14th November 2019
Dear school community
Important Dates
Joe, Denise, Cathy & 6th Class Dental Forms – Please ensure any remaining Dental Consent Forms are returned to the school office today Thursday 21st November.
Parent Teacher Meetings 21st and 28th November – To facilitate the Parent Teacher meetings school will finish at 2.15pm on both dates for children in 1st – 6th class. Our aftercare, homework club and extra-curricular programme will run as normal. Please note, school buses will be leaving at 2.15pm so please be at the collection point for your child 15 minutes earlier.
Winter Maker Fair Sunday 24th November – The fair will take place in the school hall from 11am-4pm.
Junior Infant Vaccinations Tues 10th & Wed 11th December – Information will be sent home in school bags in advance of that date.
End of Year Concert – Thursday 12th December. More information to follow.
Caretaker – Unfortunately, our caretaker Billy has finished his role with the school. We wish him the best of luck. Advertisement for a new caretaker is in the Wicklow Times this week.
Parent Teacher Meeting Bookings – Please contact the school office on 0404 62786 if you have not booked your parent teacher meeting slot.
Board of Management – Voting papers for the male and female parent nominees to the Board of Management were sent home in schoolbags yesterday. Each parent has a vote and must vote for a male and female board member.
Deadline for return of forms is 2.30 on Wednesday November 27th. A box will be available at reception to drop in your votes.
Please note that the previous process was in place to nominate candidates for the board.
This overall process is in line with the requirements of the Department of Education and Skills.
The Green School Committee – It is with great pleasure that we introduce The Green School Committee for 2019/2020. They are:Zofia, Michael and Luke from 6th Class, Kotryna, Aoife, Maria and Aaron from 5th Class,Fionn, Matilda and Seán from 4th Class,Jeremiah and Jessica from 3rd Class,Rhys, Seán and Noah from 2nd Class, Sharon – Junior Infant teacher, Sally – First Class Teacher, Janice – Parent.
We have already taken part in our first official Green School Activity – A Walkability Survey. We set off with our clip boards and our high viz vests to survey the local area and approach to the school. Allison, from An Taisce led the walk, pointing out and discussing the good and not so good things about the safety on the roads and footpaths around the school. She will send us a full report shortly. Then the Green School Committee had a ‘working lunch’ where we discussed our findings. At the end of the lunch each member was presented with a special Green Schools badge. The committee is looking forward to our next activity as we work towards being awarded The Green Flag. Watch this space!
Golden Boot winners – This month saw Cathy and Denise’s classes take the senior prize! Well done!
The junior boot, however, is staying firmly with Paul’s 2nd class for the 2nd month in a row! These guys are gathering momentum, which class can stop them & claim back the boot??
Remember: WOW! Walk/Wheel on Wednesdays to score points for your class!
Set Down and Car Park – Many thanks to the parents that supervise set down each morning. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough volunteers. If you had the time even once a month to get involved, please contact [email protected]. Many thanks. Many thanks also to all of the families who utilise the set down facility and those who park responsibly outside the school grounds. However, we have received complaints that cars are parked at the Hawkstown Road entrance to the school thus obscuring the visibility of drivers exiting the grounds to oncoming traffic. Additionally, please be mindful to local residents of Carraig Beag. The adjoining estate is for residents only and we have been asked by the owner to remind WETNS parents of this.
Morning Reading Volunteers – We have a wonderful group of volunteers to assist with morning reading in First Class. We are always looking for extra helpers. Morning reading happens every day at drop off time. It is a great way to be involved in helping the school as morning reading is flexible and doesn’t take too much time. The more volunteers we have the less time it takes. If you can help for any amount of time on any day please contact Mercedes on [email protected].
Headlice – We continue to implore all parents/guardians to check your child/children’s hair and treat headlice as a matter of urgency. Please where possible tie long hair back.
Gaelic Football Blitz 24th October – On Thursday 24th October a group from 3rd & 4th class went to Bray Emmets for a GAA tournament. We had three matches and unfortunately lost all of them. I had fun and everyone else did as well – written by Charlie 4th Class.
Futsal Tournament Shamrock Park Rathnew 13th November – We went to the tournament in Shamrock Park, Rathnew with our teams. We walked there. It was dry. We were the first to arrive and warmed up on the pitch for a while waiting for the other schools. There were teams from other schools. Our games were 15 minutes long. It was 5 a side so one player was a sub. On the team there was Flo, Kate, Bo, Brigid, Evie and Isabella. We won all four- written by Flo, Kate, Oscar and Daragh 4th Class. We managed to avoid the rain and it was very good fun.
New Aftercare Pick-Up Procedure& Booking Cut-Off – Please see below the revised pick-up procedure for Aftercare.When collecting your children please ring the bell. On entering the building, gather all belongings from the coat hanger and a member of staff will bring your child out to you and ask you to sign them out. We would appreciate your cooperation and understanding on this matter which will enable full and continued supervision of all other children in our care while collection of your child is taking place. Please also note that the cut-off time for booking your child into Aftercare on the same day you are booking is 11a.m. After this time, we will be unable to accommodate any child who has not been booked prior to the cut-off time as the final list of children determines the number of staff required.
Lost Property – We have a large amount of Lost Property here at the school and would really like to return all the coats, jackets, hoodies, cardigans, t-shirts, hats and gloves to their owners. Please check the lost property rail at drop off in the mornings. All unclaimed property will be donated to charity on the last day of term.
PTA Update
Bake Sale – On behalf of the PTA, I want to thank everyone who baked and supported the Halloween Bake Sale. This raised €743.40. Thank you also to the volunteers who helped on the day.
Our school Winter Fair will take place on Sunday 24th November here at the school and we look forward to seeing you all on the day. As we finalise preparations for this annual school event we would be delighted to accept donations of the following items.
Raffle prizes – If you would like to donate a prize for our raffle please contact [email protected]
Good quality second hand books – We will have a book stall on the day and would appreciate donations of any good quality children’s and adults books.
Glam Glitz – Our very successful Glam Glitz stall will return for the fair. We are looking for ladies and children’s clothes for this event. Clothes must be washed and fit for resale. Clothes, shoes, handbags and costume jewellery all much appreciated. A perfect time to clear out that wardrobe!
Bottle Stall – We are looking for donations of unopened bottles for our bottle stall. If you would like to donate a bottle of alcohol, perfume, bottles of beauty product, bottles of oil, unopened shampoo bottles etc for this stall we would appreciate it. Pop over to the bottle stall on the day to see if you can win one!
Mince Pies & Festive treats – We will have a tea/coffee/hot chocolate stall on the day and would welcome any donations on the day of mince pies or festive treats.
Thank you to all the children who requested stalls this year. Our children’s stalls are now full so bookings for children’s stalls are now closed.
Please come along on the day and support this wonderful school event!
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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.