for this years Christmas Fair. We are looking for ladies and children’s clothes for this event. Clothes must be washed and fit for resale! Clothes, shoes, handbags, costume jewellery all much appreciated so a great opportunity to do that wardrobe clear-out.
We are asking our school community to keep any Aldi competition tokens for our school to be in a chance of winning the following
Two primary schools will win €50,000 each to develop their playing facilities.
Ten primary schools will win €10,000 each to develop their playing facilities.
One school will win a training session with Paul O’Connell, plus a new set of jerseys.
Every completed entry receives an Aldi Play Rugby kit.
Please spread the word to friends and family! Information on the competition will be displayed in our school foyer next week. Many thanks Niamh
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Please keep up to date with information from Wicklow Educate Together NS which is available through weekly newsletter, texts to parents, school wide notices, notes in bags, homework diaries & school website wicklowetns.com. Wicklow Educate Together N.S. is not on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media. For any queries, questions or feedback please approach your child’s class teacher in the first instance or the school office Lisa (0404 62786) email [email protected] Please contact Sinead school principal for any further clarification or information on [email protected] Please note that we will only promote school sanctioned events or those that benefit a registered charity in our newsletter.
We would like to remind all parents/guardians that our enrolment policy is on a first come first served basis and would ask that you complete pre- enrolment forms for all younger siblings as early as possible. Our pre- enrolment form is available on our school website https://wicklowetns.com/
Please click on the Pre-Enrol tab and complete the Enrol Now form and submit.