Dear School Community,
13th February 2019
IMPORTANT ADVANCE NOTICE:
The school will be closed this Friday 15 February as staff will undertake training in the revised language curriculum.
The school will be closed for the Mid-Term break from Monday 18th – Friday 22nd February inclusive.
Culture Week – Culture Week will take place from Monday 4th – Friday 8th March 2019.
Vision & Hearing – The Junior Infants Vision & Hearing test will take place from Wednesday 27th March & Thursday 28th March and Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd April.
Forest School Laura’s 3rd Class – Each Friday from 1st March to Fri 5th April (6 trips). The cost of forest school is €22.00 and can be paid through the link sent by email yesterday.
Lost Property – Reminder that all unclaimed lost property will be donated to charity tomorrow, Thursday 14th February. Please ensure you check this rail in the main foyer. We would ask that you please label your child’s belongings.
Exciting News! Percent for Art – The Percent for Art committee have been involved in a 2-year long process of engaging an artist and an art project for our school. Having had an open well-advertised tender process, and many detailed discussions about each of the 24 artists entries we are excited to engage Fiona Murphy and her dynamic project.
Her proposal is an outdoor sculptural mosaicked wall, which encloses a beautifully colourful bench, spherical mosaicked seats, colours and shapes of the sea with portholes to enjoy the views. We hope it will inspire the imagination of the children, staff and school community.
The groundwork for the project will commence soon in the outdoor seating area and will be fenced off for protection and we ask everybody to respect these boundaries.
We are excited to welcome Fiona, a talented and experienced artist to the school for this project and please check out the proposal images of our project, and her previous projects on her website at www.fionamurphyartist.com.
Culture Week – Monday 4th March – Friday 8th March 2019 – Please note date change!
After the great success of last year’s first Culture Week in Wicklow Educate Together, we are delighted to let you know that we are currently busy planning our 2019 Culture Week. The idea behind Culture week is to celebrate the rich variety of cultures we have in our school and community and provide an engaging and educational learning experience. Below we have outlined some of the events planned for this year and how you might be able to help out:
WE WOULD LIKE HELP WITH
Our International Food Fair will be on Thursday 7th March and we hope to build on the fantastic event from last year. We aim to have a great selection of food, artefacts and music in the school hall. We would like volunteers to help to make food for the day, bring artefacts from their country and represent their country’s stall at the fair. We would also like to invite all parents/ guardians and friends of the school to join us on this day (between 9.00pm and 2.30pm).
Language classes – Are you fluent in another language? We would love to explore some new languages by arranging mini-lessons for various classes!
Read a Story – (Junior Infants – 2nd Class) Do you have a particular book from another country/ culture that you would like to read to a class?
Fashion Show – At our assembly on Friday 8th March we would like to arrange a ‘fashion show’, with the theme of traditional international dress. If you have traditional clothing from an international country, please get in touch.
Ideas – We are building a fantastic annual event. If you have ideas for how to improve please let us know!
Our list of countries represented has been included below. Pleases let us know if we are missing any (parents or students from abroad).
If you are interested in volunteering in any capacity for this event, please contact [email protected]
Garda vetting – In line with the school policy and with best practice, anyone who volunteers in the school must be Garda vetted through the school. Unfortunately, we cannot accept volunteers in the school unless they have been Garda vetted with us. Please contact Lisa in the office as soon as possible if you or a relative may be interested in volunteering. If you have already been vetted through the school additional vetting is not required. Contact [email protected]
6 Week Programme for Children with Dyspraxia – The Dyspraxia Assocation of Ireland supported by Wicklow Local Sports Partnership will be running a 6-week Fundamental Movement Programme for Children with Dyspraxia in Bray.
The 6-week programme will cater for primary school children based in the Wicklow and South Dublin areas. Early intervention is vital to ensure that children with Dyspraxia develop the fundamental movement and organisational skills that they need to carry out daily activities
Dyspraxia is defined as a chronic disability that affects coordination. It is also known as developmental coordination disorder. 2-6% of people have dyspraxia.
Four times as many males than females have it. It is sometimes called ‘clumsy child syndrome’
An Information night about the programme and setting up a Dyspraxia/DCD support group for Wicklow and South Dublin will be held on
25th February at 7.30 pm
St Andrews Church Hall (opp. Molloys), Bray, A98 NX24
If you would like to attend please register at
[email protected] or 01 8747085
Mobile Music School – The Mobile Music School visited on Tuesday 12th February and performed for 2nd, 3rd and 4th classes. They played a lot of modern songs with a classical twist that the children knew. They played the cello, flute and violin. The session was enjoyed by all.
Leave No Trace – We were delighted to welcome a representative from Leave No Trace to our school to talk to some of our classes. Leave No Trace is an Outdoor Ethics Education Programme designed to promote and inspire responsible outdoor recreation through education, research, and partnerships. Their principles are Plan ahead and prepare, be considerate of others, respect farm animals and wildlife, travel and camp on durable ground, leave what you find, dispose of waste properly and minimise the effects of fire. See www.leavenotraceireland.org
Go Girls – Girls only running & fitness group, Girls aged 10-13 yrs. Email [email protected] or contact Eithne 087-9880518 or Vicky 087-1741064
PARENTS ASSOCIATION UPDATE
PTA Committee
Thank you to everyone who responded to the call for interest in joining the PTA committee. There was a great response! We have been in contact via email with all those who put their name forward via email. We will meet following the midterm break to discuss the roles of the PTA Committee throughout this coming year and individuals will then be able to make a final decision as to whether or not they are able to join the committee and an AGM will follow in the coming weeks to report on the previous year and turn it over to the new committee. Again, thank you to all of your responses!
St Patrick’s Day Parade – Each year Wicklow celebrates St Patrick’s Day with a wonderful parade! WETNS has participated in this parade for a number of years. You are invited to participate, once again, in our school entry on 17 March; the parade starts at 3pm. If you are interested in helping to organise our school’s entry, please email [email protected] or speak with Sarah Voigt.
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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 Fran or 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.