11th October 2019

Dear school community

Important Dates

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

BOM Update – The current Board of Management term of office is coming to an end. Shortly there will be a nomination process to nominate a male and a female parent to the board.  Any parent/guardian who is interested can contact the below in the first instance for further information:

Rob Greene (Chair) 086 167 6270

Koryne Smyth (Parent Nominee) 086 326 3840

Graham Byrne (Parent Nominee) 086 8590848

A communication will issue next week to each family through the school bags.

This is your school so please get involved and if you have any questions, feel free to contact any of the above current members of the BoM.

Extra-Curricular Programme – We have had a very busy start to the new term and we are delighted to have the aftercare programme up and running each day 1.30 – 6.00.  We have also rolled out the Easypayments tool.  We will be in a position to advertise the extra-curricular programme shortly and it will commence Monday 4th November.  This is later than we had hoped but it does take time and careful planning for it to run smoothly.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information. 

Kind regards Sinéad, Principal [email protected]

Important notice – from Monday the 14 October we will be using the front yard areas for 5th and6th Class at play times. The front gates (vehicular) will be closed daily from 10.30 -1.00. There will be no vehicular access to the school during these times.

Please do not open the gates and drive in, we ask that you park outside the gate and walk in, the pedestrian gate will remain open. Many thanks

Aftercare Booking Cut-off – A reminder to all parents/guardians that the cut-off time for booking our aftercare facility is 11am each day. Please do not book after 11am as your child will not be included in our list for that day and will be brought out with their class at pick up time for collection.

Dress Up Friday 25th October – Pupils are invited to dress up if they wish on Friday 25th October, with a focus on it being an ordinary school day and to dress up for fun that doesn’t scare others. It is our experience that some pupils find masks and clowns really frightening and we ask that they are not part of dress up in our school. Pupils cannot bring hand held accessories for safety reasons. A reminder that GAA & Forest School will take place and suitable clothing/footwear must be worn/brought to school in order to participate.  Many Thanks 

W.O.W. winners announced!! – Congratulations to Paul’s 2nd class & to Louise’s 6th class!  They are the proud guardians of the Golden Boot awards presented at assembly last Friday! Well done! The bike rack has been overflowing these Wednesdays!

For those of you who are new to our school, here is what happens every Wednesday!  We want as many children 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!

So, get those walking shoes, helmets and hi-vis vests on and we will see you all bright and early next Wednesday!J

Kilmainham Goal – On the 23rd September 6th class went to Kilmainham Goal in Dublin.  We went there because we are learning about Irish history and in particular the Easter Rising in 1916.  We had a great time learning about the prisoners held there, for example the young 5-year-old Matthew and most of the leaders in the Easter Rising.

We saw many cells including William and Patrick Pearse, Countess Markowicz, and even the relative of Eamonn the teacher from the school whose great-uncle was one of the 1916 leaders who was executed. We heard some interesting stories including the heart-breaking execution of James Connolly and all about Grace O’Malley’s last-minute marriage.  We saw the stonebreaker’s yard and the museum.

We really enjoyed the tour and we learned a lot thanks to the tour guide.

Written by:         Zofia Zero, Amelia Cobb and Amalia López

North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School, Putland Road, Bray – You are invited to join us at our Open Night on Thursday 24th October from 5pm to 7pm.  This relaxed and informative evening is open to all prospective students and parents/guardians/carers.  There will be a presentation by the Principal at 6pm in addition to guided tours of the school. Please feel free to spread the word – all welcome and no appointment necessary.

PTA Update

Wicklow Educate Together N.A. Winter Fair – Sunday 24th November 2019 – More information to follow.

Glam Glitz – Our very successful Glam Glitz stall will be returning for this year’s 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.