Dear School Community, 29th November 2018
IMPORTANT REMINDER –In order to facilitate the parent teacher meetings school will close at 2.15pm today Thursdays 29th November. Buses have been informed of this, please make your own necessary arrangements to facilitate this.
Children attending Homework club, Chess, Irish Dancing and Art will go straight to their activity at 2.15pm.
Aftercare from 1.30pm – 2.30pm will go ahead as normal (or 2.15pm if required).
Important advanced notice – The school will be closed on Friday 15 February as staff will undertake training in the revised language curriculum.
END OF TERM CONCERT WEDNESDAY 19 DECEMBER IN THE SCHOOL HALL. All welcome, tea/coffee on the day and Christmas jumpers, hats etc encouraged! Mince pies donations in advance to serve on the day greatly appreciated. Please be aware that siblings will not attend the concert on the 19th. All children will see the performance at the dress rehearsal on the Tuesday prior, December 18th, and will remain in their own rooms on the 19th. Class teachers often have nice activities planned for their classes at these points and it would be a shame for anyone to miss out!
| Class | Teacher/s | Times |
| Junior Infants | Leanne & Sharon | 9.15-9.30 |
| Senior Infants | Gina & Amy | 9.35-9.45 |
| 1st class | Ian & Sally | 9.50-10.05 |
| 2nd class | Paul & Michelle/Edele | 10.10-10.30 |
| 3rd class | Brian & Laura | 11.05 – 11.20 |
| 4th class | Kate & Alan | 11.20 – 11.40 |
| 5th class | Alison & Barry | 11.40 – 12.10 |
| 6th class | Rory & Eamonn | 1.00 – 1.20 |
Thank you – The school would like to thank the Lenehan family for their very kind gift of musical instruments, which were donated in memory of Maureen Frawley, Oonas mother, who sadly passed away last year. We believe Maureen was a wonderful advocate for the arts and music, and both children and staff alike, will enjoy playing these instruments in her memory.
Aftercare Opening Hours Extension – We are delighted to confirm that from Monday 14th January our aftercare opening hours will extend to 5.30pm Monday to Friday. If you are interested in utilising our aftercare facility come along to our information morning next Friday 7th December at 9.00am in the main hall or alternatively contact [email protected]
6th Class Dental Forms – reminder that all 6th class dental forms must be returned by this Friday 30th November.
Punctuality School starts each day at 8.50 and we ask all parents, guardians, minders to ensure that children arrive promptly to school in the morning and are collected on time at the end of the school day (1.30 for infants and 2.30 for all other classes) 8.50 is an important time to have a chat with friends, to hand in homework, for reading in the junior classes, settle in and be organised for the day ahead. Pupils who are late for class not only miss an important part of the school day but also cause interruption to the class teacher and to fellow class mates. We would also like to remind you that late collection, at the end of the school day is unacceptable. It can cause upset for children and unless booked in to an after-school activity or homework club can cause disruption to class teachers and to staff working in the office. Please be aware that children arriving before 8.40am are unsupervised.
Roll call is taken each day at 10.30 am by all class teachers, pupils arriving after this time are marked absent.
School office hours – The school office closes daily from 10.15 to 10.30am and from 12.00 – 12.30pm. Phone lines are very busy throughout the day and voicemail is checked regularly.
Wet mornings On very wet/windy morning the pupils gather in the school hall, with staff supervision. Owing to the volume of pupils and for health & safety reasons we ask that parents of 1st class up depart from the hall once their child has joined their class line. Infant parents please feel free to do the same but if remaining please wait at the back of the hall.
Appointments during the school day The school appreciates that medical, and other appointments can be unavoidable during the school day. Please ensure that you notify your child’s class teacher in writing outlining the time of collection/return, and the reason for the absence. Please avoid, if possible all other non-urgent events that might necessitate a collection/early collection during the school day, as it does cause interruption to class time.
Absences Please supply the class teacher with a written reason for a child’s absence on their return to school or complete the “unexplained absence” on the Aladdin Connect app. Please do not do this through the school office.
Front Gate The front gate to the school is closed between 10.30 and 1.00 daily in order to facilitate a play space for the senior classes. If you need to access the school during these hours there is no vehicular access and we ask that you leave your car outside, open the gate and walk to reception. Please ensure that you close the gate after you.
Healthy Eating When preparing your child’s lunch please do not include sweets crisps or chocolate. Pupils may, if they wish, bring in a small treat on a Friday.
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. Thank you to all the wonderful parents/guardians who are coming in to help. This is a really positive experience for the children and we are seeing a significant improvement in their reading as a result.
Aftercare/Homework Club November Billing – Reminder that our November aftercare and homework club fees are due this Friday 30th November. Bills will be emailed Friday morning. Please ensure prompt payment.
Term 1 of our extra-curricular programme will finish on Thursday 13th December for all classes except Science, which will finish on Monday 17th December.
Term 2 will begin on Monday 14th January. You can register for term 2 on Tuesday 8th, Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th January. Further information will be sent out prior to the Christmas Holidays.
Aftercare (1.30pm – 2.30pm) – Our last day of Aftercare prior to the Christmas Holidays will be Thursday 20th December. We will reopen on Monday 7th January.
Homework club – Homework club will finish on Thursday 20th December and reopen on Monday 7th January.
Tues 04th Dec Public Information Meeting for 6th class students and their families re: Wickow Educate Together Secondary School for 2019 1st year students. This will take place in our school hall at 8pm
Parents seminar in CCM with well renowned Psychologist Shane Martin. Shane is very well known in educational spheres and is often the leading speaker at national educational conferences. I have been trying for over a year to get him to Wicklow to do one of his parent talks. We have finally managed to get an available date on Dec 12th at 6.30pm. The Talk will last 45mins. As Shane will unlikely be in Wicklow any time soon again, we would like to invite the parents of the local primary schools to the talk also, the Topic being: Our children’s well-being and happiness. Please find attached information related to this event and feel free to share it with the parents of your school community. L Casey, Deputy Principal, Coláiste Chill Mhantáin
PARENTS ASSOCIATION UPDATE
Makers Fair – This year’s Makers Fair and Raffle was a massive success, raising almost €4,000 for our school. Thank you so much to all those who helped out in anyway. To those who donated, those who helped set up, those who took stalls, sold tickets, made mince pies/biscuits, served tea/coffee, painted faces, sold toys and books and also those who stayed behind to help clean up…a big thank you!! Thank you to Maeve for all the work that went into our raffle and congratulations to all our winners.
As there were some lovely toys and books remaining the school hopes to have a sale to benefit the student council chosen charity in the Spring.
Our Vintage Glitz was a big success on the day……more Vintage Glitz to come in early 2019….watch this space!!
School Calendar
Thank you for your calender orders. All of the classes have been photographed and we are currently working with the printer to produce this years calender. The children all look lovely in their coloured themes. The calender will be distributed the first week in December.
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.