Dear School Community,
11th April 2019
IMPORTANT ADVANCE NOTICE:
Easter Break – The school will close tomorrow Friday 12th April at 12.30pm for the Easter break, reopening on Monday 29th April. Our aftercare facility will open from 12.30pm until 5.30pm tomorrow Friday 12th April. Please contact [email protected] to book a place.
To All Parents whose children use the on the Rathdrum, Brittas Bay, Ashford & Rathnew – With school closing early this Friday at 12.30pm for the holidays, we have organised that our school buses will collect a little early to help ease the congestion in the carpark. This will mean that you will need to collect your child from your pick-up point early too.
Please see times below.
Bolgers of Avoca: Rathdrum & Brittas Bay Routes. Buses will leave the school grounds with the children at 12.20pm
Alpine Coaches: Ashford/Rathnew Route: Bus will leave the school grounds with the children at 12.20pm
A note from Sinead
As we look forward to the Easter break, we reflect on another productive term in the school, the children have all given their best and deserve a well-earned rest.
Culture Week was a very enjoyable time in the school. We were delighted to be able to enhance this year’s event with a grant we received from the Department of Equality Justice and Law Reform. This enabled us to invest in children’s books, visual aids, artefacts and flags and part fund some trips and workshops for the children. The Minister from the Department, David Stanton visited the school on International Food Fair Day and was extremely impressed with the good work of the school in celebrating the diversity within the school community. All involved are very proud of the whole week especially International food fair and the fashion show. Thank you to Liz and Alan Hegarty for the wonderful fish food demo, which all of the classes thoroughly enjoyed. Well done to Alan Bedford and all the staff parents and children who so willingly helped to make it such a success.
Strictly Dance was an amazing and memorable event that gained massive support for the school from the local and wider community. We are so proud of the amazing dancers who dazzled and entertained the full house audience on the night, displaying extraordinary talent. Congratulations to Joe & Adele, Áine & Eamonn, Anna & Janet, Fran & Billy, Damien & Janice, Damien & Jenny, Carmel & Michael, Ian & Lynne, Kate & Mark, Louise & Leanne, Diane & Maeve featuring Alan, Nathalie & Grainne, Paul & Egle. Please see the last page of the newsletter for a full list of our sponsors who we are very grateful to. Sincere thanks to the organising committee who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make the night the huge success that it was-Caoimhe, Niamh Erinn, Alan, Sinead, Jane and Lisa thank you all. We are delighted to have raised a staggering €27000 all going to the benefit of the school and the children.
The term of the outgoing PTA committee has come to an end and I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to Caoimhe and the committee. This committee has led the PTA through affiliation to the National Parents Council and the formation of a PTA constitution, there has been a lot of hard work involved in this which is widely acknowledged and greatly appreciated. Thank you Caoimhe for your strong leadership and clear vision throughout.
In the new term we will begin the process of planning for next school year and all classes from Junior Infants to 4th class will be reformed, please see class formation policy at the following link https://wicklowetns.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wicklow-Educate-Together-NS-Class-Formation-Policy-May-2016.pdf. If there is anything you would like to share with us about your child that we may be unaware of please complete the form at the end of the policy and return it to your class teacher or email it to [email protected] before Friday 10th May.
Finally, we would like to congratulate Brian Daly and Anne on the birth of their beautiful daughter last week. We also extend best wishes to Deputy Principal Mary Dee and Jack who look forward to their wedding day next week. We hope you enjoy a very special day of celebration.
We return on Monday 29 April, in the meantime enjoy a lovely break over the next few weeks.
Best wishes Sinead
Sport in WETNS – This term we have been involved in two chess tournaments including participating in the Leinster Schools final for the first time. We have also competed in the FAI five a side football, GAA matches for both boys and girls and the 3k run in Avondale. This week we also competed in the Climbing Walls annual event.
We have had regular GAA coaching with Tommy and Rugby with Aidan, which the children from all classes have really enjoyed. Swimming took place this term for 3rd & 5th classes next term it will be 2nd & 4th class.
Sports Day is provisionally booked for Tuesday 11th June.
Garden School
By Luke, Morgan, Emily, Cayden, Rhys, Johana and Loukas from 1st class Green.
Junior Infants planted tulips and daffodils earlier in the year and they were in bloom just in time to bring home. Migle’s mum donated lovely seeds which we planted in our classroom; we watched as our cherry tomatoes, carrots, dill, chervil, basil, gherkin, thyme, spring onions, lemon balm and mixed salad seeds grew and grew until they were ready to go home. Out in the polytunnel we planted peas and beans, we are hoping that a magic bean stalk will grow! Other classes have planted, potatoes, carrots, cress, herbs, spinach, lettuce and much more. They started off very, very small but each week they are getting bigger and will soon be ready to plant out into our raised beds. We are learning so much about gardening and nature.
Junior Infants have planted mystery seeds, we are all watching to see what will grow from their pots………..
Thanks to Emma for her lovely donation of spring bulbs and her team of gardeners who planted them. They look amazing.
Watch out for the next update from The Garden School.
Music in WETNS – 1st to 6th classes have enjoyed another term of Music Generation tuition. Karen, one of our tutors, has been working with 1st – 3rd classes on tin whistle and recorder, whilst our other tutor, Tony, has been working on aspects of performance with 5th & 6th classes.
The Mobile Music Machine visited the school in February. The Mobile Music Machine provides a series of school workshops to help bring live music into the classroom. This year musicians decided to focus on the cello and the flute and performed a variety of modern classics featuring extracts from the scores of Star Wars and Toy Story amongst others. Needless to say, this was a very enjoyable afternoon!
Infant classes continue to enjoy the beautiful instruments so kindly donated to the school by the Frawley family and we all enjoy hearing their lovely music drifting along our corridors! 😊
Percent for Art – Work is now well underway on our Percent for Art installation and it is certainly starting to take shape. Fiona Murphy, the artist engaged to complete the outdoor classroom visited the classes earlier this month to give them an overview of her inspiration, design process and techniques used. Please see below a piece written by 4th class students, detailing their observations.
Outdoor Classroom: Work In Progress – Kates 4th class have had the experience of watching the outdoor classroom being built. Although it has been a little distracting and noisy, we are still very focussed on our lessons! We are so excited to see what’s next! The first activity we saw was when they started levelling the ground. Next, they started outlining the walls. We also got to see all of the layers of cement being put on this work of art. Over the past weeks we have observed amazing builders using their tools to make our outdoor classroom. At the moment, the builders are plastering the walls. Written by: Ali, Bobby & Jessica
WETNS Library – I would like to thank all of our library volunteers for their help and support throughout this term. Thank you also to all the families who donated new and good second-hand books during this term.
If you would like to donate a good second-hand book, or would like to buy a new book, of any of to donate to our library, we would be delighted. Our wish list is available on the school website. A label will be affixed to the inside cover of the book with the name of the donor and the date.
Books in WETNS Book Week this year was celebrated in each class and book tokens were sent home. 4th class visited the bookshop and enjoyed a book reading & illustrations with Alan Nolan
Well done to all our budding writers who created their own books in this year’s Write a Book Competition
Drinks Bottles In line with school healthy eating policy and green schools please continue bringing re-usable water bottles to school each day
Requests for children to stay inside during breaktimes cannot be facilitated with the exception of children in casts. Children who are not well enough to go outside for playtime should stay at home.
July Education Programme provides funding from the Department of Education and Skills for an extended school year for children with a diagnosis of autism. All forms from eligible pupils need to be returned to the school by tomorrow Friday 12th April, these can be dropped to the office for the attention of Joe Kirwan. The dates for the programme are July 1st-12th. Children must be dropped to the school at 9am each day and collected at 1pm throughout the programme.
Lost Property Please claim lost items by close of day today as all unclaimed property will be donated to charity over the Easter break.
Rental of School The school is used outside of school hours to the following groups, this opens the school to the wider community and provides an income to the school, used to help towards the upkeep of the school building and grounds
Rugbytots Saturday mornings
Wicklow Choral Society Monday evenings
Progressive College of Education Wednesday Evenings
Wicklow Brownies occasional hire
The Blood Transfusion Service 3 times per year
Please contact lisa.jervis@wicklowetns for further information.
Landscape Contract calling for expressions of interest – The school is seeking expression of interest from landscape contractors to help in the upkeep of the school grounds. This will be an annual contract. The requirements are 10-12 grass cuts per annum, basic weed control, tree and shrub care. We are accepting expressions from the school community in the first instance. Please forward your details to sinead@wicklowetns or directly to the school office before Friday 26 April. Many Thanks
Are you leaving WETNS? If you are planning to leave the school at the end of the year please let us know, in writing, at your earliest convenience. It is better for the school to know as soon as possible as we have waiting lists for most classes in the school.
Extra-Curricular – Term 2 of our extra-curricular programme will finish today, Thursday 11th April. Registration for term 3 will take place Tuesday 30th April, Wed 1st May & Thursday 2nd May. Classes will begin the week starting Tuesday 7th May. A full list of activities, days, times and fees will be sent out today.
Glee club will hold a class on Monday 29th April to make up for the class missed during term 2.
Please note, Irish Dancing term 3 will start on Thursday 2nd May as the children will begin preparing for their exam.
Homework club and Aftercare will run as normal from Monday 29th April.
Thank you to all our Strictly Dance Sponsors
Amazon Developments
Dan-Tien
Microwarehouse
SKC
Adventure Catering
KOH
Nypro
Malone’s Schoolbooks & Uniforms
B Shannon Construction Services Ltd
East Coast Physio
JMC Interiors
Hair by Lucy
Squirrel Scramble
Laztech
ONG Heating & Plumbing
Salesforce
Noel Dempsey Kitchens & Interiors
M&D Engineering Ltd
Specsavers
Charlesland Taxi Services
Turtle Tots
Marco
AIB
Adata