Dear Parents/Guardians,                                                                                       26th April 2017

Paper copies of the newsletter are available beside the new noticeboards in the main Foyer.

Purple Day                                                                                                                                                                           Thank you to everyone who participated in our Purple Day on Friday 7th April. We collected €500 on the day, which will be donated to The Wicklow Hospice.

Percent for Art Committee                                                                                                                                               The Percent for Art Committee has been diligently working on a Brief where artists can make submissions with ideas of their vision for Art that represents the vitality that is WETNS. Christine and Eileen worked with teachers and students to facilitate a mind-mapping exercise whereby posters were created in each class with words that expressed what WETNS meant to students and staff. Additionally, Christine is working on an Art Box to receive submissions from students and the school community with ‘What can you imagine in the school’. Both of these exercises will hopefully provide inspiration to artists for their submissions. We are keeping an archive of all these works. We are hoping to have the Brief ready for roll-out by the end of May.  

Swimming at Coral Leisure                                                                                                                                             This week 2nd and 4rd classes start their swimming term. We continue to walk to the pool and parents are asked to collect their 2nd class children at 2.40 promptly from the pool after picking up siblings from school at 2.30 on Thursday’s. It is very important that every child participates in swimming lessons. There may be children who are unable to swim because of medical difficulties. Parents of these children should contact the Principal immediately. On swimming days please make sure that your child has their swimming togs, hat and towel coming to school and dresses in clothes that are easy to manage.  T-shirts, long/denim type shorts are not allowed in the pool.

Please remember no hat – no swim!

Both 2ND classes                   Thursdays from (27th April – 29th June)           2pm – 2.40 pm

Both 4th classes                    Wednesdays (26 April-28 June)                        11am – 11.40am

 

School Transport Applications 2017/2018                                                                                                                 Bus Éireann’s on-line application system for school transport is now open for the 2017/2018 school year. The closing date is Friday 28th April 2017. Apply on-line www.buseireann.

School Transport – Seacliff, Seapoint, Bayside, Dunbar Road                                                                                 If more than 10 eligible children register for the Bus Eireann School Transport Scheme by Friday 28th April 2017, Bus Eireann will consider establishing a new bus route via Dunbur Road. If you’re interested, please register via Bus Éireann’s on-line application system by Friday 28th April 2017. You will need your child’s PPS number to complete the application. If you have any questions, you can contact me on 083-1050502. Thanks, Una (Mom of Kate and Grace O’Rourke

Extra-Curricular Activity Programme.                                                                                                                             Term 2 of our extra-curricular activities programme started this week and will run until Thursday 22rd June. Please note Chess will finish on Thursday 1st June. We have a small number of places available in arts & crafts (1.30), athletics (2.30), playball (1.30 & 2.30), yoga (1.30 and 2.30), chess (2.30) and soccer (2.30). If you would like to register for any of these classes, please contact me as soon as possible [email protected].

We would greatly appreciate your support in ensuring children are picked up promptly at 2.20 (junior & senior infants) as delays are currently impacting the starting time of our 2.30 afterschool activities. The 2.20 finish allows our younger children to leave the building prior to the wider school community finishing at 2.30.

If you dropped in registration forms to the office before Easter, please ensure you send in registration fees to secure your place. You can pay your term 2 registration fees by cash, cheque or directly into our extra-curricular activities bank account as detailed below:

Cash – where possible please have exact amount.

Cheque – please make cheques payable to Wicklow Educate Together NS

Directly into the bank –    IBAN IE34AIBK93361905417550    BIC – AIBKIE2D                                                           Please include your Family Name when making this payment.                                                                                       Receipts not yet collected will be sent home in schoolbags tomorrow.

Homework Club                                                                                                                                                                      As we begin our last term of the school year, we would like to advise parents/guardians that our Homework Club will finish on Thursday 1st of June. If you have any queries in relation to this , please contact me at [email protected]                                                                                                                                                        From September 2017 onwards, the Homework Club will form part of the Extra Curricular Activities programme. A detailed note will be sent out to all those currently attending in the next few weeks.

North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School                                                                                         North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School are planning a transition afternoon for students who will attend First Year in our school next September.This event will facilitate the smooth transition from primary to secondary school and will be particularly beneficial to those students who may feel a little anxious about the move.  We are planning a range of activities to help familiarise them with their new surroundings.  We will be communicating this to parents/guardians/carers of all new students to strongly encourage attendance. The event will take place on Thursday 18th May at 3.30pm.

Garda Vetting                                                                                                                                                                        Any parent who is helping out in the school, and who has not already been Garda Vetted for our school, is invited to apply for this now. The process is quite simple. Please collect a form from Fran at the school office. Please complete the form in blue pen and bring it to the school office with photo ID (Passport or driving licence) and proof of address (a utility bill).

Parent Requests                                                                                                                                                                     (a) Volunteers requested to crochet octopus (patterns provided) as part of a project called Preemie Ireland. Also donations of cotton yarn very much appreciated. If you are interested in helping out please contact Simona at [email protected]

 

PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION PIECE                                                                                                                                      

Lions Club Table Quiz                                                                                                                                                     There will be a further Lions Club Table Quiz on Wednesday May 10th from 8.30pm in the Grand Hotel, tables €40.00. We need at least one table from WETNS but the more the merrier!

Parent Coffee Morning – Friday 28th April at 9am                                                                                                   All welcome. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided but if you wish to bring baked goodies to share please do. Monika Kostka who teaches in Kleks Weekend School will be on hand to discuss the advantages of raising bilingual children and will also provide information to Polish parents about Kleks School in Arklow.To contact the Parents Association please use the email address [email protected] Thanks, and kind regards, Caoimhe

Wicklow Educate Together are now members of the National Parents Council. As members of the NPC we received the following invitation to the National Conference, which will hopefully provide a good opportunity to learn more about what is happening nationally with regards to primary school education:

The NPC Conference will be taking place on Saturday the 10th of June 2017 in the National College of Ireland, Dublin 1.

We hope to see you and other parents from your child’s school on the day; all parents and those interested in primary school education are welcome to attend. Further details will follow shortly.