Dear School Community, 23rd October 2018
IMPORTANT ADVANCE NOTICES:
Halloween dress up & Bakesale – Friday 26th October. Please note, school will finish at the normal time 1.30pm (Junior & Senior Infants) and 2.30pm (1st – 6th class).
Mid-term – Monday 29th October to Friday 2nd November inclusive.
WETNS HALLOWEEN CAMP – Final chance to register for our Halloween camp (Tuesday 30th October to Thursdays 1st November). Please contact lisa.jervis@wicklowetns by 10am tomorrow 25th October.
Parent Teacher Meetings – These will take place on Thurs 22nd & Thurs 29th Nov. Further info to follow.
Educate Together Ethical Education Conference 2018 – Changing our ways, Changing our world.
Fri 23rd–Sat 24th Nov 2018, Science Gallery Dublin, The Alex, Dublin. Tickets on sale at www.educatetogether.ie
WETNS Makers Craft and Gift Fair – Sunday 25th November.
End of year concert on 19th December. Further details to follow.
Sundries Fees Now Over Due – Please ensure that any outstanding payments for 2018/19 sundries are paid by this Thursday 25th October
Parent Teacher Meetings – Our annual parent teacher meetings will be taking place in the school hall on November 22 & 29. This year we will be using the Aladdin Connect system to schedule meeting times. This is the same system that was used to access school reports in June. If you haven’t had a chance please download the Aladdin App and you will receive a username and password to register, followed by a PIN number so that you can access your child’s/children’s details on the system. Once you have downloaded the APP to your device please try to access Aladdin Connect sometime over the next week so that you are ready to access the Parent Teacher Scheduler which will open the week of 5 November. If you have any issues, please contact the office this week so we can help you to resolve it.
Dress Up Friday 26 October – Pupils are invited to dress up if they wish on Friday, 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
Important notice The Front Yard 2nd to 6th Class – From Monday 5th November we will be using the front yard for 2nd to 6th Class. The front gates (vehicular and pedestrian) and side gates will be closed daily from 10.30-11am and 12.20 -1.00. There will be no vehicular access to the school during these times.
Lost Property – Lost property will be on display at the front of the building at the bike rack end of the school. Please reclaim any lost property as soon as possible as any unclaimed items will be given to charity at the end of the term.
Reading in the Junior Classes – Junior classes are currently working to coordinate a plan that will see every child have their reading heard every day. Needless to say, this will require lots of bodies to help out! 😊 If you have half an hour to spare at drop off each morning, or indeed any morning, and would like to volunteer, please contact Eileen on [email protected]. All volunteers will need Garda clearance prior to commencing reading with the children.
Aftercare Opening Hours Extension – thank you to all of the parents who contacted us over the last few weeks to confirm that although they did not complete the expression of interest forms, they are interested in utilising an aftercare facility here at the school. We are currently reviewing the possibility of extending our aftercare opening hours so please watch the newsletter for further info.
Aftercare & Homework Club October Billing – A reminder that After Care & Homework Club October fees are due this Friday 26th October. Payment requests will be emailed out on Thursday evening/Friday morning. Please pay upon receipt.
COLLECTION TIMES – A reminder to all parents/guardians, if you are late collecting your Junior/Senior Infants from their extra-curricular activity 2.20PM or aftercare 2.30PM you are causing delays for our staff bringing children to the school buses and collecting 1st class children to bring them to their activities. Please be on time!
Avondale 3KM Trail Run There was lots of fun to be had at the 3km trail run at Avondale last Tuesday! Despite there only being fifteen people running for WETNS, everyone ran superbly anyway. The races were split according to class with categories for 6th, 5th, 4th and 3rd classes. Aaron (4th class) came first in his age category. The rest of us were happy with our (gold!) participation medals. Although there weren’t that many of us, there were plenty more kids from other schools. There were people from the Glebe, Brittas Bay National School, Greystones Educate Together NS to name a few. By Sonny (6th class)
Schools Gaelic Football tournament: On Wednesday October 10th, 12 talented footballers from Alan & Kates’ 4th classes set off to Bray Emmets to represent WETNS in the schools’ Gaelic football tournament. Two of our games were easy wins, however the 3rd set of opponents was more of a challenge! But we won comfortably in the end!
The WETNS boys’ team showed great team spirit! We all worked wonderfully together, and we really enjoyed the games! Thanks Brian for bringing us & thanks Mom & Dad for letting me go! Aaron – Alan’s 4th class.
Rugbytots – Rugbytots weekly play sessions on a Saturday morning enable boys and girls aged 2-5 years old develop their social and physical skills in a fun, positive environment. Our classes are action packed with races, obstacle courses, skills practice such as throwing, catching and of course kicking. We are delighted to offer a 10% discount to families in the school, use promo code WETNS10.Enrol or find out more at www.rugbytots.ie or text us on 0838185726 to organise a FREE trial class
PARENTS ASSOCIATION UPDATE
Halloween Bakesale Friday 26th October
There will be baking homework for Junior Infants to 2nd Class inclusive on Thursday 25th October for Fridays bakesale. It is vital that all baking is NUT FREE and STRAWBERRY FREE to protect those with severe allergies to these ingredients. If any baking is particularly suitable for any particular dietary requirements please label it clearly. On Friday morning please bring baking around the back of the school to the sports hall at drop off at 8.50am. Please label all containers with your childs name and class and they will be returned to them during the day. This year to aid waste reduction, cakes will be sold in every classroom and children will put their purchases in their lunchboxes. The cost of the bakesale is €2 per child.
Don’t forget fancy dress for the children this Friday!!!
From The Heart Night – Please note, we unfortunately need to postpone the From the Heart Social evening. Please watch the newsletter for a revised date!
WETNS Makers Craft and Gift Fair November 25th
Last year’s fair was a great success and we would like to build on this success and earn some valuable funds for our school. WETNS needs your help to make this years fair a success!
Calling all crafters, makers, bakers and entrepreneurs!!! Stalls at the Makers Fair are €30 please contact [email protected] to reserve your stall. If you are a crafter but don’t have enough produce to make a stall, please consider donating some items to the parent craft stall for sale with all proceeds going to WETNS.
If you or your workplace would like to donate a raffle prize, please let us know at [email protected].
Following on from parental feedback we are reverting back to charge of €10 for our crafty children’s stall. The enterprising young people may pocket their profits!!!
We will be having a pocket money toy and book store again this year so please take the opportunity to gather up your old toys and children’s books that have some life left in them and we will collect them in the coming weeks. Likewise, we will be having a second-hand bookstore for all ages so if you need to make room on your shelf for 2019 books please bring in some of your old books for sale at the fair. We will also be having a lucky dip bottle stall so if you have a bottle of any variety from Fizzy Pop to Wine to Perfume and everything in between we’ll accept all donations.
On the day we would greatly appreciate your support in providing cakes, buns, traybakes, breads, mince pies etc for our cake sale and refreshments area.
School Calendar
Please check school bags for order forms, if you didn’t receive the form don’t worry you can collect a form at the school office. Calendars are 1 for €10, 2 for €15 or 3 for €20. All funds raised go to the running of vital services in the school! Due to the generosity of local businesses sponsoring the calendar almost 100% of the sale price will go to the school. Deadline for order has been extended to Monday November 5th.
An opt out consent form will be sent home this week please return by this Friday 26th October if you do not wish your child’s photo to be taken with their class for the calendar. PTA meeting for all parents Thursday 18th November – Thank you to all who attended. This was a really positive meeting and we hope to work on realising some of the great ideas discussed in the near future. Notes will be published on webpage shortly.
GDPR Consent Forms – Please check schoolbags! If you didn’t receive a form please email us and we will send one to you. It is important that you return these forms completed if you wish the PTA to stay in touch with you or if you would like to volunteer in your child’s school. Please keep an eye on the parent page of the website for information on upcoming events. https://wicklowetns.com/category/pta-news/
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.